Exercise 14: Release Bad Feelings

One of the best things about writing rather than talking about a problem is that no one has to sit there and absorb your feelings. Eliminating the second party factors out judgment or secondary feelings that may occur. It also empowers you to deal with your problems on your own. It gives you full responsibility. Wouldn't the world be a much better place if we all handled our own problems and took full responsibility for our actions? Imagine what your workplace would look like, or even your household. It goes for the old saying, you can't change other people but you can change yourself.

Exercise 14 is described by the author as a type of exorcism. You write about the emotion you hate the most to feel. There is no limitation on how you word anything - you can be as awful as you want to be because when you are finished, just rip it up.

I would share mine but it's in little tiny pieces... which by the way, other methods include burning the paper or using water works for some people. Just don't burn anything else besides the paper!

Exercise 13: Stream of Consciousness

If only I listened to my own blog or applied any these exercises to my life, I would not feel the way I do now. That's right, I'm a hypocrite. And I don't care if anybody is out there reading this - it's not like anybody does anyway. I write for myself. I read my blogs. The only thing I don't do is apply it. That's right, I am having an emotional breakdown while writing for emotional balance.

So what happened in the last couple of days? Does anybody care? Well, I am going to write about it anyway. Stress is eating me up. Our condo is still on the market, and our "house" will close in two weeks. I have nothing packed. I quit cooking. I started smoking. Okay, I made that up. And you know why? It's because I started lying. That's right. I lied. I stress and I worry so I lie. I didn't want my husband to try to take control of things his way so I lied to him so he would just mind his business. And that's not even the worst part. He caught me. He believed me until he realized I wasn't where I said I was. I mean I didn't think it through. I thought I had it covered, and he caught me in my lie. I suck at lying. Then he brought up the whole trust issue. That's when I figured out trust is not just about the one who was lied to but the one that is doing the lying. I lied to him because I didn't trust he would make the right decision. He still trusts me even though he says he can't. He is saying that because he is hurt. I am not hurt. I have trust issues and that hurts him. And the irony of it all, is that I would feel hurt if he really stopped trusting me. WTF?!
Stream of consciousness is writing whatever comes through your mind for an allotted amount of time (five minutes is recommended) without stopping. The purpose is to release any emotion that may be stuck. When the inhibitions are removed, the freedom to express takes place. Don't worry about punctuations, spelling, capitalization, etc. Just write.

Chapter 4: Release!

Like water, emotions take on different forms and if functioning correctly, will continue to flow throughout its course or progress. The continuous progression that eventually resolves over time is understood as release. At times, the natural flow of progression will stop, and this is known as blocked or stuck emotions. Because emotions is a physical experience (heart rate, breathing, etc.), a simple physical act such as a sigh paired with a conscious acknowledgment of the emotional experience (stating "Right now I feel...") will prevent our feelings to repeat or go around in circles. Furthermore, a simple acknowledgment doesn't necessarily quantify in release of the emotion. However when the feeling is confronted, the threat no longer exists. Therefore, the ability to release the emotion will take place as this is necessary to make room for other emotions to arise. Releasing an emotion can be thought of dividing a number by two in which it never completely becomes zero, but will become smaller as the numbers continue to divide by two.

Exercise 12 explains the physical act of writing as a release. Using a preferred writing instrument, start "writing" for one minute without forming any letters. If you are using a computer keyboard, just type without forming any words. Here is mine:

kjsdriaseih;sdfaiekjldkfeoihtehknaehrkeha;siehlsdlf aierha ei er a eirh oier a;ieh a;sie la sei eir a;ie r a eiru a;ier aier;aliweraosdif er ja;ser;isdirwiefls  ef gh eif u a;wier ;asd
rk eur aser alskue ru se rakjse8  jehr owjd r wlidr aise rl sieur  ls 9 ali r au sle r
a leiur laiuse r a elkr k rlwieri alsiuer lQIWU ALSEKR L iwR ALISER LAIUER L SEU  alsieur lasieur leiru lasieur leiru aliseu rl as
erl is elri ualseiru aliw erk asier ;asieru alsieur ;lasieur leiru a;liru asleir

The idea is to get the feeling of the physical act of writing itself. Was it just me or did one minute seem to last a long time?