An excerpt of the "thought download" process

Some of you may not have the time to listen to the entire podcast I shared in an earlier post.  Or you may have listened but, like me, it's difficult to remember all the steps.  With that in mind, I thought I'd describe it here.

Thought Download Exercise 

1.  Write out everything you are thinking.  5-10 minutes is enough.  Do it when you have time and/or have many negative emotions.  (She suggests using bathroom time if need be.)
2.  Look back over what you wrote and determine which are thoughts and which are circumstances?  Adopt an attitude of compassionate curiosity. Circumstances are the FACTS...no opinions, no feelings, simply facts.
a.  What are the circumstances? Circumstances can be a noun.  For example, my life, my relationship, my work, my body.
b.  What are the thoughts?
3.  Pick one thought and put it in a model.  

First Example:  From the podcast

Circumstance: Her business

Thought:  I have too many things going on right now to pick a financial business goal

Her feeling:  Overwhelmed

Her action:  make no decisions, distract on social media, waste time.

Result:  No financial business goal and she still has too many things going on because she hasn't moved ahead on any of them.

The result is the evidence of the original thought.  By allowing herself to go into overwhelm, she was able to "show" herself the truth of that thought.  Overwhelm, although uncomfortable, can be a safe place. 

To change the model so it serves you,  work it backward.

1. Ask yourself what is the result you want.  In the example, the result she wanted was to have a financial business goal.
2.  If that's the result you want, what is the action you need to take?  Pick a financial business goal and like your reasons for it.
3.  Ask yourself, "How do I have to feel if I am going to (FILL IN YOUR DESIRED RESULT) and like my reasons for it?
Her answer:  In control.
4.  Then you need to pick a thought about your result that makes you feel the way you need to so you can achieve your result and like your reasons for it. 
5.  Thought she picked was "there's plenty of time to get everything done." This is the thought that worked for her.  Everyone's thought is different and specific to them. 

Second Example:  From my personal exercise

Fact: My life.

Thought: I cannot verbalize a unique and useful purpose for my life.  I have so many interests I don't want to limit it to just one and I'm not smart enough, don't have the right credentials, can't decide what it is I want to do, etc.  etc. etc.

Feeling: Paralyzed and mute and without a feeling of purpose or usefulness in my life.

Action: Research options, consider all the things I can do to achieve more knowledge or skill, make endless lists of possibilities or avoid the discomfort by using various methods of "relaxation" such as looking for a good book, or looking for knitting projects when I already have several lined up, watching mindless tv, computer games, calling someone, etc. 

Result: No focus and continued paralysis and muteness.

So I worked it backward.

The result I want:  I want to feel like I'm doing something useful for the greater good of humanity.
What action do I need to take for that result?  "Focus on one thing I can do which is useful and contributes to the greater good.
What is the Action?  Pick a goal and like the reasons for choosing it.  "Create a blog that contributes to the idea that our thoughts can create the world we choose. "
What thought about this goal moves me forward?"I already have everything I need."

This blog is the result of that exercise.