★*Sometimes* Telling Yourself the Opposite Works

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 23/06/2010. Last edited on 26/11/2015.

Ever noticed if you can’t sleep, and you ‘try’ to go back your sleep-suggestions actually make it worse? Sometimes..anyway.

Though also..ever tried the opposite? To yourself you say..ok..don’t go to sleep. I want you to stay up all night..and ..don’t even let those eyes close..nope..no I won’t let you..And poof..fatigue sets in, and eyes get sleepy, breathing changes..and you are asleep.

And ever feel anxious/fearful about something..? And you say ok.. is that all you’ve got??? Can’t you get more anxious than that? Poof- calm(:

How about studying..nope I won’t let you open that book..All of a sudden that book becomes mighty interesting..

Sometimes we are kind of rebellious, huh?

Ever work that way for you?
Caution..don’t try this with everything lol

Yes, Laurie.
Funny you should say that.From time to time I draw upon a particular example of when this worked for me….but I am not sure why it worked.
Deep down I knew I could do something…but I told myself the opposite as if to challenge myself…?
I did this as a child a lot and I was a high achiever. People thought I was pessimistic because I appeared to think of myself as a failure….but somewhere inside I didnt.
I am trying to use this technique at the moment.

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 25/06/2010.

Anoushka, Part of me believes that this occurs because we are not believing we can change some kind of ‘inevitable’ thing. For example, let’s say all evidence is showing you are anxious, or you can’t sleep..and then you start telling yourself..If (if= i.f. I fear) ..I fear of If I don’t get back to sleep, I won’t perform well tomorrow. So we obstruct those thoughts with the opposite, so we say: not only do I think you can’t get back to sleep, I don’t want you to. Now part of us simply rebels..because we need to sleep.

How are you using this for achieving?..that sounds very interesting…(:

In response to Laurie~LovesFocusingWell’s post:
I dont know that I am achieving….
But as you said in another thread – Keep your eye on the prize…thats what I am doing today.
I am in a refelctive state – I am not sure that thinking the worst is good. I think we must always ‘expect the best’. I was a high achiever in the past – but not from telling myself I wasnt – that negative self talk stopped me from achieving even more, I think!

I have seen and read a couple of threads here this morning and I have realised that, the last thing I posted here was OLD BEHAVIOUR – and not at all productive. I urge you all – believe in the very best…not second best.

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 28/06/2010.

In response to anoushka’s post:
Yeah, I’ve never used this thought process for achieving,,but I was all-ears if you had something new to think about(: So we’ll cancel that(:

Though if anyone else has ideas as how this works for them, I’d love to hear. I’m trying to see patterns(: And beyond that love to hear everyone’s thoughts on how they do what they do for creating the good they want.