It's actually
quite easy to modify past experiences. The next thing I'd like to teach
you is what I call
"briefest therapy"
and you can all try it now.
Think of an unpleasant
embarrassment or disappointment, and take a good look at the movie to see
if
it still makes
you feel bad now. If it doesn't, pick another one...
Next, start that
movie again, and as soon as it begins, put some nice loud circus music
behind it. Listen
to the circus
music right through to the end of the movie.
Now watch that
original movie again.... Does that make you feel better? For most of you
it will change
a tragedy into
a comedy, and lighten your feelings about it. If you have a memory that
makes you
annoyed and angry,
put this circus music with it. If you run it by with circus music, the
next time it
comes back it
will automatically have the circus music with it, and won't feel the same.
For a few of
you, circus music
may be inappropriate choice for that particular memory. If you didn't notice
any
change, or if
your feelings changed in an unsatisfactory way, see if you can think of
some other music
or sounds that
you think might impact that memory, and then try playing that music with
your memory.
You could try
a thousand soap opera violins, or opera music, the 1812 Overture, "Hernando
Hideaway,"
or whatever, and
find out what it happens. If you start experimenting, you can find lots
of ways to change your experience.
Pick another bad
memory. Run the movie however you usually do, to find out if it bothers
you now....
Now run the same
memory backwards, from the back to the beginning, just as if you were rewinding
the film, and
do it very quickly, in a few second....
Now run the movie
forward again....
Do you feel the
same about that memory after running it backwards? Definitely not. It's
like saying
sentence backwards;
the meaning changes. Try that on all you bad memories....
