Question: “How can I get out of my thinking?
“The cliff note version is I know it is my thinking…..I get so self-judging and critical when I recognize this and can’t let it go. There is just such a deep self-loathing that shows up then a sense of hopelessness and I’ll never get this, never find that space of joy and wanting to be alive again.
“So, getting out of my thinking would be really “knowing” that it is my thinking and somehow having an insight that would truly allow me to just be and not have to do anything, to allow that experience to move on I think.”
Answer:
I love that you’ve asked this question and even more than you shared it with me.
Here’s another way of describing your situation (let me know if it sounds accurate) –
Sometimes you have thoughts that hurt, and you can see yourself thinking those thoughts, but you can’t seem to stop. And then you give yourself a really hard time about it.
Yeah. Me, too.
The other day I confessed my secret hope that knowing about the Three Principles understanding and seeing the power of Thought to create my reality would mean I’d never have to feel bad ever again.
Silly, I know. Sometimes it feels like that would be amazing!
But that’s not how it works.
We’re designed to feel our thinking, and when it hurts, it really hurts, and it looks so REAL that it can be hard to stop paying attention.
I don’t think there will ever be a time when I “get it” enough to be able to instantaneously let go of the thought and let it move through. Even though it’s always possible. And I can. Sometimes.
The magic of thought is so powerful that we get lost in it, again and again.
We get swept away in the illusion. And then we wake up to it. And then we get swept away again.
But – and this is a very hopeful but –
Even if you can’t stop the thinking that troubles you, and you can’t keep yourself from beating yourself up about not “just getting over it…”
…you will get over it. Guaranteed.
Every thought you’ve ever had has gone away.
And then it comes back. And it goes away again.
What’s been really helpful for me lately is to remember that even if I absolutely do nothing other than indulge my shitty thinking so deeply that it feels like I will never see the light of day, it simply can’t last.
No thought ever has, and none ever will.
So you already have exactly what you asked for: the ability to just be and not do anything, and the experience will move on. Sometimes it just doesn’t look like it.
Here’s a story called “The Clock” that’s inspired by haunting thoughts.
I hope this is helpful. 🙂
Yours in love and play,
Steph
