Episode 35: Not Everything You Think is True

Hello my friends, Welcome to Episode 35! Thanks for taking the time to join me here today!

In the song 1000 arms by Blue Rodeo, there is a line that says.

“You must realize, not everything you think is true”

And Dr. Amen says: “You don’t have to believe every stupid little thing that you think.”

We know this.

But this is so hard to see at the moment and to slow things down enough that we can make an intentional choice about what to think.

Our brains will come up with an interpretation of events.

Literally where ever there is ambiguity our brains will come up with the details to make something make sense.

So in our workplaces.

When emails are not returned and questions are not answered.

We can make it mean they didn’t want to answer us.

We can make it mean that we didn’t write the email correctly.

We can make it mean that they are mad at us.

We can make it mean that they are busy and need a reminder.

We can make it mean that the answer is whatever we were hoping they would say.

We can make it mean that it doesn’t matter.

We can make it mean that they are giving it a lot of thought and will get back to us at the perfect time.

What about in our relationships? When we see someone do something different than what they said they were going to do.

We can make it mean that they are dishonest and can’t be trusted with anything.

We can make it mean that they got busy and forgot what they said they were going to do.

We can make it mean that they are trying to harm us.

We can make it mean that they had an emergency and couldn’t do what they said they were going to do.

Now any of these things could be true.

But likely not all of them are true.

And we would likely react completely differently depending on which one was true.

Your job is to become aware of what you are making things mean.

Your job is to recognize what you are thinking.

Your job is to realize that what you are thinking just might not be true.

I do this as I work with my clients all the time.

They come to me and tell me the story about what is happening in the situation they are in.

I get to hold space for them.

There isn’t anything about their story that is right or wrong.

It is just a story.

It is just one interpretation of what is going on in their lives.

We look at exactly how they are interpreting things.

We look at how they react when they interpret things that way.

We look at the things they do and the things that they won’t do when they see the world the way they do.

This is often so enlightening for them.

They see where they might be believing something that isn’t true.

They see where they might be acting in ways that are harming them, their work, and others around them.

They get to see that we have options in how we interpret the world.

We get curious about how else we could view the situation.

They see how they feel if we interpreted the world in a different way.

This alone can be life-changing. I see anger, fear, frustration, and avoidance disappear as we do this work.

They see how they would act if they viewed the situation in a different way.

This is where their lives really change. They become more engaged in their work, truly having the hard conversations they need to have, resolving issues and challenges faster than they ever have before, and doing things and accepting challenges that they never thought were possible.

It all starts with realizing that, not everything we think is true.

If you want some help with this, and want to take this work to the next level! Head on over to my website at www.christinawilliamscoaching.com and get some time on my calendar. I call it a consult call. 

This work sounds so simple but it is some of the hardest work I have ever done and a coach makes it so much easier.

Because they are not in the middle of the thoughts and the coach is not emotionally tied to the situation. It is so much easier for them to see the different patterns of thought and where you are believing them.

Having a coach show you the little things you are thinking and how they are affecting you will uplevel your awareness and provide you with so much more choice.

We all need to realize, that not everything we think is true.

It will be fun.

Have a wonderful week.