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Updated 7/14/25
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Healing from trapped emotions.pdfHEALING FROM TRAPPED EMOTIONS
HEALING FROM TRAPPED EMOTIONS
The same areas of the brain are activated with physical injuries as they are with emotional injuries. The body is designed to heal itself.o,l However, we often do things that prevent it from healing, do not give it the tools and resources it needs to heal, or we just keep inflicting new or opening up old damage. Emotional wounds do not just heal automatically and will stay present until they are addressed.j
“If an organism is stuck in survival mode, its energies are focused on fighting off unseen enemies, which leaves no room for nurture, care, and love.”d People are usually trying to make themselves feel better in the only way they know.d Ironically, what starts off as a self-protective action eventually becomes self-sabotaging.o “Certain personality traits that are useful to cope with the traumatic situations often become habitual, such as perfectionism, putting oneself last, being self-critical, taking on too much responsibility.”j
A lot of people have what is called a victim mentality. At some point in their life, they had some bad things happen to them which they feel is the cause of a problem they are having. I don’t want to sound unsympathetic or downplay what happened to them. I am sure what they went through was very difficult and unpleasant to say the least. I know they did the best they could at the time and since. However, as we have pointed out multiple times, if you blame something else you give it the power over you. Many people continue to let a bad thing ruin their life because they feel victimized by it. We then feel stuck because we feel another person or circumstance has more power over our own happiness than we do.m We mistakenly believe that it caused the problem so whether we realize it or not, we think only it has the power to resolve or take the problem away.
Look at almost any successful person and you will find that most of them had to struggle through hard things. Oprah Winfrey, the Rock, Michael Jordan, Nelson Mandela, Beethoven, Jim Carrey, Tony Robbins, Bob Proctor, Helen Keller, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Victor Frankl, and many more. If you have struggled through some hard times, abuse, or overcame some major physical, mental, financial, social, relationship, or spiritual challenge then you are in good company. Some people have even endured harder or more traumatic things than you and overcame them. I am not saying that to put you down or minimize what you overcame. I am pointing that out to you to give you hope. If others have overcome those things and had a good life, you can too. Remember your mind helps make your beliefs a reality so if you feel like a poor, fragile victim it will help that become a reality. If you recognize you are a survivor, you are resilient, you are strong, you are powerful, you are a conqueror then it will also respond.e How your story started or what happened in the beginning or middle of your story does not have to be the ending. Look at all the great stories (the made-up ones in books and movies and even the real life ones). They always start with someone who has something bad happen to them or some challenges they had to overcome. However, because of this they became stronger or smarter or more powerful and became the hero of the story that went on to do much good. Become the hero of your story.
As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself.d As we have mentioned, suppressing feelings takes an enormous amount of energy. We are like our cell phones, we have only so much energy each day. There are things we do that recharge us (like sleep). If we have all these extra apps running in the background (like trapped emotions and limiting beliefs) and we aren’t recharging enough overnight then our battery will be running low throughout the day. We will then feel tired all the time and not have enough energy or motivation to do the normal things let alone anything fun. In this state we often feel like we are just barely keeping our head above the water.
In the book The Body Keeps the Score we learn that, “Nobody can “treat” a war, or abuse, rape, molestations, or any other horrendous event, for that matter: what has happened cannot be undone. But what can be dealt with are the imprints of the trauma on the body, mind, and soul.”d Many people have built a strong wall around their heart so they can’t feel these unwanted feelings. There is not a guard at the gate letting the good emotions in and keeping the bad emotions out. With that wall, you may not feel the unpleasant feelings but you are also limiting your ability to feel the good feelings like love and pleasure. As we have mentioned a few times. If we do not face these trapped emotions and beliefs, they do not go away. They keep coming back or keep causing progressively louder symptoms. Remember your body is trying to tell you something and if you are ignoring the warning alarm, it will find a louder one.
It is important to understand that your physical symptoms are real. They are not just in your head and you are not imagining them. However, there is also nothing physically wrong with you. Your body is amazing and has the ability to heal given the chance to do so. “Healing comes about naturally, when the causes of disease have been removed.”n There is also nothing mentally wrong with you either. You have just learned to activate certain neural pathways – and gotten very good at it by the way.j You’re also not broken like you often feel you are. “You’re stuck. Stuck in “fight or flight”. With a mind that never slows down, always scanning for danger, always bracing for what might go wrong.”g It’s like you are riding in a car with the emergency and regular brakes on or a gas pedal that is stuck down. Either way it makes for a difficult drive.
