Trigger page-
Limiting beliefs page-
- Awareness of the negative thoughts and emotions.
- Recognition of the futility and destructive nature of the negativity, so that we want to let it go.
- Awareness of these sensations in the present moment.
- Ultimately replacing them with a positive thought, but not immediately.
The key point is that, even if you recognize and stop the negative thought, the negative emotion with all its power and energy, is still there.
This is why you can’t simply replace a negative thought with a positive thought. You’re fighting the reality and power of the underlying emotion. This has to be neutralized, or at least disengaged first, (steps 2 and 3 above) before you can move to the positive state.
The Next Time I Am Distressed…
This involves having a clear plan for the next time you feel distressed. You might make a commitment to yourself that the next time I feel distressed I will get out my personalised mindfulness script and try to watch my distress.
If you think this will be a very difficult thing to do, you may decide to put a time limit on how long you will try to be mindful of your distressing emotions (e.g., “I will justdo it for 5mins to start off with, at the end of those 5mins I will see if I can try it for another 5mins”). In this way you can gradually and gently start to ‘expose’ yourself to the distress you have been dreading. If you get to the end of your time limit and find you just can’t go any longer being mindful of your distress, that is OK, you have
made a start at accepting rather than avoiding your distress.