Find Unconscious Thoughts

To see how they are secretly influencing you.

I used to believe my anxiety wasn't caused by my thoughts.

The rapid heart rate, dizziness, trembling, frozen-ness, and inability to breathe easy was purely physiological. I thought. Thoughts couldn't cause this.

Finally, I stopped believing. And started 'looking' inward. I saw thoughts that were seeding panic in me.

They became as bright as stars against a pitch black sky.

Now, when I feel tight, tense, frozen, and want to flee, I telescope inward to look at thoughts. I look at the effect each thought has on me. And decide whether I want to believe it, or not.

There could be thoughts you believe, right now, that aren't true. But you won't know if they're true until you telescope in, study them, and test them.

To find out what they are:

•Be on the lookout for when you feel defensive about something. Insist on something. Think something impossible. Or swear by something.

•When something comes up that fits this description, put it on the table for discussion, with yourself, or someone you trust.

•Poke around, observe, talk, and journal without expectation. Become an objective observer of your subjective experience.

Inward telescoping helps you see what your regular everyday vision can't see.

The benefits are that you save a lot of time. Because years go wasted when you defend thoughts that aren't true. Meanwhile the underlying problem continues.

I know because I wasted a lot of time. Now, I aim to be efficient with time. When panic rises, I laser focus in on thoughts that hide. I get right to the root. As deep as it is, my inward telescope reaches.

How do you compassionately challenge your thoughts?