Help with Negative Self–talk Volume I

Closing

In this book I have collected and presented a wide variety of ways to transform negative internal self–talk, learned from over 30 years of training and researching. Much of this has come from others who have taught me, or contributed ideas, while some of it has come in little "Ahah!" moments in assisting someone, or reviewing a communication or a transcript of a session. Others I have learned from participants in seminars. All these little bits and pieces had to be collected and then fit together into a coherent whole, a process that was a further learning process in itself.

My own internal voice has been an essential ally in doing this. Sometimes I have thought to myself, "There's something missing here." "If this is true, then that must also be true." "That's not very clear; how does that really work?" "How can I say this better?" And there have also been delightful moments of discovery. "Oh, I know how that works!" "I see how these two elements relate to each other!" As this book grew, it eventually became too long for a single book, so I decided to split it into two volumes, as I did with my previous book. (5)

In this volume, I have mostly ignored the historical roots of our negative voices, focusing on the structures that the history put in place, and changing them in the present. However it can also be useful to change a voice by tracing the origin of a troublesome voice back in time, and learn more about the original context that created a negative voice.

In volume 2 of this book I go on to utilize many of the principles presented here—and some only hinted at—to develop a systematic process for communicating directly with a troublesome voice. This makes it possible to learn much more about the voice—especially its positive intent and its understanding. With this additional information the meaning of what it says changes, so that it is even more supportive and useful, becoming a supportive ally, instead of a troublesome critic. Then you can go on to "tune up" a voice to make further changes in what it says, and how it says it, so that it is even more useful.

Steve Andreas June 2009