A MESSAGE FROM YOUR QUEENLY S.E.LF.

My dearest of dears!
Has anyone told you, today, that you are wonderful?
If not, let me be the first!

Yesterday, you were asked to conjure me.
You did a fantastic job for your first time around.

Since we’ll be seeing a lot of each other over the next while,
I’d love to offer you a bit of guidance on how to connect with me even more.

Remember, when we were children, and we played make-believe games?
Once upon a time, it was an important part of our lives.

Why did we stop?

It was child’s play, they told us, so naturally we should close the door for good
when we become ‘big girls’.
But here’s what they never tell you:
Make-believe is one of the strongest powers we have.

What if make believe actually makes us believe?

Remember that story Karen told in week 1, about how she started writing an alternate version of her life story solely to make her book less boring?
She had no other motive, but somehow, it unknowingly led her
to one of the greatest discoveries of her carreer:

She already knew that the brain is like a tape recorder,
replaying things on repeat until a new thought loop takes hold.
But she didn’t know that a completely made up, happier version, of her childhood, could become her default story. A story that brought with it a whole new set of much happier bodily sensations that trumped her negative ones.

If you’re skeptical, I get it. But Karen’s been doing this work with clients for years now,
and the results are pretty miraculous.

How about it?
Want to give it a try?
If nothing else, remember how fun make believe used to be?

I know, life changing transformations are supposed to be challenging
(and in many ways they can be) but here’s a secret: Fun is a powerful tool.

Ready to dust off the old imagination and have some fun?

p.s. Karen has not forgotten about the S.E.A.QUENCE she showed you in class,
but she wants you to get a little more familiar with my Queenly magnificence
before she asks you to begin doing it.

BUILDING A CHARACTER IS CHARACTER BUILDING

This is Karen Speaking:

When I wrote my alternate verrsion, my 2 amusing alter-ego characters, Roger and Elisabeth, who had only ever been fun adult personas to do improv comedy with, suddenly became 2 new childhood friends. They mentored me, supported me and provided me solutions to the real-life painful experiences that had no solutions. They had beauty full remedIES to my worst memories.

Why did I choose them and not two completely new characters? Like I said, I never visualized them as children when I played them as adults. As I sit here, I’m thinking about the question Tara asked in class. How does Roger relate to S.E.L.F.? When I anwered her, I thought it was clear cut. My S.E.L.F. is my wise, intuitive mentor – the essence of me when I remove all the toxic trauma and programming. Roger is a character I created because I love improv acting,
who I later realized had traits I could utilize to increase my real-life joy levels.

But now that I think on it some more, it feels like my wise, intuitive S.E.L.F.
guided me to choose these characters to be the friendly, loving helpers in my story.
(interestingly, in my story, they were not at all comedic!)

The reason I chose a queenly presence to be the first representation of your S.E.L.F. is because of the regal posture I want you to connect with. As I explained, in class,
posture has a transformative effect on mood.

But I also want you to understand that the sky is the limit with our imagination and intuition.

If the idea of writing a story, to help with the goals you are looking to achieve, is not your thing,  that’s fine. There are other ways to achieve your goals.

But if you were to write a magical story in which an amazing character (or group of characters) helped you achieve the actual goal you chose in our class, who would he or she be?
Just because your goals are very serious (just as my years-long bullying trauma was)
that doesn’t mean your story can’t have magical or fantasitcal elements.
And just because I ended up improving a situation that happened in the past, and you are working on a goal you want to achieve in the future, it doesn’t matter.
Both involve the way we feel in the present.

When I was writing my alternate version, I thought my bullying work had long been finished.
I no longer got triggered by adults social situations. All I was left with was a mild, manageable feeling of melancholy when I thought about childhood. Little did I know my fictional rewrite could fool my body into feeling like I’d had a lovely childhood experience.
The result is that every time I think about my childhood,
I think about the fictional version and I feel joyous.
When I think about the actual events of my childhood now, they don’t cause melancholy
becausemy brain now replays happy, fictional version on a perpetual loop.

Right now, you are feeling a certain, negative way
(which is why you created a goal that you’d like to feel a different way).
If you write a story that puts you in a world where your issue got solved, you give your body a change to live in that alternate reality.
You bodily sensations play a tremendously large part in how you feel mentally
(physical posture creates mental posture!)

REMEMBER:
THE 1 THING STOPPING YOU FROM ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL
IS YOUR CURRENT P.O.V.
THE MINUTE YOU CONVINCE YOURSELF TO THNK ABOUT YOUR GOAL DIFFERENTLY (FROM A NEW P.O.V.) YOU WILL HAVE ACHIEVED IT!

If you’re interested in exploring this story technique, but you’ve not done much writing, don’t worry. There’s no pressure, it’s child’s play. Literally! Your S.E.L.F is the one behind the scenes in the writer’s room doing the heavy lifting, and I’m here to guide you every step of the way.

TODAY, YOU WILL BEGIN YOUR NEW COLOURING PAGE
(FOUND AT THE BOTTOM).  HERE ARE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS:

1) TAKE OUT ALL 24 COLOURS FROM THE GROUP OF COLOURS LISTED ON THE ‘COLOURED BALLS’ COLOURING PAGE YOU DID ON DAY 1, WEEK 1.

2) CHOOSE A COLOUR TO REPRESENT YOUR S.E.L.F. CHARACTER. YOU CAN DO THIS BY LOOKING AT THEM, OR MORE INTUITIVELY BY CLOSING YOUR EYES.

3) CHOOSE A SECOND COLOUR TO REPRESENT YOUR YOU CHARACTER.
DON’T ATTEMPT TO DO THIS WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE WORKING WITH A POSSIBLY HIDEOUS COLOUR COMBO! CHOOSE A COLOUR THAT PAIRS WELL WITH THE FIRST ONE YOU CHOSE.

4) AFTER PICKING YOUR 2 MAIN COLOURS, PICK A MINIMUM OF 1 MORE.
THIS REPRESENTS ANY ADDITIONAL CHARACTER(S) THAT MAY HELP YOU IN YOUR EMERGING GOAL SUCCESS STORY.

5) PONDER THIS ONE, FUN QUESTION WHILE YOU DO YOUR COLOURING:
AT THE END OF MY STORY, WHEN MY GOAL WAS ACHIEVED,
HOW DID WE CELEBRATE?
WAS THERE A PARADE? AN INTIMATE CELEBRATORY DINNER? A TRIP TO JUPITER? A 600-PIECE ORCHESTRA? TALKING ELEPHANTS? A SIMPLE PAT ON THE BACK (WHILE RIDING A TALKING ELEPHANT?)

ENJOY!

P.S. HAVE I MENTIONED THAT EVERY COLOUTRING PAGE WAS CREATED FROM PHOTOS OF TREE BRANCHES?
THE TREES ARE WITH YOU AS YOU COLOUR!