#write28days of Nervous System Regulation – Day 13: Fact
Welcome to day 13 of #write28days! We are almost half way there! I feel like I haven’t written this much in my life, LOL. I’m sure that’s not really true but it feels like it… which brings us to our word of the day: FACT.
A large portion of nervous system work is retraining the brain to understand that things that *were* facts in our childhood might not be true anymore. We are now adults that can make certain choices, and care for ourselves in ways we couldn’t as small children.
One thing that I discovered a few months ago is “The Work” by Byron Katie. It is like a meditation, and one of it’s main questions that you think about is, “Is (the thing) true?”
Here is a brief synopsis: You bring up an episode of your life that upset you, like a fight with your husband. Write down the details and how you felt about it. Write it all out, how it felt back then. Then isolate a statement out of your writing/thoughts. Ask the four questions: Is it true? Can you absolutely know that it’s true? How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought? Who would you be without that thought?
I know they sound a little…confusing? Out there? But the website has guidance and teaches you to drill down to what you know to be absolutely true, and to find peace with opposing thoughts. You are not really countering things you know to be absolutely true, like “we were in the kitchen” or “he raised his voice,” but the parts that harbor some judgement or opinion, such as “he shouldn’t waste my time,” or things that might be true but we don’t really know for sure, like “his cologne causes my headaches.”
Here is an interesting walk through video about a woman whose statement was, “My brother’s smoking makes me physically ill.”
If you watch the video, you may see that it seems like the woman is being blamed for her symptoms, but that isn’t really what this is all about. It is a mediation, an inquiry, on what we know to be true, finding other possibilities, and coming to peace with it all.
Have you ever done “The Work”? I would love to hear about it!
2 thoughts on “#write28days of Nervous System Regulation – Day 13: Fact”
I’ve been wanting to read The Work! I’ve got a worksheet about it that I use sometimes and it is indeed helpful. We often think we know the facts when they’re really just our opinions or possible misinterpretations. Thanks for sharing the video too. I’ll save it for later!
“We often think we know the facts when they’re really just our opinions or possible misinterpretations.” Yes! Took me a long time to realize that something could be very logically come to, and *still* be an opinion and not a fact.