AWARENESS RAISING TOOLS:

SLICING THROUGH THE NOISE

!
!
!

WWW.MADE2STICK.ES

AIM: to raise awareness to the mental noise that is going on in our minds and to
the potential destructive power of thought, in order to offer strategies to bring
about a state of calm that can help us to overcome situations of stress and
improve our self-belief and self-esteem.

!
!

!
!
!
!

!
!

!
!

STAGE 1 - NOTICING THE BUZZ

Materials needed:
Each participant should have some paper and a pen ready
Comments for how to use this exercise:
The following stages are at best a guide, that you can modify to suit your
environment. They are better if read slowly with moments of silence inbetween the different stages to allow the listener the necessary time to enter
the desired state.
Alternatively invite one of your students to lead the exercise.
(taking into consideration that the rest of the group will be able to follow)

!
!
!
1 Guided Visualisation Stages:
!

1.1 Sit in a comfortable position,

with both feet touching the floor
and hand resting on your knees,
palms facing upwards. Close your
eyes and focus on your breathing.

You are going to become an

observer of your own mind, as if
seeing it from the outside,
watching closely the thoughts that
drift in and out according to their
own will. As each thought enters,
simply observe them, free of any
kind of judgement to the message
the thought brings. Keeping your
eyes closed, write a word that will
help you to remember the thought.

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

1.2

!
!

1.3

!
!

1.4

!
!

Now imagine that in an hour you are going to go into an exam. See the place
of the exam in your mind and you walking to it. What is in your mind as you
get nearer? Observe the thoughts that come into your mind. Once again,
write down a word that will help you to remember them.
If the activity of your mind now were a place or an object, what would it be?
What colour is it? What else do you notice? Enter this place now or go up to
the object and touch it, How does it feel to be here? Notice the sensations
this place has in your head and in your body. What is the word that best
describes this place?
Return once again to your breathing
When you are ready come back to the class.

2.

2.1

!
!
2.2
!

!
!

2.3

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

Building New Insights

When they open their eyes, describe the place they saw in their mind in pairs
or groups of three.
The others only listen, they may
not interrupt. Once the person
has finished, the listener(s),
share one small insight that
came to them while listening that
they give back as a gift. It is
important that there is no sense a
judgement or personal
interpretation of what they have
heard, this is much more
powerful when it comes from a
sense of intuition.
Using their annotations from the visualisation:
How could you put your thought into categories?
Indicate how many of your thoughts are inspiring or positive in nature
Indicate how many of your thoughts are uninspiring or negative in nature
What have you learned from this exercise?
What is the difference between the exercise you have just done and what
normally happens with your thoughts?
A group discussion on the power of thought might well be beneficial to the
group at this stage, using their findings from the experiment.
An interesting piece of data at this point is the estimation that of our average
80.000 thoughts a day, commonly 80% of them are negative in nature and
most of the time, we do not recognise the powerful impact they have on our
state of mind and the destabilising effect they can have on our emotional
balance and thereafter on our behaviour.

!
!

STAGE 2: FROM THOUGHT TO WIRE TO CABLE

Aim: this exercise serves as a

practical pathway to
understanding what happens in
our brains, using our body and
sensory system as tools that go
beyond our habitual cognitive
responses. The process offers
a simplified illustration of a
biological reaction over time.
Repeated thought forms new
neurological pathways in the
brain, that if strengthened
enough gradually become a
cable that is remarkably hard to
break - this is when thought
becomes BELIEF.

It is our systematic negative self-talk that is the main culprit of generating and
succumbing to stress and low self-esteem.

!
!

3.1

3.2

!
!
!

3.3

3.4

Ask for an example of one of the negative thoughts related to the exam they
saw in their minds. This person stands up in front, representing the voice that
generates the thought.
Get a number of students in a line, explain that they represent neurones in
the brain. Give the first person in the line a ball of string. On hearing the
thought voiced they pass the string to the next person.
Repeat the thought and pass on the string and continue repeating the
thought until the string reaches the end of the line.
On the next repetition, the neurones tighten the string as they move closer
together. keep repeating until the line of students are huddled very close
together, as if they were an inseparable cable.
Tell them that this is exactly what happens with our thoughts in the brain.
Let them explain what they have understood in their own words.
Finally challenge them with the idea that they probably won't won't to do
anything about this, that they prefer to carry on as they are and continue to
experience their negative inner dialogue, stress and inevitable
consequences, in the way they always have. If they do, fine, that is their

!
!
!

!
!
!
!
!

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

choice. Then it's important to leave things where they are. If they are ready at
a later date to go a step further you will know.

However by this time, they will most probably be more than eager to
experiment some kind of strategy that can help them to enter a more relaxed
state, from where they are in a much better position to overcome stress,
embrace challenges like exams from a place of calm and suppleness of mind
and body, realise their full potential and through continued training with such
techniques, gradually improve their self-belief and self-esteem. In this case
you may choose to progress with STAGE 4.

Please refer to the embedded audio file for STAGE 4 and final stage of this
process: Guided visualisation Slicing Through the Noise

WWW.MADE2STICK.ES
SLICING THROUGH THE NOISE

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!