About a month ago, I had something on my mind that I had already arranged to take care of later, but it kept drawing my attention, distracting me, and I wanted to concentrate fully on something else that I needed to do. First I noticed where this distracting image and auditory was—right in the center of my head. When I tried moving it out to the left side about six inches, that made it less intrusive but it was still distracting. Moving it out to the right side, and then behind my head was about the same—better than inside, but still bothersome. Moving it to in front of my forehead made it even MORE the center of my attention and distracting, and I immediately realized that’s where I put images of immediate goals and outcomes that I want to concentrate on. Then I moved it to above my head, and breathed a big sigh of relief. Up there it didn’t distract me, and I was able to concentrate well and get the job done.

For years I have been asking people who are bothered by a critical voice to notice where it is located (almost always inside or very near their head), and then suggesting that they hear the exact same voice coming from their left elbow or right kneecap. When they do that, the tonality of the voice often spontaneously changes, and it doesn’t have the same strong emotional impact, making it easier to listen to it without bad feelings. That can open the door to communicating with the voice, and working with it further in a variety of ways in order to integrate it and make good use of it, ultimately transforming it into a resourceful ally instead of a nag.

Connirae once had an overweight client whose critical voice spoke from her stomach. (Try listening to a critical voice, and then move it so that you hear it coming from your stomach, and notice how THAT changes your feelings.) Hearing the voice coming from her stomach made her uncomfortable, so she ate frequently in order to make her stomach feel better. Moving that voice out of her stomach allowed her to feel better, so she ate less. Changing the location of a representation in this way is often a very powerful and useful change, and this is something that you can apply to a wide variety of problems. The next time you are distracted by a voice or an image, notice the representation, and then try moving it to some other location in your personal space until you find one that serves you well.