When Our Thoughts Become Facts

Whilst out running in my local country park one morning, I heard a rustling sound in the trees beside me.  My immediate thought was, “There’s someone hiding in the trees”.  As I had this thought, I looked around and realised I was completely alone.  Almost immediately, another thought appeared, “Someone’s going to get me”.  These thoughts left me feeling scared.  My heart rate quickened, and my breathing became shallower as my body prepared itself for fight or flight.  I considered abandoning my run.

On hearing the rustling in the trees my mind had jumped to the conclusion that “there’s someone hiding in the trees” and my body had physically prepared to respond to the danger.  If there had been someone hiding in the trees intending to harm me, then my inbuilt fear response would have served a helpful and protective purpose, leading me to take necessary action to keep myself safe.

Yet as I continued to run around a bend in the path, I saw people walking their dogs.  A squirrel then ran out of the trees, explaining the rustling sound.  Almost immediately, my thoughts changed.  “Ah it was only a squirrel”.  As a sense of safety returned, my heart rate slowed, my breathing returned to normal, and I continued my run with less urgency.

Whilst the fear I had experienced was real, in this instance my response was to an imagined threat rather than a real one.

Our thoughts can influence how we feel and behave. My thought that there was someone hiding in the trees left me feeling fearful and acting accordingly.  Had my first thought been “ah it’s only a squirrel” I would have felt and behaved very differently.

That isn’t to say that either thought is right or wrong.  Our days are full of thoughts that pop into our minds.  Some anxious, some compassionate, some critical, some seemingly random.

The difficulty comes when we treat all our thoughts as facts.  Yet not all thoughts are true.  Not all thoughts are facts.

With awareness, we can notice our thoughts with curiosity.  And in doing so, we can create a little space between what we think and how we respond, allowing us to act more consciously rather than automatically.

Maybe next time a difficult thought appears, rather than automatically treating it as fact, there is value in pausing and asking, “How do I know?”