Strengthening Positive Resources
EMDR processing requires a trained therapist. But you can strengthen positive resources that counterbalance your negative beliefs — making them more accessible and more neurologically robust before processing begins.
This approach draws on EMDR’s Resource Development and Installation (RDI) protocol, adapted for self-guided use.
The Practice
- Choose a resource memory. A moment when you genuinely felt the quality your PC describes. If your PC is “I am capable,” find a moment when you felt capable — not performed it, but felt it. If your PC is “I am lovable,” find a moment when you felt genuinely loved. It can be a small moment. It just needs to be real.
- Bring the memory to life. What do you see? Where are you? What does the air feel like? What sounds are there? Let the memory become sensory and present.
- Find the feeling in your body. Where do you feel this quality? Chest? Shoulders? Stomach? What is the texture of the feeling? Let yourself stay there.
- Add BLS. Slow alternate taps — 20–30 — while holding both the memory and the body feeling. Let the feeling grow if it wants to. Do not force it.
- Add the PC word. While holding the feeling and the BLS, quietly say or think your PC: “I am capable.” “I am lovable.” “I have worth.” Notice if the VoC shifts.
Do this daily for the remainder of the program. Each session strengthens the neural network associated with the positive belief — making it more available as a counterweight to the negative one.