One of humanity’s natural tendencies is to look for the cause. We just have a tendency to mostly look outside of ourselves. Hal Elrod said, “we always are pointing at other people and things and circumstances and situations outside of ourselves and blaming them or blaming it for our destructive emotions, but it’s never the thing. It’s never the thing that we’re pointing to and here’s proof of that.” He then points out that the exact same thing can happen to two different people but they have two completely different experiences and responses. He then reminds us that “It’s our interpretation of the thing. What causes every negative emotion that you have ever felt, are feeling now or could ever feel, you can sum up in one word and that word is resistance. It is resisting our reality that causes our emotional pain. In other words, it’s wishing and wanting that something were different that cannot be different. And to the degree that you wish it were different determines the degree of emotional pain that you create for yourself. So, think about that.”a
He then pointed out an interesting thing about negative emotions. He said, “Well, the negative emotions that we feel, the destructive emotions we feel, again, they’re almost always over something that already happened. Well, that means you can’t change anything unless you’re Marty McFly from Back to the Future with the DeLorean, you can’t go back in time and you can’t change anything. So, the thing that’s causing your emotional pain is unchangeable if it already happened. So, think about that. Every negative emotion you’ve ever felt is self-created by resisting the reality of something that has already happened.”a I would argue that the rest of the negative emotions have to do things you are afraid might happen in the future.
In talking about emotions and our mind set, Bob Proctor pointed out “It’s either going to control you, or you are going to control it.”f One of the best places to start is in how we respond to the symptoms themselves. “Most people will respond to pain, especially severe pain and chronic pain, with alarm. We fear the pain or other symptom. We fear the sensation of it as it can be so severe and unpleasant; we worry about whether it will go away and when or when it will return; we spend a lot of time wishing it will go away.
We focus on the pain or other symptom: we pay a lot of attention to it; we monitor it; we focus on how it feels and if it is changing or getting worse.
Frustration with it: We get upset, annoyed and angry at the pain or other symptom; we become resentful that doctors haven’t fixed it or don’t understand it; we become sad for what we have lost.
Fighting it: We work hard to overcome it; we try to push through it; and we get exhausted in the fight, especially when we feel we are losing the battle.
Trying to figure it out: We spend a lot of time thinking about it; we search for answers online, in doctor’s offices and with alternative care practices.
Trying to fix it: We spend a lot of time and money on treatments that haven’t worked; we try anything and everything that might work; we get desperate for a cure; we get depressed when one doesn’t materialize”j
How safe would that make you feel if you were an emotion (like the characters in Disney’s Inside Out). Remember we said these emotions are like scared little animals or toddlers. If that is how you were treated anytime you started to appear, how safe would you feel. If you look at the chart of emotions, “the answer to your problem is on a higher frequency than where the problem is.”f That is why David Hawkins said, “Hate is not conquered by hate. Hate is conquered by love. This is an eternal law.”
Kate Murphy pointed out an interesting thing when she said, “many practitioners specializing in areas like gut health, hormone health, and nutrition often claim that their specific approach is what healed them. They genuinely believe in the effectiveness of their methods. However, what’s most interesting is this: When we (they) stop searching for answers in diets, detoxes, or specific methods—believing (they) we’ve found the solution, like a particular diet—the body receives the signal that it’s safe and symptoms resolve. The reason people believe a specific diet or method healed them is that when they stopped searching and started believing in something, their fear and focus on their health issues diminished. This reduction in fear, hyper fixation, and desperation allowed their bodies to move out of survival and feel safe, which helped calm their nervous system and improved their symptoms—not necessarily because of the diet change itself, but because of the sense of safety that came with it.” She reiterated, “Healing happens when the body feels safe. And when your body feels safe, your mind stops trying to protect you with constant thinking.”g
One thing about our mind is our thoughts tend to go where our focus is. However, like Bob Proctor pointed out, “We have a tendency to focus on the problem. And by doing that, we add energy to what? The problem! And then the problem grows. “f It is common for us to focus on our symptoms and problems or have those negative reaction to those symptoms. “These reactions send feedback to the brain that “Yes, there’s a problem, a big problem.”j “You do not have direct control over the danger signal in your brain. It will do what it wants for awhile. You do have control over how you respond to the symptoms and how you relate to them. The more you pay attention to pain, anxiety, fatigue, and depression, the worse it tends to get. One of the most powerful ways to overcome [these symptoms] is by training yourself to be completely indifferent to the symptoms. ... Try new responses to your symptoms.”j As many people have pointed out, “When you change the way you look at the problems, the problems will change.” “Negativity does not exist within a situation or event; rather, it resides in our reaction to the situation as we see it. When negative feelings are acknowledged and relinquished, the situation can rapidly change in appearance from impossible to easily manageable, workable, and even quite useful.”b
Mel Robbins has a lot of good podcasts and TED talks. In one of hers, she gave some very useful advice. She said, “And frankly, getting what you want is simple. But notice I didn't say it was easy. It's very simple. And the reason why I'm bringing up this first decision that you made today, and the inner snooze alarm, is because in any area of your life that you want to change, any – there's one fact that you need to know. This one: You are never going to feel like it. Ever. No one's coming. Motivation isn't happening. You're never going to feel like it.
