The ‘Rubber Band for Your Mind’ Exercise/ Is based on the Milton Erickson method. Scraps from my book

Scraps from my book

The ‘Rubber Band for Your Mind’ Exercise

Although this exercise may seem very simple, it is very effective. It helps you get rid of bad habits. All you need is a rubber band and one of your hands.

Put the rubber band on your wrist. Every time you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, pull the rubber band, and let go. It will smack your wrist, punishing you for this idea. The farther you pull it, the more pain you will feel.

When the rubber band snaps, a very interesting thing happens in your head. Our minds are meant to protect us from injury. Our minds will try to avoid anything that will bring us physical pain. Therefore, when you have a negative idea or a shadow of a bad thought, snap the rubber band on your wrist. Let me explain how this technique works. A lot of things happen around you. When your body feels pain after a negative thought, your mind will try to understand what caused it. It will try to find connections between the pain and your surroundings. It will say, ‘you weren’t at home or you weren’t wearing a hat. A bus passed. You felt the wind in your hair, and you had a negative thought.’ This is what your mind will think when you punish yourself for the first time. Later, your mind will realize that there is only a connection between pain and things that happen to you. There will be no bus or wind. So, your mind will understand that you feel this pain exclusively in situations where you allow yourself to think negatively. As a result, the mind will try to limit the number of negative thoughts you develop. This rubber band exercise shouldn’t cause a lot of pain. However, you can choose to increase the pain level if you think it will be more effective.

The rubber band tactic is a very simple exercise that requires a long explanation. As I have already said, you can use it to get rid of bad habits, too. If your child bites his nails, buy a rubber band for him. You can experiment with this exercise, and apply it to resolve various issues. You may become quite excited about it. It may even help you quit smoking. I would also like to note that this exercise is better used as additional training.