Don't Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is The Beginning & End Of Suffering (Beyond Suffering Book 1)

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The Turnarounds help reveal the contradictory nature of our stories about other people, and how our judgements are also true, or truer for ourselves. Start by locating a thought that is causing you suffering in some way. If you’re having troubles with another person in your life, Katie’s “Judge Your Neighbor” worksheet is a good way to locate these thoughts.

I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always.” The Work” of Byron Katie is a process of inquiry that helps you identify and question the thoughts that cause you the most suffering. To avoid this scenario, you can equip yourself with the tools to deal with these thoughts more effectively. Suffering is Optional (Two Strategies to Let Go) You might feel insistent that this thought is true! If it really does feels true at first glance, inquire again. Can you really know that it’s true? Be honest with yourself.Currently a professor of management in the College of Business at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, Dr. Penney has pushed her undergraduate students to better understand what makes up the stress of their daily lives, both personally and professionally. With nearly 20 years of researching what is behind the causes and consequences of stress in our lives, she has been published in top academic journals, presented at scholarly conferences, and been featured by Forbes, Newsweek, and Fox News. Oftentimes, these are “should” thoughts. (e.g. “The world should be different,” or “My significant other should act in a different way.”) The human mind is constantly processing the world around it. Each day is a non-stop barrage of thoughts, questions, and observations. The irony of this situation is that everyone talks to themselves all day long. You just don’t verbalize this dialogue, so it isn’t heard by others. Given the differing nature of thoughts, it’s helpful to equip yourself with multiple strategies to process them.

For the sake of example, let’s say you were feeling upset with your friend Jane, and had the thought “Jane should be nicer to me.” When you stop believing everything you think, you give yourself the opportunity to be more proactive, and live the life you want to live.

Come back when you're older

Now, there are a great many ways to approach this challenge, and I don’t intend to cover them all today. Instead, I just want to introduce you to the most important principle of developing better thoughts, which is also the core tenet of cognitive therapy: The gist of The Work is simple: Believing your thoughts often leads to suffering. This means suffering is optional, because your thoughts are not always true. You can choose not to get swept away by your thoughts.