Scientists call it activation energy. That's what they call the force required to get you to change from what you're doing on autopilot to do something new. And the only way you'll get it is by forcing yourself to be uncomfortable. Forcing yourself to get outside, out of your head. If you're in your head, you're behind enemy lines.
In fact, if I put a speaker on it and we broadcast what you say to yourself, we would institutionalize you. You would not hang out with people that talk to you the way you talk to yourself. So get out of your head! Your feelings! Your feelings are screwing you! I don't care how you feel! I care about what you want! And if you listen to how you feel, when it comes to what you want – you will not get it. Because you will never feel like it.”
"Most seem to have made an unconscious decision that it is better to keep visiting doctors and treating ailments that don’t heal than to do the painful work of facing the demons of the past."d
Many people have pointed out that people do not seek counseling not because of a lack of resources but more from a lack of courage.h In one of their emails, Arnold Schwarzenneger’s partner shared his experience that I thought was very helpful. He said, “Looking back, the moment in the rain was one of the best things to ever happen to me. I had convinced myself that strong people figure out their problems on their own. And that if I just worked harder or stayed tougher, I’d find my way back. But I didn’t.
What I didn’t know then — but fully understand now — is that real strength doesn’t come from enduring pain alone. It comes from knowing when you need support and being brave enough to ask for it.
That was the beginning of my mental health journey. I started therapy, not as a last resort, but as a lifeline. And what began as a response to crisis eventually became a foundation I’ve leaned on ever since.
For 20 years now, proactively prioritizing my mental health — instead of waiting for a breaking point — has been part of my routine. Just like I go to the gym to stay physically strong, I go to therapy, journal, and connect with friends to stay mentally and emotionally resilient. It’s not just something I turn to when I’m struggling. It’s something I use to prepare for the moments that inevitably will come—because life doesn’t pull punches.
Mental health isn’t just for the broken. It’s for all of us.
The biggest lie we’re told is that vulnerability is weakness. But every time I’ve been open—whether in that storm, in a therapy session, or with someone I trust—I’ve discovered the truth: what connects us most are the struggles we all try to hide. And when you stop hiding, you start healing.
If you’re going through something right now, or even if you’re not, I want you to know: getting help doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you’re strong enough to grow. It might not feel like it in the moment, but your willingness to take on the heavy weight you feel inside will make you stronger than ever.
And if you’ve been putting it off, fearing what you might find, remember—sometimes the scariest step is the one that brings the most peace and can lead to the most significant breakthroughs.
The moment you stop hiding from your pain is the moment you start building a life that feels more honest—and more like yours. Because mental health isn’t about fixing what’s broken—it’s about finally giving yourself the tools to live with more clarity, strength, and self-respect. -AB
SOLUTIONS FOR FIXING PROBLEMS WITH EMOTIONS
SOLUTIONS FOR FIXING PROBLEMS WITH EMOTIONS
It is important to realize that the symptoms and the illness are not the same thing.h Many times the illness has been there long before the symptoms appeared. There may also be many symptoms of the illness that you do not even realize are related. I tell people all the time, where you hurt is not where the problem is and where the problem is does not always hurt.
