Drawn from the work of Dr Nathaniel Brandon.

The basic outline of the sentence completion practice is to:

1. Write out a "sentence stem". For example: "If my inner child could speak, he (she) would say. . . . . "

2. The only rule is that the sentences must be grammatically correct.

3. Now add a minimum of 6 different "sentence endings" to the one "sentence stem". For example, from the sentence stem above you may get:
. . . . my parents are to blame, they never really loved me
. . . . my brother would never listen to me, he is so cynical
. . . . all I wanted was to be loved for who I am
. . . . miracles can happen if I really want them to
. . . . adults let you down
. . . . animals never let you down

These are the things that could be raising or lowering self-esteem. Trust seems to be a core issue arising from these statements. The consequences of longing to be loved and accepted is a loss of trust, which may be the source.

You could pick on a theme or the issue in one of the statements that seems to be important, to create another "sentence stem". For example: "If you had 5% more trust in your life you would . . ."

This process can be repeated many times to get at a pattern of self-limiting thoughts, feelings or actions.

You can use a story, narrative or image to stimulate thoughts and feelings before doing the sentence completion exercise. This helps to focus attention on specific relationships or situations, and get at deeper issues that may be hidden in the subconscious.

The purpose is to identify a person's self-limiting beliefs, the language, moods and behaviours that are barriers to self-expression and self-healing.

The power of the "Sentence Completion" technique is in the careful construction of the "sentence stems". The originator of this technique, Dr. Nathaniel Brandon, explains how to get the best from this technique in his books. See 'The Art of Living Consciuosly'. Simon & Schuster 1999

Healthy self-esteem depends on what Dr Brandon calls the "Six Pillars of Success" Read more in the book with this title. ISBN-0553-37439-7

They are:

living consciously self-acceptance self-responsibility self-assertiveness living purposefully personal integrity

ONLINE EXERCISES
To access "Sentence Completion" materials online go to http://www.AffirmWare.com.au and select the "Sculptor 3 Users Login" menu option. You will be asked to enter a password.

The password is "success".

Type "success" and press the "ENTER" key. You will now have access to the "Sculptor 3 Users" web site.

Select the " Sentence Completion" menu option. You will find three links:

1. Instructions on how to do sentence completion
2. The 30-week Self-esteem Sentence Completion Program
3. The 30-week Taking Responsibility: Sentence Completion Program

Note: "Sentence Completion" has been adapted for use in Sculptor 3 with permission by Dr. Nathaniel Brandon.

Return to top