As someone who became obsessed with personal development in my late teens and early twenties, I came across a lot of techniques on how to clear up or change negative thinking and feeling.
I learned about:
- neuro-linguistic programming
- neuro-associative conditioning
- Gestalt therapy
- family systems therapy
- Logo-therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- and many, many more modalities
I read books about them – and although I didn’t necessarily become a high-level practitioner in all of these types of therapy – I did at one point or another work with a specialist to understand them and use them on myself.
What motivated me underneath it all, was a very basic desire to not feel bad and to find a way out of my own psychological suffering and pain.
Eventually I did find a way out… and ironically it was from one of the first personal development books I ever read! Although at the time I didn’t realize that that book was giving me THE answer to spiritual growth, personal development, and the way out of emotional and psychological pain.
When it comes down to it, there are basically two things that can help relieve emotional difficulty or psychological suffering:
- Insight – By having a deep inner realization that changes your perspective on life, you might realize something that frees you from a huge amount of future psychological pain.
- Techniques – To use an in-the-moment technique as soon as the negativity arises
The first method is obviously by far the most powerful. And it’s the major focus of most of the coaching I do with people – to help them realize something about the way their mind works, that immediately relieves them of all of the negativity and pain and negative emotions they’ve been experiencing.
The second method has a ton of problems, not least of which is the fact that most techniques don’t work 100% of the time… and you almost never want to actually use it when you need it the most!
One of the first personal development programs I ever discovered taught a six-step method to change a negative feeling. Even though I carried around the six steps on a note card inside my wallet wherever I went, I still found it extremely difficult to pull it out and actually do the process when I really needed it.
That’s why these days the only technique I ever teach is the Inner Salam Method. In my personal experience, this has worked for me 100% of the time. After you learn it, it’s extremely intuitive and quick and easy to do, and it works best when you are “in the thick of it”.
The moment I realise I’m in a bad mood, or resisting the present moment in any way, my go-to is The Inner Salam Method… and within a few minutes… “Poof!” It’s gone. And I’m back to myself again.
That’s why it’s one of the main things I’ll be teaching in the next Nafs Mastery Session, which is titled:
“The Way Out of Psychological Pain.”
If you want to take part in the session (and discover the ONE personal growth book that has been more powerful for me than the other 1,000 books I’ve read on the subject in the last 20 years), then check out all of the details of the Nafs Mastery Program here:
