This powerful exercise takes advantage of a popular dynamical behavioral system from chaos theory, known as....
                                                     "The Butterfly Effect"

In a nutshell, The Butterfly Effect suggests the probability of a chain of events taking place that might possibly look something like this:

Imagine a little butterfly in Western Africa landing on the nose of a lioness that is stalking a herd of zebra, and the butterfly causes the lion to sneeze...which, then, startles the herd of zebra into a chaotic panic! The ensuing zebra-stampede stirs up a huge dust cloud, which subsequently creates an imbalance in the local weather system. This weather imbalance causes a severe thunderstorm outbreak ---which crosses the Atlantic Ocean...where it then grows and grows into a category 5 hurricane; and then proceeds to devastate the entire state of North Carolina!

..      .

                                            Frightening scenario, isn't it?

                                        But, guess what?

Believe it or not, your entire life may have been negatively affected by The Butterfly Effect!

You see, it is often those small, seemingly insignificant events that happen to you early in life that can eventually grow into overwhelming, lifelong, debilitating issues. This includes any and all negative past experiences that you may have had since the day you were born.

For example:
Let's suppose, seven years ago, a 10 year old female soccer player missed a game-winning kick that would have won the championship for her team. Naturally, this girl felt devastated for letting everybody down.

Today, that same girl is playing on her high school soccer team, and even though that kick she had missed occurred seven years ago, literally EVERY TIME she thinks about it, or imagines herself missing that kick, her subconscious mind automatically ACCEPTS that particular memory as though it was actually HAPPENING TO HER RIGHT NOW...ALL OVER AGAIN!

This is because, the subconscious mind does not have the ability to distinguish between what is true and what is not true. It cannot tell the difference between something that has actually just recently happened, and what is just the memory of the past event. Therefore, even though the incident may not actually be occurring right now, the subconscious mind only accepts her memory of the event as though it really is happening again....right at this very moment.

Now, every time that high school soccer player is faced with having to make a clutch game-winning kick, those nasty negative thoughts and memories of HOW SHE FELT when she missed that kick come racing back. And now, instead of kicking the ball perfectly, she just tenses up at the worst possible moment!

So you can see that even though that missed game-winning kick happened seven years ago, the anxiety that she experienced from missing that kick will negatively affect her for the rest of her life!

Even ONE negative event like that could quite possibly shape that YOUR entire future, as well! It is the recurring negative anxiety that builds and builds from that one event which could have an ever-lasting, residual negative effect on your life, thereafter.

                               But, here's the GOOD news...

It's NOT TOO LATE...to stop the negative effects from those earlier experiences!

These exercises will help you clear out the anxiety, stress, anger, grief, pain and other anguish you may still be feeling today, even though the negative incidents may have occurred many years ago!

PLUS, you'll feel more comfortable with allowing yourself to forgive any persons who may have contributed to each negative situation, such as the person who stole your date for the prom...at the last minute.

Remember that by forgiving someone, you are not acknowledging that what they did was right, instead it's saying that you are no longer going to allow what they did to influence your life.

I've given you several good examples so you will know exactly what you need to do. You are welcome to use these stressful examples in your list, and add more of your own. These examples are offered to help REMIND you of many different types of common stressful issues.
You SHOULD STILL work through all of these examples even if they do not directly apply to your own situation.

Also, wherever you see a blank spot in a phrase, such as __________, please fill in the blank your own appropriate response – if possible (and if it is applicable).

What negative events or issues have I experienced that
made me feel anxious, hurt, or sad?

I feel like I let ________ down when I _______,

I feel so guilty about not ________,

I feel so frustrated that I was not good enough to ________,

I feel so ashamed of myself for being caught ________,

I feel so embarrassed about getting beaten up in front of ________,

I feel so embarrassed about ________ in front of all those people,

I feel hurt after reading these awful comments about me from ________,

I feel so ashamed after hearing those people saying ________ about me,

I feel so angry after hearing _______ shouting _______ about me,

I feel so disappointed and hurt about ________,

I feel so worthless after screwing up this important ________,

I just feel like giving up after _______,

I feel so hurt from being called ________,

I feel so intimidated after being harassed by ________,

I feel so hurt over being rejected by ______,

I still feel some of this remaining stress from ________,

Please add more of your own stressful or traumatic experiences to this list.

Even though I feel like I let ________ down when I _______, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so guilty about not ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so frustrated that I was not good enough to ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so ashamed of myself for being caught ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so embarrassed about getting beaten up in front of ________,
87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so embarrassed about ________ in front of all those people, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel hurt after reading these awful comments about me on ________,
87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so ashamed after hearing those people saying ________ about me,
87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so angry after hearing _______ shouting _______ about me, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so disappointed and hurt about ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so worthless after screwing up this important ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I just feel like giving up after _______, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so hurt from being called ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so intimidated after being harassed by ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I feel so hurt over being rejected by ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.

Even though I still feel some of this remaining stress from ________, 87654321
I CHOOSE to forgive myself for feeling this way, and I forgive everyone else involved.