Truth Experiments

Tired of yourself?

Want to get unstuck and move some energy?

These are some truth experiments to play with from time to time. Some I do regularly. Others I am yet to play with!

We often don’t want to do these things because we imagine something terrible will happen or the ego wants to hold on to some idea of control. Sometimes the only way to know what’s true is to test it, find out for ourselves and see what actually happens in reality.

Don’t speak about or reference yourself for an entire day or week! This is a practice I often did in silent retreats and I always found it to be a beautiful experience. By the end of 7 or 14 day retreats we often don’t want to pick up the old habitual ways of talking to other humans!
Get up when the alarm goes off regardless of how you “feel”.
Ask a random stranger for a hug, when you really need one.
Ask someone to honestly share with you how they see you. Then respond with Thank you. This is a great exercise for self reflection and to see where you still get triggered.
Do random acts of kindness and don’t tell anyone. This was a practice offered from The School for The Work. The ego often wants to tell others about the kind deeds it does. Resist telling anyone and do it anonymously instead.
Drive a different route.
Resist the ego’s tendency to judge outloud or make a commentary about someone else.
Respond with an honest No and don’t explain or justify why it’s a No for you. This is also an exercise from The School for The Work. Can you sit in the silence of your No and feel all the thoughts that arise when you don’t explain or justify? i.e.: They will think I am rude, they won’t like me… etc.
Follow the kind, inner voice. When it says - you should go for a walk - just do what it says and go for a walk.
Don’t read anything for a week. Give away 10 books.
Wear something entirely different just for fun and to see what it feels like to take on a different persona.
Do something new, particularly something your ego says it does NOT want to do!
Take yourself out to a beautiful restaurant, or to a movie, alone. Can you be with yourself?
Pay for someone’s coffee or parking ticket, as a surprise.
Don’t use your iPhone as a camera anymore.
Order something on the menu that you would never normally order.
If you notice a complimentary thought about someone in your head, tell them.
Cook something new.
Learn a new language.
Sleep in separate bedrooms to your partner.
Find a genuine reason to apologise to someone and do it.
Make a list - 10 things I appreciate about me….
Send someone you love 10 things you appreciate about them.
Travel somewhere new.
Mix up the daily routines. Start the day in a different way, to different music or food or where you sit.
Paint or create something every day for a month.
Write down all the thoughts that move through your mind in a single day. Mark the ones which run on a loop and are repetitive. Awareness is everything!
Stop drinking or smoking. Give up one of your addictions. (i.e. the greatest addiction on this planet is thinking).
Have a smoke or a drink! (This is for the goody two-shoes)!
Decide to meditate at 4am every day for a week.
Reply to text messages as if they were a handwritten letter. Take your time. Consider what you really want to say. Format the text. Respond slowly. How we do one thing is how we do everything…
Whenever your mind says it is in a hurry, purposely slow everything down.
Reach out to someone you love and tell them.
Do the hard thing, the thing you’re avoiding, now, whatever it is. Yes, it’s that boring admin you postpone!
Be radically honest and open with someone you trust. Hold back nothing.
Cold showers! or Cold swims.
Don’t complain for a week.
Scream out loud - maybe in the car while driving or in the middle of nature somewhere. I recall that the “village idiot” expression came from earlier times when people would go into the centre of the village and just yell or scream randomly as a way to release energy! I love that. Imagine if we all did that on a weekly basis…
Sit and be with a homeless person and listen.
Honour the elderly. Offer your seat. Offer to carry things for them. Ask if they need any help if you think they genuinely might appreciate it.
Learn a new dance. Dance every day.
Volunteer your time or money. If you’re someone who is tight with money I dare you to give some of it away every day.
Educate yourself on something you know nothing about.
Offer blessings as part of a morning or evening practice. Before rising or sleeping, sit quietly and offer a prayer or blessing to whoever appears in your awareness. I love doing this practice and sometimes I am amazed who appears in my awareness - perhaps someone I worked with 20 years ago, a neighbour, someone who has already passed away, an old partner… who knows why they show up - I just trust it.
Go to bed by10am. Rise at 5 or 6am.
Don’t personalise your emotions. For example, instead of saying “I am feeling angry” … say “anger is here”.
Move the body. Stand and shake every day. Tap the head. Slap the body especially where all the organs are. Then stand and feel all the energy.
Fast for as long as you feel you don’t need or want to eat. Notice all the thoughts that appear ….
Catch yourself saying - “I know… “ and don’t.
Offer no help. Give no advice. Just listen.
Allow yourself to BE and feel fully whatever is here - if it’s rage, or depression or crazy joy. OK. It’s here, let’s allow it. There is a big difference in the label of depression vs. melancholy. Melancholy, like sacred rage is a beautifully thing if we allow it. Is it possible you’re just feeling melancholy and can you allow it to be here and be totally ok? It will pass, as all things do. Sometimes the reason emotions hang around is because we’re too busy trying to control them with a big NO, not you again!
When you’re in a highly emotional state, write, draw, paint or move the body. Allow the emotion to express itself in a different way.
Notice all the ways you manipulate, subtle or not so subtle. Notice the following little cycles - victim, blame, defend. explain, justify, prove. be seen, be heard.
You call yourself a critical thinker? Now apply your own concept to all the things you think you’re “right” about.
Laugh! Don’t be serious about anything, especially yourself.
Grow something or look after something (a plant, an animal) and take care of it.
Make it a daily habit to shift your state. If you catch yourself falling into a downward spiral or a familiar habitual story is running, interrupt it. Eventually it will disappear.
Shop completely differently at the supermarket. Buy things you never normally do. Fill your trolley with random things!
Give away whatever you haven’t used for a year.
Move. Live somewhere different. Rent a place somewhere else for a month just to see what it’s like.