Color Me Blue, or Pink, or Polka Dot

An exercise for getting distance from feelings or thoughts, for developing the knack of witnessing them without judging them, is to "play" with them. What color is my headache? How big is it? Where is it located? That feeling of fear--where is it located in my body and how big is it? What shape is it? Some people use this idea to get rid of painful feelings and thoughts, and some use it to get rid of headaches. The principle is the same old hypnosis idea of Mesmer's. Remember the principles of hypnosis? The mind can only entertain one thought at a time, and we can choose any thought we want. Neutral thoughts about coloring our headache or deciding on the shape and position of our bad feeling replace the thoughts "I am in pain."

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