Ever hear of the 90/10 Rule?
And those stories are either made up by yourself or someone else told you things about you. Are you ready to reduce tension?
First, here’s the good news.
More than 90% of the beliefs you operate out of and live by are someone elses.
And here's the great news: less than 10% are your own!
For example, a friend of mine who has been a follower of personal growth techniques for almost twenty years shared this the other day.
She discovered a bunch of negative beliefs she had about completing a project that had a due date looming. So we went through some of those beliefs. Here's are some of what kept rolling through her mind every time she thought about completing the project.
"What if…"
"I hope I don't…"
"I should have said…"
"The client won't like me if…"
"I always have a problem with…"
"I probably won't be able to finish anyway…"
"I can't believe how stupid I was to try this…"
She then said, “I’ve been working on these beliefs for over 20 years. But something is still there. It’s like the beliefs are sticky fly paper strips that won’t move!"
So why don’t those beliefs move out?
The reason for the difficulty and longevity is simple. Those were not hers in the first place!
You can’t budge, shift or change what’s not yours.
You can only let them go and send them back to their original owners… parents, siblings, friends, bosses, whoever told you something about yourself that has plagued you most of your life!
1. Find a comfortable chair in a quiet place.
2. Sit upright with hands in your lap and feet on the floor. (good posture begets great insights)
3. Close your eyes, take a deep breath and as you exhale, imagine your whole body relaxing. And once again, take a deep breath and relax.
4. Keep your eyes closed and imagine that you know where the tension or blocked energy sits in your body. Notice how it’s stuck there. Breathe deeply again and imagine you are expanding your body to allow it to have more space.
5. Imagine you are expanding space until your body is as big as the room you sit in. Give that energy block as much space as it wants.
6. Good job! Now imagine expanding your consciousness out into the yard, the neighborhood, town, state, country and as far as you want to imagine!
7. Next imagine that there is an energetic grounding cord connected from your tail bone down, down into the centre of the earth. Or you could visualize a tree trunk running from your spine deep into the earth.
8. Imagine the energy block is now loose and ready to fall down the tree trunk away from you. Down, down, down and away.
9. Allow any thoughts or feelings that say, “This is stupid.” Or “I don’t believe it.” Or “Ya, but, I can’t just let her opinion slide away so easily!” Allow those thoughts to flow down and away the same as the energetic block you gave more space. Let them slide down the trunk. Gravity will draw them away from you.
10. Now imagine more blocks show up that came from other people in your life. Let them also slide down. Keep doing this until you feel complete.
Great job today!
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article Patricia, and your 10 action steps are definitely on my list of things to do to improve my life. I life the phrase "It's like the beliefs are sticky fly paper strips that won't move!" I'm going to start envisioning such beliefs as post-it notes that I can easily rip off and throw back to where they came from.
great tips – thanks
I love these 10 action steps. So valuable for us to use. Thanks!
Great tips for stress relief! I needed a few of those reminders
Absolutely agree about our internal beliefs that are causing us current stress/worry! Such a great solution!
What comes to mind for me is the clearing you did for me. And the awareness you brought me. Something I had said out loud repeatedly was what was holding me back and I didn't even know it. Yet you picked up on it immediately. So that story I told myself for years is now a closed book thanks to you!
Suzanne, thanks for the validation! And you did the work and were willing to release what was not yours!! great job and again, thanks! you rock girl!!!
LOVE these tips Patricia! I have found that it can be so easy to get caught up in the "what if" statements and belief that before we know it, we are not living the life that we were meant to live. Thanks so much for the tip…I love them and will use some of them!
Love these great tips on meditation and relaxation. It is amazing what we can accomplish once we get focused and centered! Thanks for sharing.
Great exercises. Tension makes us feel restricted, constricted, tight and closed down. It is good to notice these feeling and have well practiced ways to bring in a sense of open expansion and calm. Grounding is also an essential practice for a sense of general well being. Thanks.
Some great tips, Patricia!
When I'm stressed or all tensed up, I do those breathing exercises – they really do help!
WOW! Love your 10 tips! They are great! #3 is what I usually do to relax and unwind! Thanks so much, Patricia. AND I really like your site…very warm and inviting!
Patricia, this is such an excellent post for reducing tension!! I love how you point out that you haven't chosen most of your negative beliefs, that you have picked them up from someone else…perfect!! The 10 steps that you have outlined are awesome! Thank you!
I hadn't thought about it like that before, that so many beliefs that take precedence in my brain aren't even mine!
Thanks Gina! They did a great job and it’s easy to maintain with all the functionality of wordpress!!
Number one and three are my favorites and I practice them daily
Great post and I have shared your wisdom on Twitter 
I would definitely want to try these simple steps, Patricia. Thank you for sharing this. Surely the steps that you have shared will be a great help to reduce the tension that I am feeling. Thank you.
And by Sue I mean Patricia!!!!! Sorry…doing a LOT of reading this morning. :)
You are so right, Sue. You can do much of anything with things that aren't yours. There is still that little voice inside me sometimes that can paralyze me…and other times when I can tell it to just "shuttup"! I am totally going to use your stepped out technique. I think it'll do me a lot of good,
I love your steps to releasing unwanted thoughts and beliefs too. Very useful information!
Love your steps to releasing unwanted thoughts and beliefs. Very helpful!
Thanks for that! It definitely hit a cord with me. Amazing how we can spend so much time believing something that just isn't so! Appreciate you getting your point across in such a way that really resonates with me … Now off to find that chair in a quiet place!
Thank you for sharing this! I'm a bit "thinker" It's so nice to relax and be in the moment!