Thinly Sliced Life, Part 4

We’ve now explored all the aspects of the Thinly Sliced Life introspective exercise. What you’ve learned here can be applied to any moment in your life, any time you feel like it.

Think of any moment in your life where there is a strong emotional charge directed at yourself. Anything you regret doing or saying, any time you wish you had acted differently.

Bring the scene to mind and notice the emotional charge. Notice how you are unwilling to see yourself with total love and acceptance in that moment. Notice the physical and mental tension and contraction that comes with this.

Then, search through your past to find the “moment of innocence”. Always look for the bodily response. This isn’t primarily an intellectual exercise. It’s not about coming up with a convincing argument to defend your regretful behavior, like in a court case.

It’s about truly feeling and experiencing the greater context. It’s about realizing that every moment of your life is a consequence of every previous moment of your life, all the way back to your very first day on Earth. Seeing this fully brings relief and forgiveness.

Exercise

• Bring to mind a difficult moment from your past and describe it in writing.
• Step into the scene as your present self.
• Note your resistance to fully accepting and loving yourself in that moment. Describe what it feels like.
• Roll back and search through the past to find the moments of innocence.
• When you feel the perspective shift, describe what you discovered.
• Optionally, write a letter to your younger self or try dialoguing with your younger self.