Unfortunately, most people end up working only on the symptoms and never get to the actual problem. This is a big reason shots and pills are not your answer. If you resolve a symptom, but still have the problem that caused it then the problem will continue to get worse and when the symptom reappears it will also be worse. Maybe that symptom will be under control as long as you are taking the medicine, but eventually the problem will cause new symptoms somewhere else. Often “we unwittingly perpetuate the very problems we think we are trying to solve.”i
Another thing I have found is that there are often layers to problems that have been there for awhile. We often use the analogy of an onion. You have to often work through multiple layers in order to get to the center or main problem. This is partly why a technique may work for someone else but not you. It can also be reassuring. You will often find that a technique that didn’t work in the past, now does because you have worked through some of the layers. Different problems need different solutions; and different layers have different problems. This is partly why I always teach that there is not one thing causing your problem, nor one thing that is going to fix you.
As we have hopefully convinced you, at the root of most (if not all) of your problems is an emotion. In just a minute I will give you Sam’s general protocol to address these. After that I have some additional information and tips that have been found to be helpful. First, we have to talk a little about honesty.
Be Honest
Be Honest
At the root of most illnesses can be found “an interlocking system of lies we have been told and lies we have told ourselves.”h,d We first have to be aware of what is really going on inside of us before we can do anything about it.b The truth will set you free, is more than just a catchy saying. Without knowing your specific situation and history it is hard to tell you what lies you are telling yourself, but I do know if you keep asking “why” or “what for” you can eventually get to the real root of the problem. Another good way is to really think about what you would not want others to know about you.b We do not like to be wrong or uncomfortable, so our brain makes up stories and excuses and finds ways to blame other people and things to help ease our conscience. As humans we also tend to see what we want to see rather than what is really there.h
As humans, we tend to be the meanest to ourselves and we also tend to be the most dishonest with ourselves. For example, the person “may consciously believe they want to heal but unconsciously be attached to the payoffs of illness.”b You may think that is crazy that anyone would want to be sick. You may say you have even tried. You have gone to doctors and done x,y, and z. You should honestly ask yourself if you are getting anything out of being sick, or having insomnia, or this addiction, or this condition. It’s kind of like the little kids who are taken out of church meetings for being loud. Sitting in the meeting is boring so if the parent takes them out in the hallway and they get to goof around and have fun, who wouldn’t want that? You can talk to them till you are blue in the face, but as long as going out in the hallway is more fun than being in the boring meeting they are going to act up and get louder and louder until they are taken out into the hall.
“We devise and hang on to our emotional problems for a purpose, a purpose more important than our happiness. And we deceive ourselves about the fact that this is what we’re doing. …For what possible reason would we keep ourselves from making the beneficial personal changes of which we are capable?”n Often when we get stuck, it is partly because we secretly believe it accomplishes something for us. As one person put it, “My disability was my justification! It was my excuse for failing to engage with the world.”I There are many others whose diagnosis gives them a sense of identity or community or keeps them from feeling guilty about not being able to do certain things. I wish I had more space to give you examples to help open your eyes to maybe some ways your condition is “helping” you but I bet if you think hard enough you can start a good list. Then the real question becomes is the cost worth the benefits you are getting?
“There are a lot of payoffs to blame. We get to be innocent; we get to enjoy self-pity; we get to be the martyr and victim; and we get to be the recipients of sympathy. The first step out of blame is to see that we are choosing to blame.”b People in continued conflict value something else more highly than they value the solutions.i I know in marriage I sometimes have to tell myself I would rather be happily married than fill my need to be right. I know many other couples that have to be right at the expense of their marriage. “Be honest and replace ‘I can’t’ with ‘I won’t’….It makes a big difference in our self-concept to realize that ‘I won’t do something’ is quite a different feeling than to think that ‘I’m a victim and I can’t’”b “Their complete honesty with themselves enabled them to see how they had been responsible for the thoughts and feelings that had been troubling them. IN the discovery of the truth and then in the telling of it, their hearts began to change.”n “Give up the defensive strategy and seek to become more honest with yourself.”n
Sam's General Protocol
Sam's General Protocol
1. Get in a safe place mentally and physically – You need to feel safe before you can process emotions.g,o When you are being chased by a lion is not the best time to stop and talk about your feelings with your spouse or give them a hug. When you are being chased by a lion, your body and brain’s sole focus is getting away and getting to safety. Anything else will be ignored or will just add more stress to the situation.
o Unfortunately we can’t just tell ourselves that we are safe, we have to show our body so that it feels safe.g,o
Doing one or both of these is a great way to help decrease stress
· Human Garage’s 15 minute stress relief - click here
· Human Garage’s organ reset - click here
Doing something physical or something that helps you relieve stress (paint, take a bath, …)
Take nice slow, deep breaths
2. Identify what you are working on – trapped emotions or limiting beliefs. (It is usually wise to not go for the biggest issues first. Start with some smaller issues to help you learn these skills and then tackle bigger problems as you get better.)
