Thought Catchers Exercise
Okay, I’ve given you some information – now let’s go to the mind gym and put this into practice.
Here is an exercise that will help you become aware of your mind chatter…
Get a piece of paper (any will do), and fold it down the center (hot dog style).
Take a few minutes and write down the thoughts you have about (your job, your spouse, a goal, etc.) on the left side of the paper.
Whether they were supportive or not is irrelevant right now.
The point is, you took the time to NOTICE your thoughts… (good job)
Now, which one’s do you like? (leave them alone or put a heart by them)
Which one’s don’t you like or don’t support your goals? (put a star by these ones)
During this exercise don’t judge yourself by how many stars you might have over hearts (this is normal). Just notice!
Now, take a minute to write the positive opposite of any thoughts that are starred, on the right side of the paper.
For example: let’s say I wrote, “I don’t know where to start.”
On the right side I would write, “I can start anywhere, so I decide to start …”
Another example: let’s say I wrote, “I’m not good at…”
On the right side I would write, “I can get good at … if I practice.
This will give you practice and choosing a different thought to believe, and writing down other options you have.
We often believe we are ‘stuck’ where we are…
But when we take the time to catch our thoughts, and play with ways we could re-write or say them; we find that we aren’t really stuck…
We just haven’t take the time to look at other possibilities.
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Declarations
Hopefully you’ve taken some time to work in the mind gym, with that last exercise.
Now, what do you do with this information?
First, you’re letting your brain know that you WANT to be aware of your thinking, so you can make changes.
If you want knew results, you must think new thoughts – it’s part of the process.
Second, you now have a list of new thoughts to consider and practice.
That RAS filter will only let knew thoughts work inside when it’s given enough evidence.
So we delivered these new thoughts (evidence) with repetition and intense emotion.
How to use Repetition:
The more you repeat something, the more you begin to believe it.
This is where declarations come from…
A list of statements that we want to practice believing is true (whether it is or not).
Repeating a list of statements everyday morning and night might seem silly or boring, but I’ve experimented with it.
It works!
If you practice you will find it can work for you to.
How to use Intense Emotion:
The real magic happens when you get your emotions involved.
You can repeat a thought over and over, and doubt it (this is why declarations don’t work for some people)
But if you can find a thought that you believe a little bit, you can grow from there.
Even if your new thoughts begins with “I’m willing to try…,” or “I’m willing to believe…”
When you feel more confident in that thought you can always upgrade it later.
If you struggle with this, read my December 2021 posts to give you ideas on how you can do this better.