Page 118 - Taming Your Gremlin A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way (Rick Carson)_Neat

they were based so that they could be felt and observed with an attitude of
“creative indifference.”

You can use this same sort of existential, experiential,
phenomenological approach to enhance your own life. To do so, simply

notice and accent the obvious—to the point of absurdity, if you wish.
Experiment with forming a mental picture of yourself acting out your
feelings. If, for example, you observe yourself shrinking from a conflict or
hiding from a challenge, try forming a mental picture of yourself acting out
your feelings. Imagine yourself growing smaller and smaller, or trembling
with fear, or hiding or cowering in a dark closet, or better yet—if the
situation affords you the opportunity—actually scrunch up your posture, or

put your head down or go hide in a closet or walk like you have your tail
between your legs. Give the natural you the chance to observe the strange
behavior and the belief on which it is based.

Be creative and playful with the process of accenting the obvious. If, for
example, you notice yourself holding your anger in to the point that you
feel like a thundercloud, accent the feeling. Hold your breath, puff up real
big, then go look at yourself in a mirror. And don’t overlook one of the

simplest ways to accent the obvious—that is, to describe verbally to
someone else what you are noticing about yourself (in the very moment
you’re noticing it.) Say, for example,

“I’m really filled with fury right now and I feel myself holding it all
inside and puffing up like a thundercloud.”

Or, let’s say your gremlin is putting you down—implying you are

incapable or unworthy, for example. Accent his chatter by speaking it aloud
or turning up the volume on it. Make up a gremlin voice if you want. Often
you will see the absurdity in your gremlin’s diatribe. Go all out as you give
play to his monologue. It might be something like this: “You miserable
lowlife. You’ll never amount to anything. Your commitment to mediocrity
is staggering. I’m not sure you could even work your way up to ‘so-so.’