Kick some unruly passengers off your bus, if they won't turn their volume down.

I have started by ejecting doubt. Sometimes the voices we hear in our head can run riot, and get out of control, like some unruly passengers on a bus. So pick the ones you want on your bus... then turn down the volume of, or eject, the ones that you don't want to hear from.

What is doubt really? Is it a real thing? Or is it just a story we create in our mind that can be processed differently and ultimately overcome if we take it for what it is?

I was listening to Andy Puddicombe earlier on; he is the co-founder of the Headspace App (for guided meditation). He was talking about when we experience 'doubt' (in ourselves and in others) and was asking some questions about what doubt really is?

I am finding this question to be significant in thinking about things differently. When I have doubted myself in the past it has become self limiting and ultimately self fulfilling. The old adage, 'if you believe you can't, then you can't' springs to mind.

When I experience doubt personally it can be quite a strong thought and trigger difficult emotions. In the past this type of thought process has really affected how I've acted and performed in both work and social situations. Sometimes it has been so strong that I have made life choices to go in another direction and then potentially missed out on opportunities. Then it feeds itself.

When I think about it, Andy is right in asking the question, what is doubt really? He talks about it ultimately being a thought that has no bearing in reality; and that once you create awareness of the thought that is doubt itself, and take it for what it is, just a thought, it can be acknowledged and then moved out of the way of day-to-day decisions.

This triggered another memory for me; something my therapist advised me to look at recently. It is called Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and is typically shown using a bus metaphor. I won't go into too much detail here but the main thread is that you are the driver of your own bus and you can some have good and some unruly passengers onboard; the latter ones are constantly shouting more negative things at us; to an extent where we end up believing what they say and so they negatively influence our choices in day-to-day life.

Details here: http://rosspsychology.com/blog/the-bus-metaphor.

The idea is to acknowledge the presence and views of these passengers on the bus through awareness of them but ultimately to never let them control the direction you head in. You have a choice of either turning down their volume or ejecting them off your bus! I would place 'doubt' very much in this category. So don't let the doubt passenger change your direction.