In order to begin the process, complete all four steps in the
following exercise:
Exercise 1: Identifying an Old Home Movie
Choose one negative belief to work with. If you
cannot think of one, check the list of beliefs at the
beginning of the Negative Belief Indexin Chapter 5
on page 75.My negative belief about myself is:When I believe this I feel:A presumed original cause of this belief is:Now, close your eyes. In your mind’s eye imagine
sitting in front of your television at home and
watching a film on a video. You are watching an old
home movie, a scene or a sequence of scenes that
you remember from earlier in your life. This is the
event or the sequence of events that might have
been an important part of causing your negative
belief. You imagine that you can see what you
assume is the possible original cause of your nega-
tive belief.
Suppose your negative belief is “There’s some-
thing wrong with me” though your belief, which you
wrote might be different. The idea here is to
“re-view” one specific or typical childhood experi-
ence as if it were playing on a television screen.
When you watch the scenes in which your
parents are critical of you, does it seem as if you are
also seeing evidence that there is, in fact,Using Movies to Release Negative Beliefs 71