Developing better thoughts is a critical part of becoming better, so we’ll be exploring this in greater depth in future posts. The Work” of Byron Katie is a process of inquiry that helps you identify and question the thoughts that cause you the most suffering. If only she could figure out how to act differently in the future, she thought, she could prevent this anxiety from coming up again. Or it will trick you into thinking it can predict the future and tell you something terrible will happen.

They have a monopoly in my service area, so they have almost no incentive to provide consistent service or charge reasonable rates. And when you find yourself face-to-face with a more intense thought or interpersonal conflict, use The Work to see more clearly. So rather than open-mindedly examining the validity of our thoughts, we usually prefer to just assume we’re right and move on.But far too often, thoughts lead you astray, bring you down, or obstruct your ability to do things that you care about. With this knowledge and a burgeoning belief in herself as separate from the deceptive brain messages, Sarah could Refocus (Step 3) her attention on something that mattered to her, such as being fully present to talk with her friend, going for a walk or going back to her work.

Because her Self-Referencing Center was in charge, she could not take in this other information (including alternate explanations for her friend's response) or confidently know that she had done nothing wrong. This principle gives you the power to take control of how you respond to your thoughts as you go through life. When examining one of your thoughts, the first consideration is whether or not the thought is valid.Just because a thought is true and logical does not mean you want to act on it, embody it, or allow it to occupy your mind. The second reason why not believing everything you think is difficult is that we’re often unaware of our thoughts. When you stop believing everything you think, you give yourself the opportunity to be more proactive, and live the life you want to live. The point from Sarah's story is that we often assume that whatever we think or feel must be true simply because we thought or felt it. Her TEDx talk, "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

Soon enough, another thought or feeling would surface and the cycle of deceptive brain messages would begin anew.For instance, earlier this week when my internet was randomly shut off, I had the thought, Comcast sucks. You can learn to recognize how your brain tries to trick you into believing things that aren’t true.

However, for Sarah, and many people like her who deal with frequent deceptive brain messages, funneling interactions, events, and thoughts about ourselves through this center when the negative thoughts and feelings are running rampant can be quite harmful.She was able to catch herself whenever she got lost in an overanalyzing loop and stop herself before it spun further out of control. The Uh Oh Center is the part of the brain that generates the physical sensations we associate with anxiety and alerts us that something bad or dangerous might be happening. The first step may be to consider self-knowledge, truthfulness, and other building blocks on the road to personal growth. Sarah's inaccurate belief that something was wrong with her was rooted in a series of experiences she had as a child, where people inadvertently ignored, minimized, or dismissed her needs, interests, and emotions.