Don’t Believe Everything You Think With Joseph Nguyen

Episode Highlights With Joseph

• His amazing story that led to his bestselling book and how great books often come from the author's great pain
• Thoughts vs thinking and why this is important
• The core questions he asked himself were: Who am I? Why am I here? Why do I have so many negative thoughts?
• Learning to question the root of negative thoughts and ask if they're true
• How to separate yourself from the thoughts you have
• Thoughts don’t control us, beliefs do, so thoughts don’t affect us unless we believe them to be true
• Thoughts are neutral observations, thinking is judgment about thoughts
• The real root of suffering and how to shift it- is this true? Is this useful?
• Suffering is resistance to reality 
• What is more important… being right or being at peace?
• The idea of letting go and surrendering is present in so many traditions around the world 
• Attachments as the roots of suffering and ways to practice letting go throughout the day in small ways
• We are not our thoughts… we are the space between. We are the canvas and not the paint
• Our attention is the architect of our reality
• We live in a perception of reality, not reality ourselves, and where we put our attention shapes our perception 
• How would I be if I knew everything would work out? And then operate from there
• How to get your body and your emotions on your side in this journey- they're there to remind us to come back to the present moment
• Fear becomes gratitude, anxiety becomes fuel to show you what is important
• Everything is a reminder and emotions can be guideposts
• We acquire knowledge through information but wisdom can only be obtained through lived experience 
• Fear is not in the way… it is the way to the life that you want
• A thought experiment: look back in your life at your best decisions and see how many were rooted in logic and analysis and how many were rooted in a sense of knowing 
• Intuition is still, calm, never rushed or urgent 
• The cost of making other people happy is your own happiness
• What other people think of you is a reflection of them, not of you
• His 5 step PAUSE process for negative emotions
• When you are fully present, the byproduct is peace

Resources Mentioned

• Don't Believe Everything You Think - book
• Joseph's website and Instagram
• Awareness by Anthony De Mello
• Letting Go, the Pathway of Surrender by David Hawkins