How I “Correct” Things That Feel Bad…and Get Un-Stuck

The “Corrections” Process

If an emotion has ever taken over your life in some way — and caused you to do something you wish you hadn’t (e.g., anger)…

…or kept you from doing something you really wanted (e.g., fear)…

…or simply made you feel bad (pain)…

Then you’re probably carrying around some emotional blocks from your past.

Michael A. Singer talks about these in his lectures on “Living from A Place of Surrender” (available on Audible). He explains how we create suffering for ourselves when we hang on to fears — and also to things we don’t want to let go, because they feel good.

When we have these things built up in our minds, then we fail to see life as it is. Instead, we see it with the overlay of our past. And because of this, these past occurrences run our lives.

They make us avoid things we are afraid of, and they make us seek things we like. So much so, that instead of enjoying the present, we keep wishing it were different. “Better.”

So far, I’ve learned — and experienced several different methods for getting rid of limiting beliefs and getting through these old emotional blocks.

They include:

• Hypnosis
• Corrections
• The Lefkoe Method
• Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), aka “tapping”
• Affirmations
• Meditation & Visualization
• …And more!

Of all of these, the ones that have had the most impact for me are The Lefkoe Method, Corrections, Hypnosis and Meditation/Visualization.

And lately, the method I’ve been using the most is the corrections method.

So I thought I’d share part of how I do it with you.

I can’t give you the full process because it’s not mine to share. But I’ll talk about how the process works for me.

With so many different ways to get at basically the same thing — a release of old emotional scars — you can probably use some of what I share to figure out your own method.

How I Use the Corrections Process: A Brief Overview

I’ll give an example in a minute. For now, here’s the overview:

1. I identify something I need to work on.
2. I write down my thoughts and feelings around it.
3. I try to ascertain whether it’s my inner child, or my inner teen who is active.
4. I look for historical data. Where did I learn this, or first experience it?
5. I talk to my child, or teen, and give them either comfort or advice.

Here’s An Example

I feel a bit scared to share this very personal experience with you. But I also know that the things that scare you the most are the things you should share.

So that’s what I’m doing.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were speaking with our couples therapist. It had been a tough week for my wife. She works in health care, and so does a large portion of her extended family.

She had already lost an uncle to Covid-19. One of her cousins had fallen ill. And any time she looked on Facebook, her friends would post sad story after sadder story.

So as you can imagine, she wasn’t feeling especially happy.

And while all this was going on, I was feeling more and more angry. So much so that I had a hard time showing her any empathy.

Why would I feel angry?

I didn’t know immediately, but then I started to explore the idea.

First, I figured out what I was thinking. It was, “I don’t want this.” That phrase felt very, very triggered to me.

And I had a feeling of pain with it, along with anger, fear, and a few other emotions.

I attributed this thought to my inner teen, because the feeling was one of escape — I wanted to get away, and get away now. That’s a very closed off feeling.

In comparison, a child might feel exposed, and scared.

Next, I thought about WHY I would feel this way. When was the first time I felt like this?

I thought back to when my mother left my father. I was still living at home, and my brother and I stayed there with my father.

As you can imagine, my father wasn’t a very happy person back then. He’d just been dumped by his wife of 30+ years. He was depressed.

And living with a depressed dad was NOT a good experience. People who are depressed are not emotionally available.

And since my mother had just left…I needed that emotional support.

Also, I was a teen. And…if you’ve ever been around a teen, you know that bad things are about 16X worse when you’re a teen.

It’s a tough time in anyone’s life.

As soon as I realized where this anger originated, things began to make sense. The strong emotions began to ease.

I spent some time writing down a bit of “wisdom” to guide my inner teen through the current situation.

I suggested things like, “You can’t control when other people feel depressed, but you can be kind and understanding of their suffering.”

And then I closed my eyes and brought up a picture of me as a teen. I went through a full “correction,” going through the thoughts, feelings, where I learned them (original historical experience), and the advice.

And in this way, I helped release the emotions that had been basically running a part of my life under the surface.

The neat thing about a lot of these emotional release methods is that you can do them on your own once you learn them.

But even if you’ve never learned how, you can simply journal about things and try to figure out when you first experienced the feeling you’re experiencing.

Sometimes, that’s all it takes to release the emotion.