I'll illustrate with one exercise that the facilitators taught us. It's a self-affirmation technique, to assist when either depressed thinking, or anxiety, tries to take over---and prevents us from getting done what we might need to do. It could be applied to many situations, wherever you feel you are being attacked by negative thought patterns.

When all those voices in your head start to try and tell you how bad, dumb, wrong, what a failure you are, or whatever, you need to go find a cool dark spot (preferably a bed), and lay down flat. You clear your mind of as much emotional clutter as you can---and breathe very deeply and very well. Start then by summoning one very good, very positive, very true thing about yourself. It could be something you routinely accomplish, or something natural and inherent about yourself, say, You love to cook for your family. AND you are very good at it. Congratuations, that's one down!

Then, you continue on, coolly and calmly, to stating two good things about yourself. Remember, they must be true---and already firmly in place. Say, this time, it's that you are great at carpentry, or that you have a natural way with small children, or animals. Then, you move in to a third. You MUST speak them out loud to yourself: i.e., "I am really good with small children." Do this all three times. You should notice your anxiety lessening, your breathing getting better and deeper, and you should feel more relaxed as anxiety is moving away from you, and negative feelings fade.

See now if you can move on to 5 good, true things about yourself. Remember, no one else is around, and it doesn't matter what anyone else would think if they could hear you---these things are true, and need to be said.

Next, if you are into the exercise and it is helping you, move on and find 5 more things to state about yourself. By the time you get to ten true and good things, you should be feeling much better about yourself, any tasks you may have at hand, and life in general.

You can repeat this exercise as often as necessary. If you'd find it helpful to Write down the ten true things about yourself, then by all means, do so. Anything that helps make this exercise easier for you to do, the closer you will get to doing it automatically, without having to go through all the motions.

And, I would suggest for those who might be tempted to think this is just 'too easy', or 'too simplistic', I suggest you try it, in earnest; then get back to us and tell us how it went!