Wrangle Those Gremlins!
Posted on April 07, 2013 by Molly McCormick, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
Some tips to work with negative thinking using the Taming the Gremlin method.
It is my mission to help you feel happiness and joy!
When people come to see me, they are often experiencing some frustration or pain from not having the life, the job, the relationships, the self-esteem they know they can have.A coaching method I love to use is Rick Carson’s wonderful work called, “Taming the Gremlin.”
Gremlins are the voices, the nasty narrations, that sabotage our plans, do us no good except to make ourselves feel miserable and small. Your Gremlin is not your negative thought. Your Gremlin is the SOURCE of them! He, she or it tells us who and how we are. It defines and interprets our every experience and it’s usually negative! The Gremlin is a thief, out to steal our attention, moment-to-moment, breath-to-breath and his goal is to squelch the natural, vibrant you within!
Here are some examples of Gremlin take-overs:
1) Upon receiving an award, the Gremlin says, “Well that will never happen again. Luck of the draw that I got picked…” Ultimately the language will lead you to feeling completely unworthy of such an award.
2) Hearing a friend talk about their happy relationship. The Gremlin says, “See? You’ll never be happy like Mary… you’re too fat…ugly…poor…fill in the blank!”
Gremlins like to take the train of thought directly and non-stop to the train wreck. They start the engine of the train and if you’re not conscious, you’ll get on its train with the accompanying thought passengers who all join in a chorus of doom and gloom. Despair, misery, hopelessness, victimization, ashamed, unhappy…These are all moods and attitudes on the train to the train wreck.
Common train wrecks are:
1) I lost my job…I will become homeless, a bag lady with no friends or material sustenance to my name.
2) Feeling ill… It is a brain tumor or cancer that will kill me.
3) A spoiled dish at a dinner party…I will have absolutely no friends left afterwards.
You get the idea. We all have our own version of Gremlins and Train wrecks. They are personalized, individualized, created and developed just for ourselves. Most of them grow out of childhood experiences, many of which we had no control over. But we do now. As adults, we can wrangle and tame those wild Gremlins ruining our day!
The first step for taming the Gremlins:
Notice the “Make Yourself Feel Bad Commentary.”
So often we walk around, unaware of the negative energy reigning down upon us. We just know we feel bad about ourselves. To NOTICE that we feel bad about ourselves is the doorway to change. Don’t rebuke, react, deny – Just listen to the commentary, like you were listening to someone on the radio.
The second step is: BREATHE.
Breathe with awareness and bring the fresh air down into your abdomen, solar plexus, and lungs. Breathe in fresh perspectives, inspiration. It’s the quickest way to get out of your head and into your wonderful body. Breathing will help your circulation, your heart, your muscles and nerves. Your breath will remind you of where you live and get you out of the neighborhood of the Gremlin. The Gremlin lives in your mind. YOU live in your body.
Part of the coaching is to identify the narrations that travel with us throughout the day. We bring them out into the full sunlight so we can appreciate the shenanigans they set up for us. Gremlins hate the sunshine, they hate to be exposed. They hurl insult after insult, trying to turn up the heat so you won’t believe in the goodness that is right there in the moment, waiting to be experienced. The most common Gremlin that gets exposed in coaching is “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?” This kind of statement is the bottom line self-esteem shooter. The Gremlin starts shrinking away when you answer, “Well I think I am capable, intelligent and courageous enough to go for this dream!” Coaching helps keep the focus on the dream, not the Gremlin’s so called Protection Squad.
The next time you catch yourself in a denigrating conversation, stop and notice who is doing the talking. Take a deep breath. Look around you in the moment. What is really true? Chances are that there is a small authentic voice squeaking through the Gremlin’s roars. Amplify the Gremlin’s talk, expose him to the sunlight – outside of your mind. Laugh as you take his train to the train wreck, knowing they are just silly little fears that lose their ferocity when you pay attention to your body, breath, and heart.