o For trapped emotions one of the easiest and most effective techniques is to just write a letter that you do not send. (see below)
If you don’t like the way you are feeling or how things are working out, ask “what am I thinking right now?”. Remember it isn’t what is actually happening to you that is making you feel that way, but the thoughts you are telling yourself about what is happing to you.
o For limiting beliefs writing out your story has been found to be easy and effective. (See below)
As Marisa Peer reminds us, “you can always choose your beliefs. And you really should constantly check ‘why do I even believe that is even true?’. Because so often it's not true at all. It's just something you've been taught or you've just gone along with it.”e
3. Repeat as often as necessary and learn to process emotions as they come up so they don’t get suppressed in the first place.
4. Improving the functioning of your body and mind can be really helpful.
o Improve the function of your lymphatic system (click here for my lymphatic page)
o Improve your diet – get plenty of fluids, eat more good foods and less bad foods
o Exercise – find something physical you enjoy doing
o Spend more time in the real world – cut back on television, social media, etc
o Start noticing how things make you feel. If you always feel worse after hanging out with some particular friends, maybe spending less time around them will be beneficial. If you always feel a little better after doing a particular activity, maybe you should start spending more time doing that or exploring similar activities.
A LETTER THAT YOU DO NOT SEND (TRAPPED EMOTIONS)
“Remember, you are not a project that needs fixing. The key is to create space for your emotions to surface and to gently meet them with acceptance and patience.
Healing happens when we stop pushing ourselves to achieve a particular outcome and allow the body and mind to heal at their own pace, free from pressure or desperation. Let go of needing something to happen – this is keeping you stuck!” – Kate Murphy
Many people describe this letter writing as a great way to process and release both suppressed and repressed emotions so you can heal and move on.n,d,g,j Sometimes we need to write letters of love, apology, or regret to those who are now missing from our lives. You can write letters to your pain, your subconscious, your younger self, your future self.j In this letter make sure you describe your emotions and not just the facts.d Kate Murphy calls it journaling and she had a lot of good pointers, so a lot of the extras in this section are borrowed from her.g She has found that “by practicing this journaling technique daily, you gradually create more capacity in your nervous system. The result is someone who feels more calm, less stressed and overwhelmed, has less symptoms, and feels like they’re thriving, rather than surviving!”g
Before I explain the technique, I have to share her warning. She warns that if done incorrectly, this technique does not create any meaningful change. It sounds counterintuitive and maybe a little unreasonable, but she has found “if you're doing it simply to make your symptoms go away, or because you're desperate to heal, it won't work. Healing happens when you let go of the frantic need to fix.”g Remember the reason these emotions are a problem is because your mind perceives them as a threat. If you are attacking them then the body still feels like they are dangerous. Try to “come from a genuine concern for yourself, for your pain and suffering – and create space for your emotions to be felt and released in a compassionate, non-urgent way. The reason WHY you engage in this work, and HOW you engage with this work makes all the difference!”g
One more caution. When working with emotions, and especially when you are first starting, it's crucial to be aware of how much you can handle. If you try to take off more than you can handle, like addressing your biggest trauma right away, it may leave you feeling overwhelmed or increase your problems.g,o
Here is the technique:g
o Find a quiet place and set a timer for 10 minutes (you can go longer if you want).
o A place where you won’t be interrupted or distracted. It should be private so you can be open and honest with yourself.
o Begin by asking yourself one of the following questions or something similar to prompt you to start:
o “How am I really?”
o “What’s disturbing my peace?”
o “What from my past is still affecting me or holding me back?”
o “What are my beliefs about ____ (money, relationships, success, myself)?”
o “What am I currently struggling with and why (relationships, finance, health)?”
o “What is one thing I don’t want anyone to know about me?”
o “What am I resisting right now?”
o “What am I scared of?”
o “What is my subconscious trying to tell me?”
o “If I could go back to my younger self, what would I have liked to have been told?”
o Let the words flow freely.
o “Remember, no one should read what you write, not even you. Write without worrying about grammar, structure, or how raw and ugly your emotions may seem. Let it ALL out! It's crucial to tell the whole truth, holding nothing back. If you've felt it but haven't processed it, it needs to be expressed. While it can feel messy, allowing these emotions to come up is essential for true processing. Writing helps you confront and release these feelings.”g
o We tend to hold back with others or when we are around others. Because no one else is going to see this, you should try to be as honest as you can and let it all out without fear of judgement of any kind. What have you wanted to share with someone but didn’t feel safe enough to? What have you been worried others may find out?
