No my intention is not to write out Dr Hanson's book from cover to cover, but as anyone can see from my posts. I certainly experience the dark nights of the soul and from that dark, painful place, I can find solace in what he writes. Rewriting it helps me process the exercises for myself and I hope that the secondary gain can be that someone else in a dark painful place may also find solace. I certainly have no shares in "Hanson Inc :P". It is an unpaid for opinion :) I have done a lot of psychological work over the years and I personally find the likes of Rick Hanson and Linda Graham at the cutting edge of major breakthroughs in psychology. If it doesn't resonate with you, that is fine.... the reason there are so many modalities, is because we all respond to different treatments, differently :)
http://www.rickhanson.net/
http://lindagraham-mft.net/
Enjoy the following exercise, if it is your kinda thang :)
***
Verbatim from Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson pp 213-5.
"Everyone has good qualities, such as patience, determination, fairness, forgiveness, honesty, kindness, and love (see p 97 in ch 6). Recognising these qualities in yourself is simply seeing reality with clear eyes..."
"Even if you, like me, have done things worth of remorse, they do not wipe out your good qualities; you are still a fundamentally good person."
"..if you repeatedly take in the sense of being a good person, you'll feel more reassured about
it inside and more confident when dealing with others."
"Pick a good character quality that you know you have... and think of one of more examples of it. Be aware of any blocks to recognising the fact of this good quality...let them go, and then come back to the ways this good quality is actually true about
you. Get a sense of any feelings or sensations related to to the good quality... Consider how this part of you benefits others. Let yourself feel glad about
having this good quality. Repeat this for a few other good qualities you have. Then as you go through your day, notice some of your good wishes toward others and your good qualities in action. Let this recognition of specific good intentions and actions become a more general sense of the goodness inside you, and a growing conviction that you are indeed a good person".
"
open up to a sense of the goodness inside you, your true and natural kindness, decency, fairness, responsibility, perseverance, and other honorable qualities. What do these qualities feel like? Stay with the experience of your goodness. Protect it, make a sanctuary for it in your mind. Know that you don't have to be special to be a good person. Soften inside, with perhaps relief or joy at feeling like a good person. Let a sense of goodness fill you. Embody this experience by letting goodness show in your face. Sit, stand, wlk and talk while feeling alike a good person. Register it when you do good things for others".
"Feel goodness spreading inside you like warmth or light, becoming a part of you. Sense the conviction growing in your mind that you are a good person. Imagine yourself in challenging situation or relationships while having a strong sense of your goodness and the let this way of being sink in. Feeling and knowing the good that is in you, there's no need to act from guilt of shame or to cling to reassurance from others."
"Be aware of both your goodness and any shame (or related feelings of being tainted, damaged goods, unlovable, defective, doomed of a bad person). Keep reestablishing a strong sense of your goodness,including aspects of it such as caring, decency, and good intentions. Know that whatever is good in you can be obscured by never lost. Sense that the good in you is touching shame and related feelings, bringing light and warmth into them like the rising sun reaching into the darkest shadows. Feel the goodness in you while also being aware of and caring towards any parts inside you that feel dirty or bad. When you want, let go of the negative material and simply rest in the feelings of goodness, such as wishing others well [genuinely]. A few times over the next hour, be aware of only neutral or positive material - such as a sense of being a good person - while also bringing to mind a neutral trigger of shame or related feelings."
Edit: I have looked at this site and the materials are Copyright 2014. Dr. Rick Hanson. Also the site is selling his book/program.
Please review the rules of HealingWell.
Thank you, Kitt
Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 2/9/2014 9:01:23 AM (GMT-7)