Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Often, perceptions and other ghosts cause us to believe things. Go back to a fundamental question.

• The world is coming to an end.
• Nothing is right.
• Everyone is against this.

What else have I told myself? What else did I “know?” All were hunches, perceptions, gut feel, and such. Sigh. All is lost.

Please, stop, breathe, calm, and ask a fundamental question:

What have you seen or heard that leads me to believe this?

Try to move away from the hunch and towards some sort of fact. Yes, there is a place for hunches and gut feelings. Yes, there is a place to discard those and go for facts. Ask the above question. Ask it repeatedly. Ask others the same question. Sometimes the answers confirm the hunch. Sometimes they point the opposite way. Sometimes there are infinite combinations of the two opposites.

Please, ask.