Does this resonate with you? “I hold my breath back because of an unconscious fear I have.” If so, then this exercise may be valuable to you.
The below is a possible flow of thoughts, emotions, and associations that come up in the mind when doing self-observation on this thought. It is meant to help you go deeper into this thought and stimulate you. By no means it is implied that it is the only flow or it is the same for everyone.
(If you are new to the concept of self-observation or looking for some practical guidance then maybe read this article: How Self-Observation Works)
Self-Observation on why I am holding my breath back
- I feel fear when I look at why I am holding my breath back
- I don’t know what I am afraid of.
- I see that my whole body is in a state of stress.
- I also feel some kind of shame I think.
- It is the exhalation that I don’t do. No problem with breathing in.
- I feel stuck. Do I feel stuck with my whole life?
Chain of thoughts coming when I am able to go deeper
- I am afraid of what would happen if I fully relaxed my breathing. What would happen if I let myself be fully relaxed?
- My view is that if I would fully exhale, something bad would happen. Something that would hurt me. I don’t dare to.
- I got used to this state. I can hardly imagine now how it would feel to have relaxed breathing.
- I do not dare to let my true Self come to the surface.
- It may have something to do with having a goal in life. I mean I think I would be more relaxed if I fully knew what I wanted.
Notes
- If you are new to the practice of self-observation then here are some ideas that can help: It is very powerful if you write down your thoughts (like with an old-school diary). It is also very powerful if you phrase your thoughts and emotions in a short and basic way.
- Self Chatter is a self-development tool and one of its major goals is to help with self-observation as a major tool to raise your consciousness. Thus you will find these types of self-observations on Self Chatter.
(None of the articles on Self Chatter are generated by AI.)
