Letting Go of REBT’s Irrational Beliefs (iB’s) with The Work

REBT’s: See previous post

Should-ing beliefs
• I should be better.
• I should be different.
• I should be a better person.
Must-erbatory beliefs
• I must do things differently.
• I must be a better person.
• I must do a better job.
Awful-izing beliefs
• This is awful and I can’t stand it and it will get probably get worse.
Helpless core beliefs
• I am helpless.
• I am powerless.
• I am out of control.
• I am weak.
• I am vulnerable.
• I am needy.
• I am trapped.
• I am inadequate.
• I am ineffective.
• I am incompetent.
• I am a failure.
• I am disrespected.
• I am defective (i.e., I do not measure up to others).
• I am not good enough (in terms of achievement).
Unlovable core beliefs
• I am unlovable.
• I am unlikable.
• I am undesirable.
• I am unattractive.
• I am unwanted.
• I am uncared for.
• L am bad.
• I am unworthy.
• I am different.
• I am defective (i.e., so others will not love me).
• I am not good enough (to be loved by others).
• I am bound to be rejected.
• I am bound to be abandoned.
• I am bound to be alone. 

Use the following four questions and sub-questions (sub-questions only when appropriate) with the concept that you are investigating. When answering the questions, close your eyes, be still, and go deep as you contemplate.



1. Is it true?
• The answer is a “yes” or a “no” only.
• If your answer is “no,” continue to question #3.

2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
• What emotions happen when you believe that thought? (Depression, anxiety, etc.)
• Does that thought bring peace or stress into your life?
• What images do you see, past and future, when you believe that thought?
• What addictions/obsessions begin to manifest when you believe that thought? (Alcohol, credit
cards, food, the TV remote?)
• Describe the physical sensations that happen when you believe that thought.
• How do you treat that person and others when you believe that thought?
• How do you treat yourself when you believe that thought?

4. Who would you be without the thought?
Close your eyes and observe, contemplate. Who or what are you without that thought?

Finally: Turn the thought around.
Statements can be turned around to:
the self( I don’t ___ to me.),
to the other( I don’t ___ to them.),
and to the opposite. ( ___ does ___ to me.)

When dealing with an object, you can replace the object with “my thinking” or “my thoughts.”

Find a minimum of three genuine, specific examples of how each turnaround is as true as or truer than your original statement.

"I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn't believe them, I didn't suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always."
— Byron Katie
http://www.thework.com/index.php

REBT

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, or REBT. Dr. Albert Ellis was originally trained as a psychoanalyst. However, in the 1950s, he began to develop a new type of therapy that he considered to be more "efficient" than psychoanalysis.
Using his REBT therapy, Ellis helped his clients to actively change self-critical thought patterns and self-defeating behaviors. He is often considered the "grandfather" of cognitive therapy, due to his pioneering work.
One of the most important approaches in REBT is the "A - B - C" model. According to this model, an Adversity (A) does not directly lead to emotional Consequences (C). Instead, there is an important middle-piece: our Beliefs (B). Either Rational (RB) or Irrational (IB).

Beliefs
1. Should-ing – I should be better, I should be different, I should be a better person .
2. Must-erbatory – I must do things differently, I must be a better person, I must do a better job.
3. Awful-izing – This is awful and I can’t stand it and it will get probably get worse.
 
Here are irrational beliefs that Albert Ellis described:
1. It is a dire necessity for adult humans to be loved or approved by virtually every significant other person in their community.
2. One absolutely must be competent, adequate and achieving in all important respects or else one is an inadequate, worthless person.
3. People absolutely must act considerately and fairly and they are damnable villains if they do not. They are their bad acts.
4. It is awful and terrible when things are not the way one would very much like them to be.
5. Emotional disturbance is mainly externally caused and people have little or no ability to increase or decrease their dysfunctional feelings and behaviors.
6. If something is or may be dangerous or fearsome, then one should be constantly and excessively concerned about it and should keep dwelling on the possibility of it occurring.
7. One cannot and must not face life's responsibilities and difficulties and it is easier to avoid them.
8. One must be quite dependent on others and need them and you cannot mainly run one's own life.
9. One's past history is an all-important determiner of one's present behavior and because something once strongly affected one's life, it should indefinitely have a similar effect.
10. Other people's disturbances are horrible and one must feel upset about them.
11. There is invariably a right, precise and perfect solution to human problems and it is awful if this perfect solution is not found.
The Goal, of course, is to replace the irrational, self defeating, beliefs with empowering , self accepting beliefs.

New Age has numerous Irrational Beliefs.
“I AM”/ Ascension / “Ascended Master Teachings” co-founded by Guy Ballard in the 1930’s. is one example.
He’d met an Ascended Master, St. Germaine, at Mount Shasta and became an emissary so to speak. Of course when Guy died and his body remained the Ascension was revised to levels or degrees, the highest level being Ascended Master status.
Borrowing heavily from Theosophy there are similarities and differences.
Theosophy had the “Masters of the Ancient Wisdom”. Who apparently wrote letters to C.W.Leadbetter.
Blavatsky claimed to have travelled the world ( Egypt, France, Canada (Quebec), England, South America, Germany, Mexico, India, Greece) and especially Tibet, where she studied for some years with the ascetics, to whom she referred as Brothers. Blavatsky was initiated for theosophical work while in Tibet.
Baird Thomas Spalding wrote “Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East” in 1924 about travels to India and Tibet contact with "the Great Masters of the Himalayas", immortal beings with whom they lived and studied. No proof was offered,
The source of the idea that there is a hidden sanctuary of ascended Lemurian masters under Mount Shasta came from “A Dweller on Two Planets or The Dividing of the Way” is a book written by Frederick S. Oliver printed in 1905. Other people believe or propagate the idea still.
Sister Thedra travelled to Lake Titicaca in Peru and was initiated into the “Abbey of the Seven Rays”. Actually, once there, she established the “Abbey of the Seven Rays” with other people. http://pvrguymale.blogspot.com/2011/07/dorothy-martin-sister-thedra.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Ballard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascended_Master_Teachings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baird_T._Spalding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dweller_on_Two_Planets
Numerology/Astrology/Horoscopes/Energy Vampires/Chakras/ Past Lives/2012?