WORKWORK13: Suffering from Attaching to Our Thoughts // Changes in the Market
Inner Work: The third reason we suffer — attaching to our thoughts. Outer Work: Changes in the market and resources to stay informed.
Inner Work
I have never experienced a stressful feeling that wasn’t caused by attaching to an untrue thought. Behind every uncomfortable feeling, there’s a thought that isn’t true for us. — Byron Katie
Here’s part 3 of 4 in this mini, Byron Katie series. Today we will cover the third and final reason we suffer — when we attach to our thoughts. As a reminder, the first reason we suffer occurs when we believe a thought that argues with what is, and the second reason we suffer is when we are mentally living out of our own business. It’s important to recognize that a thought is harmless unless we believe it. Thoughts come and go — passing through our minds like clouds in the sky. The only time that thought has any meaning is when we attach to it; another way of saying that we are choosing to give that thought the power to make us suffer. Let’s break down some terminology a little:
Thoughts mean nothing until we attach to them.
Attaching to a thought = a thought we believe is true
Belief = a thought that we have been attaching to (or believing) for a long time, often years.
Story = thoughts, or sequences of thoughts, that we convince ourselves are real.
We tell ourselves stories all the time. Stories like why someone you pass by on the street is acting a certain way or telling yourself you’re good or bad at something. Sometimes it feels really hard to stop these trains of thought and not let them impact our lives. Small stories, make bigger stories that turn into how we approach life. Sometimes the story you tell becomes the entire identity that you would do anything to prove as true. I can’t wait to tell you more about Byron Katie’s 4 questions that allow you to meet your thoughts with understanding and leave with a thought that's more true and less painful. We’ll discuss this in the next WORKWORK as the final entry on Byron Katie (for now at least 🙂)
📌 If you want a couple of primers on thoughts, check out these other WORKWORKs:
WORKWORK3 discussion surrounding every thought being rooted in the past.
WORKWORK5 discussion surrounding how nothing is either good or bad, but thinking this, makes it so.
Outer Work
There are so many changes happening in the markets right now. I generally like to have a macro understanding of what changes are happening, so that I have the right information to allow me to stay on offense. It’s important to note this distinction when these big shifts occur because people often resort to fear-based decision-making, and it’s easy to make daunting headlines that prey on people’s fear for click bate. I try my best to avoid fear-based decision-making and with every fear-inducing statement, fight to find the opportunity. Here are 3 resources that I have read to give me an idea of what’s going on in the economy right now. Would love to know what you think or if you have other resources you’d like to share!