I ran across this Byron Katie quote the other day – “We don’t hear what someone said. We imagine what they meant.”
Often we immediately go to the negative and start to make assumptions that most of the time, are simply not true. Many times we do the same with stories that we tell ourselves that may or may not be true. There might have been some truth to them at one point, but we twist them around and make up excuses to the point where it’s downright ridiculous.
Case in point: I used to tell myself a ‘story’ about technology. That I wasn’t any good at it. That my lack of technical expertise is why I couldn’t possibly work for a major technology company, and that I wouldn’t ever possibly ‘get’ technology.
This was based on the fact that growing up, I was the person in my family who wasn’t mechanically inclined. I was the one who was better in English, math, and writing. This ‘not being mechanically inclined’ led to my belief that I couldn’t ‘do’ technology either. Crazy, right?
Fast forward a few years and I found myself working at one of the largest technology organizations on the plant – and I was successful. Yes, me! The interesting thing is that although I had been telling myself this ‘story’ about not being good at technology, I was also countering that negative thought with positive thoughts.
Each time I had that negative thought, I recognized it, interrupted myself and said, “Hey, Judgey Judge Kathy, you can just take a back seat now. I’ve got this.” Then I let my new positive thoughts run through my mind over and over, “I am good at this work” and “I am successful since I’m open to learning new things.”
What about you? What negative thoughts or “stories” do you tell yourself that are simply not true?