• What weight do you feel on your shoulders and where did that weight come from? (i.e. not being able to say “no” to others, being responsible for everybody, being the go-to person, etc.)

• What out of control thoughts do you have? What worst-case scenarios do you have playing in your mind?

• What reckless behaviors do you have or use to distract you from your worry and stress? (i.e. binge watching, addiction to food/alcohol, social media, etc.)

• What beliefs do you have that no longer support you? (i.e. beliefs that money is root of all evil, rich people are all pretentious and selfish, “I am unworthy”, “no one wants to listen to what I have to say since I am not some of importance”, etc.)

• What “victim” stories do you keep telling yourself?
  
  A personal example of mine is this:
  I was mentally and physically abused by my mother all through my childhood. My mother told me on the day of my high school graduation that she regretted that she didn’t abort me and that she should have listened to my paternal grandmother to have an abortion because she was ashamed of me since I didn’t graduate with honors as my cousin had done the previous year.

This was my “victim” story that I kept telling myself, but then I learned to shift my “victim” story to “hero” story to empower myself and others. My hero story is that I graduated with a master’s degree even though I wasn’t an honors student and I learned that I am tough, and I am a survivor. I learned to love myself…all the good, bad and ugly because all of these things make me who I am. I am happy and proud of myself of who I have become. I appreciate all the lessons and sacred friends who have helped me to learn and to become a better person each day.