I talk to people all day long, five days a week. Believe me, I hear all sorts of stories. From young to old and from all sorts of cultures. Especially my work that takes me different places around the world. I’ve worked with literally thousands of people.
Sometimes I laugh out loud when someone is rattling off some doozy of a story. Don’t worry, I’m laughing with them and… I also laugh at myself too. I make fun of people, it’s how I stay sane.
I can’t remember the exact number and I’m not going to chase down the statistic but neuroscientists have narrowed down that we have approximately 70,000 to 150,000 thoughts per day. Go ahead and think of someone you know who probably falls in the 150,000 category. Anyway, in that same study that I read it stated that around 80% of those thoughts are false. That’s right! We lie to ourselves all the time but with that amount of bombardment it’s easy to start believing that shit.
We also have a special entity living inside of us that has the duty to substantiate and validate what we believe about ourselves. Pst… this is often called our ego. Do you see where I’m going? Yeah, you’re fucked. If you’re not sorting out this simple dynamic that we all do as humans this will run your life. It will affect your choices, your behavior, and your entire reality. Lies! 80% of it lies. Can you believe that?
Now I’m not saying you should stop lying to yourself, although that might be a good thing, what I’m saying is that you might just remember that’s what is actually occurring.
Part of the problem is that we’ve been taught to “know” as much as possible. Be certain and have the answers at all times. We practice this starting as young as I can remember. How about you?
One tip I’ll offer is to seek objectivity. The ability to see things from a different perspective and recognize the ridiculousness of your thoughts and story.