Continuing from the last post: So let's say you have felt your feelings and written a compassionate letter to yourself empathizing with the pain you feel around your daughter not calling you. Notice how you are feeling now. I usually notice that my feelings have shifted. I might not feel so afraid or angry anymore. By just allowing feelings to be, they tend to lessen on their own. And once your feelings are less intense, you can start working on your story. The story is what you are telling yourself about your experience. So you might be telling yourself that your daughter will never call you again. That story might then throw you into another bout of emotional suffering.
Byron Katie was a middle aged woman who suffered from addictions and shame. She eventually had a nervous breakdown which required institutional care. One day she woke up from her pit of despair to self-acceptance and self-awareness. To keep her new found peace she discovered a way to look at her mental stories in a new way and she called her steps The Work. I have used her method for my own stories for years. Her method pulled me out of the almost constant sense of shame that I felt. I think it is incredibly effective.
The following is a link to a download called "Judge Your Neighbor" worksheet. Print out the worksheet and fill it out. Tomorrow we can go over her steps towards a different perspective.
www.thework.com/downloads/worksheets/JudgeYourNeighbor_Worksheet.pdf
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