Before we change anything in our lives, we have to learn how to see. That’s why the first step in The Healing Elements is noticing. We start by observing the patterns—those repeated thoughts, deeply held beliefs, and emotional states that shape what we expect from the world. Most of us don’t even realize we’re running old scripts until we feel stuck, disconnected, or overwhelmed.
Once we notice, we can begin to work with those patterns directly.
That’s where the first tool comes in: GO.
What Is GO?
GO stands for Generate Opposite. It’s simple, but not simplistic. And it’s often the key to real movement—the kind that feels like forward motion after a long time of circling the same emotional terrain.
Here’s how it works:
Take a recurring thought or belief that feels limiting or painful. Write it down. Then write its opposite. And for the next few days, speak the new thought as if it were already true.
Let’s say the original thought is, “I don’t deserve to be happy.”
Your opposite might be: “I deserve happiness.” Or even: “My joy is natural and safe.”
The goal isn’t to wallpaper over something difficult. The goal is to offer your mind and body a new emotional posture—one you can begin to inhabit through language, imagination, and presence.
Sometimes we think affirmations are silly because they don’t match our current reality. But what if they’re not meant to match it? What if they’re meant to reshape it?
You Can Start with Emotion, Too
GO works with emotion as well as thought.
If you’re feeling anxious, try to generate an experience of calm or safety. That might mean stepping outside, talking to someone you trust, or engaging in something that brings joy or inspiration.
A new thought is powerful. But a new feeling—especially one you create on purpose—is transformative.
Two Loud Teachers
My first real encounter with GO didn’t look like a self-help moment. It looked like two screaming goats.
Leo and Orion arrived with tiny voices and cherubic faces. But as they grew, their vocal cords matured into something else entirely. Let’s just say their bleating could pierce through walls—and often did.
Their cries always escalated when I was immersed in something quiet: writing, reflecting, or planning.
My first internal reaction?
“Shut up.”
And that was the thought I wrote down.
Then I asked: What’s the opposite?
“Speak up.”
It startled me. I hadn’t realized how much of my life had been spent managing silence—keeping things in, playing small, avoiding conflict. Behind that two-word outburst was a much deeper belief: “It’s not safe to be fully seen.”
That’s the one I rewrote next:
“It’s safe to be real.”
“My voice is welcome.”
I didn’t believe these yet. That’s not required. But I spoke them anyway. Wrote them down. Lingered with them.
And over time, I began to notice when I did feel safe, when my voice was heard, when something in me settled instead of bracing.
The Story Beneath the Story
GO helped me recognize how my external world was echoing back my internal state.
Even my melanoma diagnosis showed up with a kind of message: stop disappearing.
I don’t think I “manifested” illness on purpose. But I do believe my soul was asking for something different. It was trying to reroute my attention—not just to my health, but to my life.
There are patterns that want to be undone. GO helps loosen them. It offers an experimental framework: What if the opposite were true? What if you lived into it just a little?
A Few Helpful Affirmations
Of course, it’s not magic. But sometimes it feels like it.
Here are a few affirmations I worked with during a time when I needed a new story:
- I know who I am.
- I love myself.
- I matter.
- I feel connection.
- I am deserving.
- I am lighthearted.
- Life is magic.
Some were the direct opposite of an old belief. Others were simply the emotional tone I wanted to amplify. Either way, repeating them gave me a sense of spaciousness—like my mind could stretch a little wider.
Try It for Yourself
So here’s what I invite you to do:
- Choose a thought or belief that feels limiting or painful.
- Write its opposite.
- Say it out loud, as if it were already true.
- Try writing the opposite emotion, too—what you want to feel instead. Let it sit alongside the new thought.
You don’t have to do anything else right now. Just begin with the act of generating the opposite.
There are many ways to expand from here—imagining the opposite vividly, play-acting it in daily life, or looking for evidence that it’s already starting to take shape. But we’ll get to those in other posts.
For now, just GO. Let the opposite idea exist. Speak it. Let it change the shape of your thoughts.
This is how stories begin to shift—word by word.
