Online dating tips and relationship advice from Dr. Neder...
How To
Move On After A Breakup
Have you been having trouble moving on after breaking up with
an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend? This can be very difficult
to do! I’m going to show you an incredibly powerful technique
to help you get healed quickly and permanently and to move
on so that you can find that next great love and relationship.
Why You Can’t Move On
Why can it be so tough to move on? Often, it depends on the
circumstances of your breakup. For instance, if your ex cheated
on you, not only do you feel alone, you often have a bruised
ego, many unresolved feelings, etc. Even worse, you will likely
replay the event of the breakup over and over again in your
mind – with all those powerful emotions attached – only to
continue to reinforce the loss.
When you combine all of those powerful emotions with a constant
replay of events, you work not to forget – but to remember!
You’re actually programming your mind to reinforce the effects
of the breakup. Now it makes sense that you are having trouble
moving on!
The problem is that most people think you can just stop doing
this and it’ll go away. In reality, that doesn’t work. Let
me illustrate why.
Let’s play a quick game. I want you to relax for a moment,
sit comfortably and close your eyes. While you’re in that state,
try to NOT think of a white rabbit. I want you to really make
the effort to NOT think of that white rabbit. Give yourself
about 1-2 minutes and really try to NOT do it. Go ahead and
do it now. I’ll wait….
Dum-da-dee-da-dum-da-do-da-do…
Ok, did you try it? If you did, you just discovered something
very important. You can’t do it! You can’t NOT think of a thing.
That’s a very important lesson in how your mind is wired. It’s
designed only to DO one thing or another, not to NOT do it!
This also leads you directly to the next step:
What You Need to Do
Obviously, you have to first stop repeating the breakup or
the fight that led to the breakup or that last phone call you
had or whatever you’re repeating over and over again. However,
that’s probably much easier said that done!
What you need is an ACTIVE technique to redirect your mind
and turn all that negative energy into positive action. I’m
going to give you that technique here. It’s called the “reframe”.
If you’ve seen my show or read a few of my articles, you now
that I talk about this tool regularly. It’s just that powerful.
What it means is to take all of those powerful negative images
and redirect them into ones that will help – not hurt – you.
That is, to reframe them into something you want.
Here’s how it works:
First, get somewhere that you won’t be disturbed for about
10-15 minutes. You don’t want phones or friends or family stopping
this exercise once you get started or you’ll simply wind up
having to start all over again.
Sit down in a comfortable place and loosen any tight clothing
or shoes. Take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and let
your body relax. Muscular tension is going to work against
you, so let it go for now.
Allow yourself to feel the pain, hurt, frustration, anger
or any other emotions that your breakup has caused you. Beginning
this feeling process is an important part of the technique.
If you’re numb to it, you’re not going to be able to use it
to propel you out of the funk!
So, as you begin to remember these images you’ll find that
you actually start to see, hear, smell, taste and feel them
coming back to life. You’re reliving them again in your mind.
Now, let’s take the first active step. Notice how bright and
loud and colorful and pronounced all of these images are? Ok,
let’s dial them down a bit. Turn down the brightness of the
image in your mind. Begin to let the color of it fade and turn
down the volume until it’s just a weird muted mumble.
Watch the image fade to black-and-white and then let it go
out of focus. Just imagine your experience of the event and
the person themselves fading out; not away however, just out.
Check your emotions now. Are you less anxious, hurt, angry,
etc.? Of course you are. That’s the key.
Next, let’s take that moving dull, black-and-white, muted
image and let it slowly recede into the background. Watch the
image get smaller and smaller as it moves away from you.
Notice how your emotional experience is also getting smaller
as this happens? Great, you’re on your way.
Next, imagine the image flying over your head and behind you.
When you turn around to see it (again, in your mind) it hides
behind you. Note again how it seems so far away now – it’s
almost a distant memory, and so is your emotion of it.
Now, let that image go shooting up into the sky. Watch it
as it travels right out of the atmosphere toward the sun, gaining
speed as it flies. Finally, it hits the sun and creates a beautiful
burst of color as it simply burns up and is gone. Take a moment
to enjoy the image.
Now, come back to your emotions (forget the image now) and
notice how you feel free and relieved of the image, and for
that matter, of all those negative emotions themselves? Let’s
turn that up next.
Allow yourself to really FEEL that relief. Enjoy how it feels
to be free of that image. In fact, this is your reward for
having done this exercise so well! Enjoy it and turn it up.
If you can add a picture or sound to that feeling do so now
and turn those up as well. Let the colors and tones intensify
to create even greater pleasure and relief.
Take a few moments to revel in this and when you’re done,
take a deep breath and open your eyes. Now, just realize that
you’re done and ready to get back onto your day.
Keep in mind that one practice session isn’t going to remove
all of this for you. You’ve likely been over the event you’re
trying to eliminate hundreds of times. The good news however
is that; if you do this exercise every day, 2-3 times a day,
you’re going to find that within a week much of your emotional
tie to it is fading. Within 2-3 weeks, it will be all but gone.
This will be a good time to start looking at your relationship
goals again – or writing them out for the first time. Part
of healing is getting started on the next chapter of your life.
Don’t just float – get going!
Best regards...
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Have a love, relationship,
sex or man/woman question? I answer all email. You can write
to me at dwneder@beingman.com
for answers. For more information about my books, "Being
a Man in a Woman's World" (volume I & II), and other
products visit: www.beingaman.com.
Check out the discussion group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beingaman.
Copyright (c) 2004-2011, Dr. Dennis W. Neder
All rights reserved.
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