An Excellent Example to Turn Off Negative Thoughts

By Sharon Selby

Have you seen the Disney movie Luca (2021)? If not, I highly recommend it…for all ages!

It’s a coming-of-age story with lots of important themes. The part of the film that I’m finding really helpful in my work with kids and teens, is its wonderful example of externalizing thoughts.

Externalizing worries is one of the best ways to help kids and teens realize that worry or anxiety is not part of their identity. It comes and goes and they can talk back to it!

In the movie, Luca has an inner negative voice that gives him self-doubting thoughts.

On the other hand, his new best friend, Alberto, is very positive and encouraging.

When he’s cheering on Luca to ride a homemade Vespa off a cliff—metaphorically symbolizing to push out of his comfort zone—he tells Luca that the negative doubting voice is Bruno.

He teaches Luca the wonderful mantra of “Silenzio Bruno!”

Luca then uses this wonderful mantra whenever he needs to quiet his negative selftalk and give himself confidence.

For many years I’ve been helping kids and teens visualize and name their own “Bruno” but thanks to Disney, I now have a great way of helping them relate to this idea of externalizing worries through a concrete example.

I’ve heard from other parents, that they’ve adopted this mantra in their homes, and “Silenzio Bruno!” has become a fun way of talking back to the negative worry voice!

I highly recommend watching this film with your kids and teens and discussing how we all get negative self-talk but we can also talk back to it!

Especially for teens, who are trying to figure out their path and who they are, it’s important that they externalize their anxiety and not think of it as part of their identity.

Important benefits to externalizing negative thoughts: • It helps them gain perspective, and look at a situation from outside of themselves. • By calling it a name, it helps them see the thought(s) as being outside of themselves. • Not all thoughts are true, so it creates space to then question their thoughts. • They can imagine themselves as being more powerful than their thoughts. • They can have a competition with this worry character or negative thoughts, which motivates them to be brave.

Name Your Character If you’re looking for a family movie for the weekend, then this is a great opportunity to hang out together and have fun creating names for each family member’s negative thoughts.

If you like the idea of Bruno, then use Bruno. Silenzio Bruno has a great rhythm to it!

And remember… our thoughts are just thoughts. We don’t have to believe them. We are not our thoughts. We have the power to choose our thoughts.

Sharon Selby, MA, is a Registered Clinical Counsellor, with over 20 years’ experience counseling children and families. She is the author of the children’s book, Surfing the Worry Imp’s Wave, where you can find more information about the strategies recommended in this article. To receive her free ebook: 8 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Your Child is Anxious, go to www. SharonSelby.com/free