Each morning before plugging into your computer, cellphone, or turning on a podcast, take a deep inhale and then exhale, then make your way to the comfortable space you have created for yourself. Once you are sitting comfortably with good posture, repeat the steps for Square Breathing and Learning to Be Present. Remember to be compassionate and patient with yourself while creating your practice.
- Square Breathing (remember to make note of how many cycles it took before you became centered).
- Once you find yourself centered begin Learning to Be Present exercise.
- Once present, begin to create a view of yourself as engaged, open, compassionate, and curious (this is a state of self-energy, which you will use to understand your internal influences). Remember, this is the state which allows for integration of your new adaptive patterns, beliefs, emotions, etc.
Daily Journal questions:
Using the maladaptive narrative you comprised over the first three lessons and juxtaposing with your adaptive narrative:
- What beliefs, emotions, strategies, vows, behaviors, etc. have changed or feel more accurate now?
- Are there beliefs, emotions, strategies, vows, behaviors, etc. still needing attention? Attend to these needs.
- Visualize the maladaptive traits fading away and the new empowering adaptive traits getting stronger.
- Once you have connected with the empowering traits, visualize employing these traits in various scenarios.
Night Resourcing:
Mental Theatre: The Mental Theatre Technique is a technique used to help integrate the empowering traits into your system. First begin by sitting comfortably, take a couple of deep breaths, and become centered. Next, in your mind, create a theatre. It can be outside or inside as long as there is a movie screen. After you have created your theatre, imagine you have a remote control that can rewind, turn emotions up or down, fast forward, control sensations, basically anything you need to be successful. Now picture yourself on the screen and successfully employing your adaptive traits through various scenarios. Use your remote to rewind, dial down intensity, or whatever function may be needed in order for the positive traits to be used. This technique can be used for past scenarios and anticipatory situations which provoke anxiety patterns. Remember to take your time and really connect with the discoveries and paths forwards as you are directing your life. Each night, continue to review and modify your narrative as you integrate these empowering, adaptive characteristics.
Additional Resourcing:
What’s Behind the Curtain: What’s Behind the Curtain is a resource that can be beneficial if you might be struggling connecting with your self-energy. This technique is designed to assist with tending to the polarized aspects of our personality and familiarizing us with our self-energy. First begin by sitting comfortably, take a couple of deep breaths, and get centered. Next, imagine observing yourself sitting in a chair behind a one way mirror with a curtain rod across the top. Notice the first observation that comes to your mind. If it has negative energy (e.g., I am weak, look funny, lack confidence, etc.), then take that observation and pull that curtain back and notice what observation comes up next. Continue this process until your observations become positive, compassionate, and understanding. Once you begin to observe through your self-energy lens, connect with this view from a visceral, feeling, and cognitive level. The more curtains you need to pull back before you reach your self-energy is usually a good barometer for how much the anxious aspects of your personality are present and influencing you. These discoveries are great for repeating with the prior lessons in order to find the resolve they require and integrate in a healthy form.