o Acknowledge and validate your feelings.
o “Journaling is a tool for self-exploration, not self-criticism. Be gentle with yourself as you navigate these feelings. Avoid judging your thoughts or feelings. Allow yourself the space to explore your emotions honestly and openly. Remember, without a compassionate environment, these emotions will remain in the subconscious, afraid to surface.”g
o Feel the emotions.
o “Begin to pay attention to any sensations happening in the body. Practice noticing and observing bodily sensations like tension, warmth, or tightness. Observing and sensing these sensations deepens your connection with your body and prevents you from thinking about or intellectualizing them. Allowing yourself to fully experience these feelings in your body is how you begin to release what no longer serves you and create space for healing. Remember to be with the feelings and let the feelings be.”g
o “If you find your mind wandering or notice yourself starting to think or create stories, bring your awareness back to your body. Focus on sensation without explanation, as this is what will dissolve them. Once you learn how to ‘be with’ these emotions without intellectualizing them, you will notice how they become less intense and dissolve, leaving you feeling lighter. This is feeling. This is healing.”g
§ There is a reason these feelings have been buried. They were uncomfortable in the past and they will probably be uncomfortable now. Now you can control your surrounding and the rest of the experience so you know you are safe and can stop whenever you need to. Just remember that if we let emotions run their course, they typically do not last more than 90 seconds. Just observe the sensation in your body and trust that it will pass. “Feeling will heal you, thinking will retraumatize you or perpetuate your suffering.”g
o Avoid analysis and discard.
o “There’s no need to analyze or rehash what you’ve written as this can be counterproductive. The goal is to write it down, express it, become separate from it, and FEEL what you’re expressing, not THINK about it and hash it over. This is where you show up and share the whole, ugly, unfiltered truth and get rid of it. Remember, it’s never meant to be read again.”g
o Let it out and let it go.
A simple way to know if this journal technique worked for you is how you feel afterward. Feeling and processing your emotions will leave you feeling better like something has been released. If you thought too much about your emotion whether you were resisting, judging, or something else then you will feel worse. “What heals trauma isn’t about reliving the event or hashing it over again. It’s about learning to be with the stored alarm in our body—the feelings of dysregulation, overwhelm, and distress that remain long after the traumatic event is over. The trauma itself might be in the past, but the emotional residue, the stored alarm, is what still affects us today.”g
Until you give this a try it may be hard to see how this would do any good. As Kate has found after working with thousands of people, “Do not underestimate the power of this work. I have seen it cure everything from autoimmune disorders, anxiety, and insomnia, to chronic pain, digestive issues, fatigue, headaches, migraines, fibromyalgia, back pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), mold, chronic fatigue, skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, heart palpitations, dizziness, hormonal imbalances, and even cancer.”g
WRITE OUT YOUR STORY (LIMITING BELIEFS)
o When something in your life is not working out how you would like, you should write down the story you are telling yourself about it. A good place to start is “the reason why _______ is because….”
o Write all the thoughts, excuses, reasons, feelings that come up.
o Don’t edit it. Don’t judge it. Just write.
o It is sometimes helpful to go into more detail. So instead of just saying “I don’t have time”, you could say “during the week I have to work all day and then I come home and clean the house and run kids to sports and get them ready for bed.”
o After you have written your story it is time to read it. Sonia Ricotti suggests reading it at least 5 times – some of which are out loud. She proposes that by doing this you will notice that by reading this story and especially out loud it starts to decrease some of the emotion behind.
o After this you will take a separate sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side of the paper you are going to go through your story and make a list of all of your limiting beliefs.
o Once you have your list you are going to go through each one and question it.
o Questioning a belief is the first step into not believing it.e
o Ask if it is true, where you learned this belief, why you still have this belief, how this is benefiting you, how this is hurting you, how would you feel if someone said this to your best friend or brother or sister, etc.
o Once you have analyzed it, now write down the actual truth and maybe some supporting details on the right side of the paper.
o Now rip the paper down the line and throw away the false beliefs on the left – you don’t need them anymore. Place the truths where you will see them often. Repeat them to yourself often.
o If you ever start to think one of those limiting beliefs you can stop yourself and say “that is not true, actually …. (state the truth you found and maybe some of your supporting examples).”
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