Exercises
Pick an exercise based on your day. Full instructions below.
Morning Pages
Put whatever’s in your head on paper.
🌶️ Mild — Start here
Good For: Building an inner practice, creativity, clarity, focus
Four Questions
Question a thought until it loses its grip.
🌶️🌶️ Medium
Good For: Release from stressful thoughts, questioning your stories
Meet a Protector
Get to know the part of you that takes over.
🌶️🌶️🌶️ Hot
Good For:
- Calming intense emotions
- Exploring your internal landscape
- Processing something big
Morning Pages
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
Context: Morning Pages is a daily writing practice designed to clear mental clutter and access creativity. There’s no ideal technique—just write whatever comes up.
Good for:
- Clarity, focus
- Creativity, new ideas
- Building a creative practice without perfectionism or self-judgment
Spice Level: 🌶️ Mild
Entry Point: Stream of consciousness
How it works:
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Aim for three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing - Three pages can be a lot, anything counts.
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Before you start your day - Give your monkey-mind thoughts a place to exist on paper. Maybe they’ll leave you alone.
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Write whatever comes: Petty complaints, to-do lists, dreams, worries, random observations. This is meant to be messy and unfiltered. It’s a chance for you to accept anything your mind comes up with.
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Keep the pen moving - Try not to stop to edit or think. Let your mind and the pen find their pace. If you’re stuck, write about being stuck until something else comes up.
Four Questions
Context: “The Work” explores how we suffer when our thoughts argue with reality. The four questions help you investigate those thoughts and shift your perspective.
It sounds too simple. The practice works by slowing down enough to feel the difference between believing a thought and questioning it.
Good for:
- Relief from intrusive thoughts
- Questioning your stories
- Exploring how the internal and external reflect each other
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️ Medium
Entry Point: Thoughts
Steps:
Settle in - Find a quiet space. Let your mind settle (as much as it will).
Pick a thought - Choose a statement about someone or something that’s bothering you. Start with something petty, and point your finger outward:
- “Charlie doesn’t respect me.”
- “This meeting is pointless.”
Don’t start with yourself (“I’m not good enough”)—that comes later.
Write it down simply — With as few words as possible while keeping the original meaning
The Four Questions:
Move slowly through the four questions, keeping your focus on this one thought. Let the answers come rather than think them up.
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Is it true? - Yes or no answers only. Sit with it for a moment if you’re answering with more than a yes or a no.
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Can you absolutely know that it’s true? - Can you know with absolute certainty? Again, yes or no only
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How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought? - Notice everything. How does it feel in your body? How do you see yourself and others? What images play in your mind?
Stay with your original thought. You might find yourself thinking “[Original thought], and that means _____.” A new thought is filling in the blank. Jot it down for later if you like, but for now come back to the first one.
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Who would you be without that thought? - Imagine yourself in the same situation, but without this belief. Who are you? How do you feel?
Find the “Turnarounds” - Flip your original thought (“He doesn’t respect me”) in different directions:
- To the opposite: “He does respect me”
- To yourself: “I don’t respect myself”
- To the other person/thing: “I don’t respect him”
Find three examples - For each turnaround that resonates, find three specific examples of how it might be as true (or truer) than your original thought.
Sit with it - Notice the difference in your state between question 3 and question 4. Take a moment with the turnarounds. Leave a little space for your mind to see things differently.
Going Further: Check out Byron Katie’s “how to” page here.
Meet a Protector
Context: Parts Work (Internal Family Systems) views the mind as made up of different parts, each with its own consciousness and behavior. Sometimes a strong emotion or pattern takes over. This exercise helps you step back, get curious about what’s happening, and understand what it’s trying to protect you from.
Good for:
- Calming intense emotions
- Exploring your internal landscape
- Understanding patterns or reactions
- Processing something big
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Hot
Entry Point: Emotions, sensations
⚠️ Heads up: This method can uncover buried emotions or painful material. If something feels too big—pausing, reassessing, and seeking help is encouraged.
Steps:
Settle in - Find a quiet space. Let your mind settle (as much as it will).
Notice what’s present - Observe any thoughts, emotions, sensations, or impulses. Don’t judge them, just notice.
Choose one - Does anything seem to want your attention? Pick one to focus on.
Locate it - Where do you sense it in or around your body? Feel free to draw some representation of it on paper. A scribble is great.
Check your feelings toward it - How do you feel towards this part?
- If negative reactions show up (judgment, fear, anger), ask those reactions to step aside for now
- If something won’t budge, work with that one instead
- Keep going until you can approach this part with curiosity or compassion
Talk to it - You can speak to this part silently, out loud, or write to it on paper. Extend curiosity, compassion, and appreciation. The idea is you’re having a conversation with someone who matters.
Ask and listen - Pose each question below, one at a time, and wait quietly. Let responses come rather than think them up. You might get clear answers, vague impressions, or nothing at all. The act of asking and listening is the practice.
- Is there anything you’d like me to know?
- What are you protecting me from?
- Pause and recognize this part’s good intention. Offer some gratitude. Notice how it responds.
- What do you need from me going forward?
Write what comes - If images, words, or sensations arise, jot them down.
Close with gratitude - Thank the part for whatever it allowed or shared, and let it know you’ll check in again.
Note: The original exercise in No Bad Parts is more meditation-based. I tweaked it here to include writing and drawing, which can help you step back and observe.