Questioning Stressful Thoughts About Politics: A Client Session for

Todd: [00:00:00] By the end of this episode, you’ll discover how challenging it can be to question your own political beliefs and why it’s so valuable to try.

Todd: Welcome to Stress Management for Highly Sensitive People, a podcast helping HSPs avoid overwhelm, eliminate stress, and find true inner freedom. I’m your host Todd Smith, a facilitator of the work of Byron Katie, a way to question and reduce stressful thoughts. And you guessed it, I’m a highly sensitive person myself.

Todd: In this episode, you’ll discover how easy it is to get overwhelmed by politically charged situations, why questioning a politically charged thought can be challenging, and how to hold political beliefs more loosely, even without giving up your values. [00:01:00] Today is another edition of Open Session Wednesdays.

Todd: You bring your questions and stressful situations. And I facilitate you in the simple, powerful process of the work of Byron Katie. As always, I share the unedited recording so you can experience the open session just as we did.

Client: Well, I would love to, um, we might have to, we might have to weed out a specific belief because I’m kind of all over the place right now.

Client: But the biggest thing is, um, I am furious, um, at, I’m just going to say Trump for the immigration stuff and, and separating families. Again, um, it’s, it’s everywhere in, in my town, in Phoenix, Arizona, it’s everywhere and it’s devastating. And, um. Yeah, that’s where i’m at.

Todd: Okay. So [00:02:00] Yeah, how would you phrase this like you said for the immigration stuff?

Todd: Like what is the what is the stressful thought? um per se

Client: Let’s see. Uh, it’s it just seems willy nilly. It seems unfair It seems like um You know, he’s, he’s, he’s being grandiose and trying to make a name for himself, but he is destroying children’s lives. Um, for, for, for what seems like personal gain, because.

Client: Everything I’m hearing, which doesn’t mean that it’s right or true, um, is that it’s a horrible idea for all kinds of reasons, but I come from it from the psychological, and the kids, and I just, I, I, it’s even hard for me to think about it because I get so upset, so.

Todd: Okay. Yeah. So, so he’s just destroying [00:03:00] children’s lives.

Todd: Is that kind of.

Client: Okay. That’s a good one.

Todd: I heard it from you.

Client: That’s true. That’s true with a capital T. Okay.

Todd: So that’s what we’re doing is we’re, we’re looking for, you know, you found the kind of stressful situation here. It’s a little bit general, but it’s not. Uh, you know, we, I think you know what you’re talking about and the, the feeling is the thought is connected to that is this thought he’s destroying children’s lives.

Todd: So let’s look at that thought and explore just to see if there’s another way of experiencing this situation that’s less stressful.

Client: Okay.

Todd: So first question, is it true? He’s destroying children, destroying children’s lives.

Client: Yep.

Todd: Okay. And so can you absolutely know it’s true? That he’s destroying children’s lives.[00:04:00]

Client: Yeah, I’m gonna go with yes.

Todd: Okay. So, how do you react? What happens when you have this thought and you see the immigration stuff going on and you, yeah, what happens to you when you think he’s destroying children’s lives with this? I,

Client: it, it stops me from concentrating and focusing on what I’m supposed to be doing. Um, my face gets red. I’m not a [00:05:00] violent person, but all of a sudden I want to, you know, be protected and I want to punch him in the throat. And

Client: I, um, it, it, it aches. My, I ache for. The visual of kids being separated and torn apart from their parents. Um, and the crying and pleading and just the senseless traumatization that’s going on with the kids. Um,

Client: I get very angry. I, I can’t think straight.

Client: I just, I wish somebody or something could stop him. And pound some sense into him [00:06:00] and explain how trauma works.

Client: Yeah.

Todd: Where do you feel it in your body when you have this idea he’s destroying children’s lives?

Client: My face gets hot. I get this lump in my throat.

Client: My, my fists clench. My teeth clench. It’s, it’s pure disgust.

Client: There’s no, um,

Client: I’m, I’m, I’m separated from myself. There’s no self. There’s no, um, [00:07:00] There’s no love, there’s no compassion, there’s no curiosity, there’s none of, none of the good stuff. It’s all being, I don’t, I don’t even know, either. Blocked or hidden or I just don’t have any access to my normal or true self

Client: No, yeah, it’s completely hidden. I also noticed that I’m eating a lot Like I was just eating before I even when I got here just like as much as I can I give it to me. So Not cookies, but

Todd: yeah Reaction right like you have the thought he’s destroying children’s lives And then these reactions start happening.

Todd: You want to punch him in the throat you feel Like disgust you all the good qualities just evaporate within you like it’s amazing [00:08:00] how much Like how much happens there when this thought is? introduced. Um, and one more thing, like, do you see any images from long ago, like in your past when you think he or someone is destroying children’s lives?

Client: Well, um, truth be told, a lot of these images Even though it’s happening again and now a lot of the images are from the last time he did this and the kids in the camps and the, and the daycare centers or whatever. Um, so yes, there are a lot of images, um, repeat images, I guess I could say, um, from before, but, [00:09:00] but as soon as you said that I got a little tingle in my nose because.

