When I was a baby, I was misunderstood. Everyone around me assumed they knew what my cries meant.

When I was a child, I was invisible. Everyone in the school yard seemed to walk right through me.

When I was a teen, I was misrepresented. Everyone identified me based on what I would wear.

When I was a young adult, I was abandoned. Everyone claimed to love me, yet they would always end up leaving.

When I was middle aged, I was misplaced. Everyone said they had tried to reach me, but I had been lost in the foray.

When I was elderly, I was neglected. Everyone had forgotten I existed.

Now that I have been caught up in the sky, the Invisibles and I look down and wonder. Would it have made a different if I walked the earth alone?

-S.A. Manful

1. Take a moment to check in with your body, what do you physically feel? And where?

2. List down ways that you think you have allowed a person or situation to make you feel alone. Do you acknowledge that you play a part in the way you feel?

3. Tell your story, what is presently making you feel alone? Who and what is involved in this situation? Write down everything you are feeling.

Write down the times you have felt alone in the past. Regress further into the past into your childhood into your earliest memories. Once you find the earliest example or the most vivid experience of loneliness in your past go back in time, re-examine and write how you felt. Express the things you could not express as a child. Who and what was involved back then?

4. What did you believe about yourself in the past? Did you conclude that you deserved to be alone? Why? What about you was unacceptable?

Imagine standing on the edge of a deep black pool called “I AM…” Inside this pool are all the negative thoughts you have of yourself. Jump into the pool and allow yourself to sink. Every time you encounter a negative “I am” thought ask yourself “why?” and allow it to take you deeper into the pool until you hit the bottom and cannot continue to ask “why?”. At first you notice shallow level thoughts such as “I am alone because I am unrelatable and uncool”. As you sink deeper you notice thoughts that are darker and more universal such as “I am unlovable” “I am unworthy”. Once you hit the bottom and cannot ask “why?” You have arrived at your Negative Foundational Thought.

5. Write down your Negative Foundational Thought. Draw a line beside it and write down the opposite; this is your new Positive Foundational Thought. For example:

I am unworthy |  I am worthy

Important: Look at your NF-Thought. Acknowledge how easy it is to convince a child of anything. Put the two together and realize YOU HAVE BEEN TRICKED. The people and the circumstance worked to convinced you of this lie and you as a child believed it. Take a moment to let it sink in.

You are NOT your Negative Foundational Thought.

Pick up your phone and set an alarm for everyday of the week, each day a different time. For the alarm title/message, type in your Positive Foundational Thought (I am/You are…) and save it. Whenever your phone tells you this message, say to it “I agree”. Keep this message until the day you feel you no longer need to be reminded. Return to this journal/paper and cross out your NF-Thought. 

Bonus optional techniques
Place sticky notes with your PF-Thought in places you go daily.
Record yourself saying your PF-Thought. Play it as you sleep on Repeat.
Create a desktop background with your PF-Thought.

Tired?

Take a 20-30 minute nap for your subconscious to start re-wiring itself. Return to complete the process once you wake up.