“A lot of people need a thicker and tougher emotional skin than they have. But they need only a tough emotional hide or epidermis— not a shell.” – Maxwell Maltz, M.D. – Psycho-Cybernetics, Updated and Expanded
How do you begin to cultivate thicker and tougher emotional skin without becoming a shell that blocks the positive and the negative?
The “skin” Dr. Maltz is referring to is an imaginary one.
It doesn’t exist physically, yet it acts as though it does.
In Psycho- Cybernetics, you will read about the effects that tranquilizers have on reducing the negative effects of stimuli on the nervous system. As a result of this type of medication, you can tune out the little things that bothered you in the past. The bothersome stimuli are still present, but you are no longer disturbed by them.
There are ways that you can shield yourself from negativity without tranquilizers or other drugs. One is to imagine, in full detail, an umbrella protruding from your chest and abdomen, then being opened to ward off negativity. If someone is saying something mean and nasty to you, the umbrella opens immediately, and their comments bounce back at them.
Another way is to mentally pretend there is a wall of impenetrable glass in front of you. The negativity that is directed at you hits this glass and splatters or falls to the ground. Keep in mind, you can build this wall as tall, as long, and as deep as you want so that nothing negative can find a way to you.
A third way is imagining that your skin is so thick that nothing can penetrate. This is even easier to do when you picture that you have “put on the armor of God,” as it says in the Bible.
None of these methods involve you surrounding yourself with a dark shell.
You still see and hear the negativity, but you don’t feel it because the imaginary protection you erect works to create emotional space between yourself and others.
Matthew Furey
author of Psycho-Cybernetics 365 – now available in softcover, e-book and audio book formats.
Q: “But Matt, what about self-criticism? How do I create a thicker skin when it’s not others criticizing me but me doing it to myself?”
A: Good question. I can go into all the positive details in a LIVE class over Zoom. Interested? Email me by clicking on the following link: LIVE CLASS: Turning Self-Criticism Around
