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You can't call your body names
without hearing it yourself. Because we are our bodies, the feeling that we
are yelling at someone else is an illusion. Your "body self" is you, and
it may have been hearing a lot of abuse for a long time.
Try this exercise. Print off the page (in
landscape mode) and fill in the table. What are the characteristic things you say
about your body? Write them in the "old tapes" cell. Then go to the
cell to the right and write how you feel when you hear someone talking about you that way.
Next, go to the cell to the right and write a phrase that is just the opposite of
the "old tape"; for example, if your old tape is negative, write something
glowingly positive. Then write how you feel hearing someone saying that.
Next, write something about that part or aspect of your body that is descriptively true
(as if you are explaining what you see to someone who can't see it) but not loaded with
good or bad associations. Then write how you feel hearing someone say that.
After you do the exercise with a few of your
"tapes" step back and look at the chart. What are your thoughts and
feelings as you notice how you talk to yourself? Are there any changes you would
like to make?
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