Thought Switching
This practice is designed to shift lingering disempowered feelings and beliefs to empowered states.
To practice thought switching, spend time writing out all the limiting beliefs or criticisms your mind is telling you.
In one column, dump all the thoughts/beliefs/criticisms/dialogues you play in your mind.
This can look like:
If people really knew me they wouldn't like me
I can't ask for what I want
I’m not worthy
In the other column, write down a true empowering belief that combats the limiting belief.
The thing about our limiting beliefs is that we've repeated them to ourselves for so long we believe they're true.
But when we think even remotely critically about them–turns out–they're far from true. In fact, we often can find ample evidence to the contrary. Include evidence when available in your list.
This can look like:
If people really knew me they wouldn't like me
I have deep and meaningful friendships that nourish me and let me show up as myself
I can't ask for what I want
I am free to ask for what I want and I accept consequences and rewards for making my needs and desires known
If a true empowered version feels out of reach, I like to reframe my negative belief by saying, "well, I might not be [at empowered version yet], but I'm new and I'm learning and I'm practicing].
The goal here is to supplant one script for another through conscious repetition.
You can do this in a few different ways, listed with levels that correspond to their efficacy of integration:
Level 1:
Every morning and before bed, read over your affirmations list.
Level 2:
Awareness & new patterning response: When you catch yourself in an old thought pattern, actively replace it with the new one. I like to say, "no, that's not true..." and then state the empowering belief. The "no" gives you a pause – a critical component in switching habitual practices.
Level 2.5:
If chanting out loud isn't available to you, you can record your empowering list and play it in your headphones. Repeat each phrase 3-5 times, using different powerful emotional states to read them in (Eg. what does it sound like to say it with excitement, passion, conviction, etc).
Level 3:
Running, dancing, chanting, breathwork – these are all ways to get our body into a peak state – you're flooding your body with endorphins, norepinephrine, and dopamine (among others) which bring online more of your body's programming systems.
As you do a physical practice, pick 2-3 affirmations from your list that you feel drawn to that day.
If you're in a space where it feels safe to do so, chant your empowered belief out loud.
The voice has power (your brain literally listens to you). When you can voice an affirmation in an elevated body state and with emotion (eg. shouting vs whispering) you are making a stronger connection (telling your brain to pay attention). Notice when the phrase feels integrated before moving on to a new one. (You should feel like the thought promotes excitement or empowerment, and you don't feel emotions rise up when you think of the disempowered version, rather, it seems laughable).
