A meeting, a conversation, an event — sometimes they leave us in turmoil, confuse our thoughts and feelings. You can understand yourself on your own. How to do it without hurting yourself?
Technique «Monologue»
There are events after which we cannot calm down for a long time. Sometimes an hour, sometimes a few days, sometimes a week or more. Such experiences distract us from fresh impressions and new tasks, as if keeping us in the past. In this case, the «Monologue» will help to put thoughts and feelings in order in order to internally complete the situation.
Substance
Speaking out loud thoughts and feelings.
When to apply
The technique is suitable for working in situations of psychological stress.
How to use
When an unpleasant situation or communication with a person causes irritation or tension, and for some reason you do not have an interlocutor with whom you can share your feelings, solve the problem yourself. For this:
- Find a secluded place where you won’t be disturbed or interrupted.
- Take an alarm clock with you and start it by measuring 5 minutes for the exercise.
- Think of a situation or person that makes you feel negative, difficult, or conflicting. Ask yourself, “How do I feel about this?” and start saying out loud whatever comes to mind. To make it easier for you to pronounce feelings, start with the phrases: “I’m worried”, “I’m completely fed up with the situation …”, “I’m confused (confused) …”, “it annoys me (worries, embarrasses …).
- Keep talking. At some point, you may find yourself thinking that you are talking nonsense and this is not true. It `s naturally. Do not judge your feelings or statements. Don’t say, «That’s stupid» or «That’s not right.» Go on. The main task now is just to pronounce what comes to mind. Don’t stop until you hear the alarm.
- After the alarm sounds, stop, take a short pause and listen to your feelings. Usually five minutes is enough to feel better. If you still have tension about the situation, repeat the procedure again from the first step.
Result
The monologue technique allows you to defuse emotional tension and concretize your own experiences.
Explanation
This technique can be seen as an intimate conversation with yourself about your feelings and thoughts, or as a practice of being kind, interested, and more understanding about yourself.
The founder of the psychodrama method, Jacob Moreno, used the «Monologue» technique to enable a person to express experiences that correspond to psychological truth. Thus, the true attitude to the event became clear.
This is exactly what we are trying to do with the above exercise. This can help the energy “locked” inside to express itself and not bring us back again and again to the experienced situation.
After such a «detente» it is much easier to respond to new events happening to us.
Expressing real, genuine thoughts and feelings is not always possible right away. The alarm clock helps with this — it kind of pushes the feelings to “go on stage”.
For some, it is easier to talk not sitting, but on the go. Physical movement serves as a kind of warm-up for expressing feelings and thoughts. In this case, you can walk in a circle, with small and leisurely steps.