When Doubt can be our greatest enemy
When I’m teaching my young students to sing, I explain to them that most contemporary tunes have short repeated musical phrases. When you have heard a much-repeated phrase often enough, you find the song ‘catchy’ and may subsequently buy it on CD or download it.
It’s the same with our daily affirmations – short repeated phrases that we take on as truths – a very effective way to change our belief system from negative to positive.
People working in advertising have known for years the way the human mind learns and absorbs is through short, frequent reminders. (Take note of the television ads over one night’s viewing – no wonder advertisers pay so much for TV ads).
We have many thousands of thoughts in our heads every day (some say 20,000 or 50,000 or 70,000 – who knows?) – there are certainly a lot.
How many of those thousands of thoughts in our minds are Doubts?
A few facts about Doubt…..
Doubt cons you into believing it’s looking after you by giving you a ‘safe’ option. As human beings we have been brainwashed (let’s tell it like it is!) into thinking we like what we know. Doubt feeds our sense of certainty. But is that what we really want out of life?
Remember Joe Average in “The Centre Within” course? Joe Average married Mary Average. He worked for the Average company that sold Average products at an Average price. Joe and Mary Average had 2.3 Average children. Joe Average died at 45. They didn’t bury him until he was in his 70’s, but effectively he ‘died’ many years before. At least Joe Average at the end of his time on this earth could say: “I lived a safe, comfortable life.”
Doubt gives power to our negative thoughts. As soon as Doubt creeps in, our thoughts turn into a negative downward spiral and we convince ourselves that what we wanted to do will not work, will not be beneficial, will create all sorts of problems, will end up in failure, etc. We will have talked ourselves out of what we wanted to do – all too quickly.
Doubt holds us back; it stops us from progressing, from moving forward, from growing personally. It is one of the most debilitating things we can take on board as human beings.
We can ask ourselves: How often does Doubt control our thinking and subsequently control our life?
Some simple strategies:
- Decide from now on, to recognise Doubt when it rears its head. Awareness is half the battle.
- As soon as Doubt creeps in, hold that thought, interrupt the thought process and question it.
- Ask yourself whether this thought is real, is it a fact, or is it a thought based on fear?
- Is this Doubtful thought leading you down the ‘safe’ path – is it taking you into a place of ‘comfort’? Perhaps it is stopping you from taking on something that may be inspiring, thought-provoking and uplifting.
- Remind yourself that this Doubtful thought is not one you have to take on board. Use the affirmation “That’s just a passing thought, it’s going now and will soon be gone.”
- Be discerning. Question yourself – is this something I like because I know it, or am I choosing this because I know what I like?
Remember it can be scary stepping outside your comfort zones. What’s that old saying? “To reach the fruit of the tree you have to go out on a limb.” And the fruit, of course, is the sweetest part.
Have a wonderful month. Love and Laughter, 
Blackall – The Centre Within
Sat 13 & Sun 14 June
Bookings: Virginia Wacker
ph: 4657 4440
email: cdo@btrc.qld.gov.au
