Find the truth in your thoughts

I want to challenge you to find the truth in your thoughts. Oh, but all your thoughts are true, right?

Nope. Your brain is one tricky little manipulator that makes you think your thoughts are true, but they’re not.

In times of stress and anxiety (like now, with COVID-19), we tend to spiral. You hear someone else’s fear and anxiety, and you start to think scary thoughts too. Then your anxious feelings start feeding your anxious thoughts. You begin to catastrophise and look for the worst case scenario. But you forget that you’re just imagining and start to believe that it’s all true.

Our brains do this because they like to know what’s going to happen next. But here’s the problem: believing the no-so-true thoughts can lead us to create the truth from them.

Our thoughts create our feelings.

For example, “I’m going to lose my job and not be able to pay the mortgage” makes you feel anxious, worthless, demotivated, and scared.

However, “I’ll need to work hard to make sure I can maintain my mortgage” might make you feel motivated and determined.

Our feelings lead to our actions.

For example, feeling anxious, worthless, demotivated and scared might lead to inaction, procrastination, time wasting.

But feeling motivated and determined might lead you to work hard and really show your value. You might start setting up a side business. Maybe you’ll revisit your budget and start cutting non-essential spending, or putting more money away for your mortgage while you can.

Actions lead to results.

If you spend the next couple of months not doing much because you’re so caught up in your thoughts, then your employer may not remember your true value when it comes time to make those tough decisions.

But if you take this time to set yourself up and show your value, you’ll be in a better position regardless of what happens.

Finding the truth

So next time you’re having a thought that feels scary or creates any kind of distress, I want you to pick it apart. Be really critical of your thoughts and decide whether they are entirely true. Even if they’re just a little bit untrue, make sure you modify them.

For example, are you really going to lose your job? Or is it just a possibility? Change the thought to “I might lose my job”. Already, that feels different. Because it creates an alternative. Yes, you might lose your job. But also you might not. Now you can explore that truth too.

Will you really not be able to pay the mortgage if you lost your job? Or will you just have to modify your spending? Maybe you’ll have to talk to the bank to see what options you have. Maybe you’ll have to get another job, and sure, it might not be your dream job. But you’ve at least now identified that you’ll have options. And that’s already more empowering, isn’t it?

Need some help?

This is tricky work. But it’s so worth it. Forcing yourself to work out what’s true gives you the power to deal with things a bit more rationally. But finding the truth in your own thoughts can be hard. Even just identifying what your thoughts are can be really hard!

This is where coaching comes in. If your thoughts are getting out of control and you’re having a hard time, I can help you break it all down.

I’m currently offering FREE coaching, so it’s a great time to try it out!