Destruction of Auditory Representations

Often it's not just internal images that bother us, but even more persistently, internal voices. These could be voices from critical conversations we've had—perhaps embarrassing or uncomfortable—and now we constantly hear a specific sentence in our minds and feel annoyed that we tolerated such audacity or had to listen to it. It could also be an internal voice we've carried with us for years, saying things like, "Hey, you idiot, you'll never manage that!" or sabotaging us in other ways. The following exercises aim to disempower such inner voices. Try them out for yourself and notice how your feelings change.

Distort the Voice

Listen to the voice for a moment. Then imagine Mickey Mouse is speaking to you and hear the same words, but in Mickey Mouse’s voice.

Increase the Speed

Listen again to the original voice, and then simply make it faster—maybe as fast as when you're fast-forwarding a cassette tape.

Reduce the Speed

This time, let the voice become very slow. Slower and slower, until it starts to drag and distort.

Singing Songs

Now choose a fun melody, like "Maya the Bee," "Baloo the Bear," or "The Funny Lumberjack Boys," and sing the original words to that melody. Sing energetically for a few minutes and move around a bit too. No inner voice can resist that. It loses its emotional negative power.

Change the Voice Type

Now imagine the voice is still saying the same thing, but in a really sexy voice.

Change the Location

Now change the location of the voice. Listen to the voice. Where is it coming from? From your head or from outside, from the front or from behind, from below or above. Now simply move the voice to another location. Try out some variations.