Fact Check Your Thoughts

These days, whenever I read or watch something online, I do some fact checking on the information that I just obtained. I am aware that just because someone says it, doesn’t mean it is true. There is a lot of deception and misinformation out there on about any topic. It is crucial to do the research and determine if what was just read or watched is legitimate. This is also true of our own thoughts. Just because we think something does not mean that it is true. I started using the “fact checking” concept with the way I analyze my own thoughts. That might sound odd to some people but the fact is, we form a thought in our mind about every 10 seconds. That equals a lot of thoughts and those thoughts easily affect our mood, behavior, and ultimately directs the course of our life. That is why it is so important to realize that we do not and actually should not accept everything that comes into our mind. Let me give you an example. You reach out to a friend to say hi and typically he/she responds fairly quickly but this time, no response at all.  That evening, you have the thought, “I hope I didn’t do something wrong or say something to upset them.” Then you start to think back on your last conversation and recall a comment you made and then think, “Oh no, I hope he/she didn’t misunderstand me, I sure didn’t mean that.” And then, you are feeling horrible and upset and the rest of your day your mind is occupied with worry. The next morning, your friend finally calls and says, “Geez, sorry I didn’t get back with you yesterday but what a day I had!”, then starts to tell you what all happened that had NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU! You did nothing wrong at all to warrant getting so upset.  In this scenario the thought came in, I hope I didn’t do something wrong. That should be when you pause and say to yourself, “Do I really think I did?” “No.” Then you simply dismiss that thought as having no bases and move on. Often times we just let our thoughts lead us down very dark negative paths for no reason. It is actually quite simple to be mindful of your thoughts and choose not to believe everything that enters your mind. A mindset that helps me when I am analyzing my thoughts is to think about the verse Philippians 4:8; Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. If my thoughts don’t align with that verse, I determine if my troubled thoughts do have actual fact behind them that requires my attention for action and resolve and if not, I dismiss them as false thoughts and return to what I know is true.