Opposite action is a skill to use when you want to change an emotion that you're having.
It's especially useful when acting on your emotion would do you little good or even cause you harm.
Let's say you have a fear of public speaking and it's getting in the way of asking questions and participating in groups. Every time a public speaking situation comes up you feel like running away or staying quiet.
One way to overcome the fear would be to do the opposite of what you want to do by speaking up and participating instead of avoiding opposite action is the same idea and you can use this skill for any emotion you want to change.
To practice opposite action, first, identify the emotion you want to change. Is it fear, anger, sadness, shame, jealousy.
You might have to tune into your body to determine what exactly it is you're feeling. Do you feel like crying? Or is there a heaviness in your body? Maybe that sadness? Or your thoughts racing or your hands clammy? Maybe that's fear.
Second, identify and describe what you feel like doing. What's your action urges? Everyone's action urges are different. Sometimes for fear the action urges to run away for anger. Some people have the urge to attack while others feel like ignoring the other person completely. Ask yourself what do I feel like doing? Were what urges Am I having.
Next, identify the opposite actions to your action urges. If you're feeling shame, and you feel like hiding, the opposite action might be to stop hiding and tell someone who supports you about what you're feeling shameful. If you feel sad, your action urge might be to withdraw or isolate. The opposite action would be to get active and engage in activities you like. For opposite action to work.
It's important to do the opposite action all the way with your facial expressions, posture, thoughts, and how you say things. This means that when you're getting out of bed, instead of thinking this is terrible, I don't want to do this. This is too hard, you want to think opposite thoughts like I can do this one step at a time.
If your urge is to stay in bed all day, only getting out of bed would not be opposite action all the way. Push your shoulders back, get active by leaving the house taking a walk or talking to a friend.
For anger. If your urges to yell at or criticize another person. The opposite action all the way could be to gently avoid that person. Try to empathize with them and understand their point of view, and be kind.
Finally, the key is to do the opposite action over and over again until you notice that the intensity of the emotion has decreased or the emotion has changed altogether.
This may take some time, but it works. The skill can be very difficult to do especially when you're right in the middle of an intense emotion. take it step by step. Remember, when you want to change how you're feeling, identify the emotion. Describe your action urges. Identify the opposite actions to your urges. Act opposite all the way and repeat until your emotion changes.
Finally, the key is to do the opposite action over and over again until you notice that the intensity of the emotion has decreased or the emotion has changed altogether. This may take some time, but it works.
The skill can be very difficult to do especially when you're right in the middle of an intense emotion. take it step by step. Remember, when you want to change how you're feeling, identify the emotion. Describe your action urges. Identify the opposite actions to your urges.
Act opposite all the way and repeat until your emotion changes.
