Too many of our troubles come from negative thoughts and emotions. What you think you are. Anxious, fearful, angry, timid. I've been thinking about dealing with these negative emotions and how to neutralize them. As a voice actor I started thinking about the power of imagination and turning negative emotions into more physical entities we can control. I played around with this idea and here is what I came up with.
Use your imagination and visualization to SEE things like anger, doubt, fear, and anxiety. Anger is a bubbling fire, doubt is a question mark, fear a screaming mouth and anxiety a tight knot in a rope. Come up with your own visual cues if you like, but SEE these things in your mind. Close your eyes and see them. Then, tell them to go into the corner and sit down on a stool. Literally, out loud say, "no, go into the corner. Sit down. Stay there." As you say this, see the question mark move into the corner and sit on the stool. If it tries to get up, tell it again, no, go to the corner. Sit down. Say it firmly. These things will usually always try to get up again and more toward you. Notice and again tell it, no, back in the corner. Sit down. Every time it tries to get up, put it back in the corner. Breathing is the power to make this happen. Take a deep breath and then say the words. Your breath powers the command. It may take several breaths, but it is important to catch the feeling before it overtakes you. The moment you notice the slightest thing, get on it and get it in the corner. In this way, you take control back of your mind. You decide which emotions come forward and which don't.
In the same way you drive your negative emotions away and into to the corner, you can also pull positive emotions out of the shadows. Confidence always hides in the shadows. Every once and awhile it may pop out but it often gets scared and runs back, especially if something bops it on the head, then it may hide even longer. Again take a deep breathe and call confidence out of the shadows. Do this verbally out loud. "Confidence, come here. Come out of the shadows and stand next to me. Stay right here". Confidence will likely get scared and go back to the shadows, so you will need to continually call it back out, just like you continually push negative emotions back to the corner. Don't let it hide for long, get it back out and keep calling it out. Confidence may have had a good deal of trauma so it could take awhile to get it to reliably say out, but keep calling. Call Faith and Belief. Call Determination or any other positive emotions you want. Most important, give them a visual cue and see them coming.
Visualize all of this as powerfully as you can. See confidence, a white circle maybe, coming to you. I visualize confidence to my left, faith and belief to my right and out front, determination. Determination plows through everything while confidence, faith and belief are the engines that power determination, which is why they are behind. You can come up with any emotions that work for you and put them in any configuration you want. Just repel the negative emotions to the corner and call out positive emotions from the shadows. When you get your positive emotions to stand with you more reliably, they will actually help you repel the negative emotions. They will become your allies.
The key to all this is your imagination and visualization. You've got to see and feel this stuff as powerfully as you can. Give positive emotions a visual representation and see them coming out. Feel them standing next to you. As Voice Actors, we already have a good visual imaginations so let's use them for our benefit.
If you end up trying this and it works for you, I would love to know. Please leave a comment on this post and tell us about it.
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