Wild Goose Chase

Girl walking a dogI used to think that suffering was showing me I had it wrong.
I thought that if I felt badly around my partner, my feelings were showing me that I was in the wrong relationship.
If I woke up feeling badly, I wracked my brain for a cause. Is someone upset with me? Is there a missed appointment or unpaid bill somewhere? Is there a repressed memory coming up that I need to investigate?
With an eating disorder, uncomfortable feelings looked like evidence that I truly shouldn’t have taken that extra serving, or that I really did need to lose more weight. With anxiety, suffering looked like proof that life wasn’t safe and I wasn’t sane.
I knew feelings were providing valuable information—the trick was decoding that information so I could use to it my benefit. Every uncomfortable feeling led me on a wild goose chase to fix something in the world or in myself.
I had it backwards the whole time.
Uncomfortable feelings weren’t alerting me to a real problem I needed to solve. They were showing where my mind was; that my mind was thinking up stuff and I was treating those thoughts as true, objective reality.
Feelings can’t tell us what’s happening out in the world, but they do even better. They show us when we’re confusing impermanent thought with the world “out there”.

Become Your Own Habit-Free Success Story!

The Little School of Big Change Self-Study Course!

The Little School of Big Change is a program designed to help you overcome anxiety and unwanted habits without needing to rely on willpower or self-discipline.

Learn More

Get The Just A Thought Introduction and First Chapter for Free

Just a Thought: A No-Willpower Approach to End Self-Doubt and Make Peace with your Mind is available in all formats. Download the Introduction and Chapter 1 now!

Get your chapter

Get a Free Student Access Account

Dr. Amy Johnson’s work has helped thousands of people find lasting freedom from unwanted habits and anxiety, and realize deeper meaning and peace of mind. Get access to free resources to help you on your journey by creating a free Student Access account today!

SIGN UP