What are some exercises that can be used to break unhappy patterns?
Exercises used to break unhappy patterns can be the homework assignments that I love to give people to let go of an individual or experience by writing it down and saying goodbye to it. A loss that has been recycling in someone's head in sort of an obsessive way, focusing on I lost that or I lost that and feeling unfinished about it. If they can write it down, if they can say goodbye to it, if they can ritually bury it or release it somehow, it gives them a way to start fresh. Because part of what happens if someone suffers a loss and they do not complete the grieving process, is they get stuck there. So anything that will help them move through the experience, go through the anger, go through the sadness, go through all the feelings, come out in a place of acceptance, will give them a way to feel lighter. And therefore, more potential to being happy. Another one is if they have a conflict with someone and they cannot find a way to articulate what they feel, what they think, and what they like or work out an understanding and a compromise with that person. Writing a letter to the individual is usually really helpful. It does not matter if that person is alive. It does not matter if they are actually in a relationship with them currently. But they can always work it out because really, the only relationships you have are in your mind. How you see that person. How you choose to believe that relationship exists. Your memory. Those things are all subject to change given whatever you choose to do. So again, you have control. If you take control and you take responsibility, you can create change and break unhappy habits.
