Set the page

Draw a vertical line down the middle of a new journal page to create two columns. Title the left column ‘Negative Cognitions’ and the right column ‘Positive Cognitions.’ 

Negative Cognitions

Now get quiet and listen to your inner voice as you do an internal audit of all negative self-talk. Notice the inner critic that questions, doubts, shames, or confines you. 

In the left column, write a list of those negative beliefs. 

➡️ This Belief List* used in EMDR therapy can be a helpful resource. It includes 38 pairs of negative and positive cognitions organized into 4 categories.

Positive Cognitions

In the right column, let's shift the narrative. Write the positive, more expansive/adaptable version of each belief. Tweak it as needed until it feels believable, not forced – you’re aiming for slightly more true! You can continue to push the boundaries of your language overtime. 

• A good sign that your system accepts a statement to be true is when you can feel your body exhale with relief when you say the new belief. 
• If you find yourself struggling to emotionally resonate with the positive cognition, ask yourself: 
  1. What keeps me from believing this?
  2. What would it mean if I fully believed this?
• This helps you to identify the blocking belief (the “yes, but...”).
• Then consider practicing a body scan to find where that block lies in your body, noticing the location of any physical sensations and what they feel like. This signals how your body is holding onto the belief as a survival strategy, and can perhaps guide you to the original experience that informed the belief. 
• To help your brain recognize the “danger” is in the past, you can use bilateral stimulation (eye movements or tapping). This helps to unblock the negative belief and install/strengthen the positive belief.

Interrupt the Pattern

Practice speaking the new beliefs aloud, especially anytime you catch yourself thinking or speaking the old belief. This is a practice of interruption – interrupt your thought patterns every chance you get:

• When you hear them in your mind: interrupt that inner voice by taking a breath and then speaking back to it with something like “excuse me, that's not true, can you please rephrase that?” And then say the new belief. 
• When speaking to other people: if you catch yourself speaking through a lens of your old belief, stop what you're saying and correct yourself aloud. 

When you can, notice how your body feels as you speak the new beliefs (ex: relief, expansive, open, flowing, etc.). The physical connection between mind & body, emotions & sensations will help to reprogram your subconscious and reaffirm your new beliefs. This Feelings & Sensations list can help you name what you you feel. 

Take this further

• Reveal your negative beliefs to someone close to you. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves is rarely how others see us. It can be incredibly impactful to hear how shockingly inaccurate our beliefs are by looking through the eyes of someone else. 
• If you wish to better understand your old beliefs, consider asking yourself why you believe them. Question where the beliefs originate from – did someone once tell you that’s how something is done, or that’s who you are, for example? This is the start of shadow work. 
• Learn how to free yourself from the ego/inner voice that limits our consciousness and therefore reality in the book The Untethered Soul.