Thinking fact or fiction

Imagine 50,000-70,000 thoughts per day rushing through your head. Is it really any wonder that you feel tired and stressed so often? With all this traffic it isn’t at all surprising that you believe things about yourself and your world that simply aren’t true. They are random thoughts rather than evidence based facts.

For example you may think on a regular basis that you aren’t good enough. You may feel fear at the world you live in and find yourself second guessing outcomes on a regular basis, believing you know just how it will all end badly. Minds think, it’s that simple. Some thoughts are useful and serve a purpose, others are just noise that provide an unwelcome soundtrack to our day.

So thoughts are not facts, that’s a powerful thing to learn and so useful to remember. It allows us all to put the brakes on a ruminating thought, that’s thoughts that repeatedly enter our mind. These thoughts are like clothes tumbling in a tumble drier, they go round and round but if we stop that cycle they lose their energy and fall to the base of the drum.

Four things you can do…

• You can notice thoughts by imagining a helicopter and hover above your thoughts to give you distance to see things more clearly.
• Notice the evidence for the thought - is this fact or fiction?
• You can remind yourself that thoughts are generated frequently. They are not the truth.
• Learn and participate in mindfulness practice.

With a quieter mind you can achieve so much more. Next time you notice your thoughts, see if you can put them into the categories of fact or fiction.