purging oneself of negative energy & paulo coelho

The Cruelty Exercise
Every time a thought comes to mind that makes
you feel bad about yourself – jealousy, self pity,
envy, hatred, and so on – do the following:
Dig the nail of your index finger into the cuticle of
the thumb of the same hand until it becomes quite
painful. Concentrate on the pain: it is a physical
reflection of the suffering you are going through
spiritually. Ease the pressure only when the cruel
thought has gone.
Repeat this as many times as necessary until the
thought has left you, even if this means digging
your fingernail into your thumb over and over. Each
time, it will take longer for the cruel thought to
return, and eventually it will disappear altogether,
so long as you do not fail to perform the exercise
every time it comes to mind.

the above is an excerpt from

the pilgramage, by paulo coelho.

this book is really interesting if you can dig self-help books, “new age spirituality”, or…believe in magic? anyway,  according to him, it is a truthful, abridged account of his journey on the path of santiago de compostela.  the book contains various exercises that are supposed to help one along the path of spiritual growth.

when i explained “the cruelty exercise” to a friend of mine, she was disturbed because she saw it as a form of self-flagellation.  but for me, it was extremely useful.  people who are generally positive and in a good state of mind may not see the necessity.  but i have to confess, that there is a lot of negative self-talk occurring in my brain.  and i’ve been so abusive to myself in my own thoughts for so long, that i really have to work hard to pay attention to catch it.  but this exercise helps, because causing myself a very mild physical pain 1) makes the negative thought goes away and 2) reminds me that just as i’m causing myself physical pain by pressing my nail into my cuticle, i cause myself psychic pain when i tell myself that i can’t do what i want to do.

so i don’t see it as self-flagellation at all, but really basic negative association.  negative thinking causes physical pain, i will think negatively less frequently until i eventually stop.   i think this is the point in the conversation where people would throw in a reference about pavlov and his dog(s).

i have been engaging in entirely too much negative self-talk lately.  so i will definitely be re-employing the cruelty exercise in my life.

back to paulo…he is both greatly heralded and greatly criticized.  i’ve definitely felt inspired by his books, and always feel that my heart is lighter after reading them.  but his critics call him a fraud, hypocrite, liar.    i prefer to reserve my judgment.  however, you can go to any book store, any where in the WORLD and you will find a catalogue of his works, in multiple languages.  you gotta respect that.

the alchemist is his most well-known book, and might genuinely be my favorite book in life.   other of my favorite books by him are

by the river piedra i sat down and wept,

veronika decides to die

the warrior of the light

he also has some books free for download at:  http://piratecoelho.wordpress.com/  to find the english versions, scroll all the way to the end of the list.

A warrior of light knows that certain moments repeat themselves.
He often finds himself faced by the same problems and situations, and
seeing these difficult situations return, he grows depressed, thinking that he is incapable of making any progress in life.
‘I’ve been through all this before,’ he says to his heart.
‘Yes, you have been through all this before,’ replies his heart. ‘But you have
never been beyond it.’
Then the warrior realises that these repeated experiences have but one
aim: to teach him what he does not want to learn.

–paulo coelho, the warrior of the light