Client: I’m sure it goes back farther than that. And as soon as you said that, there was a little fear in me like, oh, oh, wait, I don’t want to go there.

Client: Can’t we just stay here hating him?

Client: So there might be something there. Um, no, I’m, I’m sure there’s something there, but, hmm.

Todd: Yeah, even just the possibility of something there or that little tingle in the nose like that. Um, that itself is interesting, um, and, and, you know, you can take a second or you can also kind of have that as an open question moving forward after we talk here, but let’s just take a second anyway, like, [00:10:00] is there anything you notice, any images from, from your past where you think.

Todd: Someone’s destroying children’s lives, kids being separated, anything like that.

Client: So it’s, um, the images that are coming up are not necessarily where somebody poor a child apart from their parents, but that the child namingly me was, um, alone. and neglected and

Client: having to fend for themselves, for [00:11:00] myself, um, and where my mind goes is just, you know, a lifetime of trying to be enough and be noticed and be loved and, um, so interesting.

Todd: Yeah. So, you know, we start with the. Current situation. Then we see there’s something from, you know, eight years ago or whenever the first, uh, Trump administration was, and then there’s even things back further, which is more personal and possibly connected, right?

Todd: We don’t, we don’t have to analyze it thoroughly, but just seeing that there’s a lot going on here. It’s not just. the immediate situation that comes up. And the context that we’re looking at this in is reaction. Like [00:12:00] the thought is he’s destroying children’s lives. How do I react? Like there’s all this emotional reaction and strong reaction.

Todd: And some of that may be fueled by some images that also are there. Like those, those images also come out of that. Yeah,

Client: that’s fascinating. I didn’t, uh, did not and, and have not ever connected that connected those before as much as I’ve thought about it. And as much as I’ve lamented over it and have been angered by it, I never, I, all the only images that I saw were the ones from before when he did this, they never went further back than that.

Client: So. That’s fascinating.

Todd: Yeah, our, our stress is very personal in a lot of ways, um, and so it, it makes [00:13:00] sense. So let’s play with the, uh, kind of hypothetically going to the next question. Um, who would you be Without the thought, when you see the immigration stuff going on and who would you be without the thought that he’s destroying children’s lives?

Client: I, I feel curious. What, where, where, where is this going? What, what’s, what, what is this going to do? What, what is this for? Curious in a, a little bit [00:14:00] of a softer, not quite, there’s still some judgment in there, but not quite as bad. I’m noticing.

Todd: And this without the thought doesn’t mean just put your head in the sand and pretend nothing’s happening kind of thing.

Todd: It means who would you be objectively looking at the situation without the emotional story running at the same time that amps it up of he’s destroying children’s lives.

Client: I, I see more, um, some more curiosity. I see, um, I don’t even want to say this, but I almost feel, I almost feel sorry for him. I don’t even like saying that.

Client: I can, I can feel

Client: Boy, there’s a real inner battle going on right now because I, I [00:15:00] feel where he’s, he’s um, he’s in way over his head. That’s my story. And he’s gotta do something right or, you know, whatever. He’s gotta do something about the things he said he was gonna fix. Um And I don’t, uh, who am I without the thought?

Client: I feel like he’s trying to fix things.

Client: I don’t think I would go as far as to say I have [00:16:00] compassion, but I have more curiosity.

Client: I feel more willing to listen

Client: or watch, listen, watch, you know, whatever. Like, like maybe be involved in the conversation. Instead of it’s over here in the corner going, or we just want you to dissipate her. Yeah, that’s

Todd: really clear. Like, that shows you the effect of this thought. With the thought, you’re in the corner, like in the fetal position, right?

Todd: And, and of no use to anyone. Without the thought, there’s more tolerance to be able to at least listen or see or hear what’s going on. And think logically and practically about, do I have any role in that or not? Or what is the Yeah, like it’s, [00:17:00] it’s less frozen in fear.

Client: I actually have the opposite. I actually feel like, what can I do?

Client: Like, is there something I can do for the shelters? Is there something I can do? You know, I happen to speak Spanish, so I mean, I could. You know help somehow go down. I mean if that’s even a thing

Todd: right

Client: for some people, so

Todd: That’s the difference. This is shows you this is I mean I’m always amazed to see this how a thought can make such a difference because all we’ve done so far is Compare with a thought and without the thought that he’s destroying children’s lives And what i’ve heard is that with the thought it’s a total paralysis in a way and a meltdown and without the thought There’s like a, there’s actually the possibility of doing something or exploring what I could do.

Todd: There’s more tolerance for, for the news itself. Um, all of that. So that’s the effect of the thought. So how would you turn this thought around just to look for [00:18:00] opposites and see if they could be as true or truer for balance? He’s destroying children’s lives. Um,

Client: let’s see, he’s not destroying children’s lives.

Todd: Okay, so this is just a, what I call a technical turnaround, and we have to look at it and see, can you make any sense of it? Is it possible there’s an alternative thing happening here, or something I’m missing, or another way of looking at it, and is there any evidence to balance out the idea, the original idea, that he is destroying children’s lives?

Client: I mean, one might be able to say that he’s not, that’s not his main purpose is to destroy children’s [00:19:00] lives, so he may not be setting out to destroy children’s lives, that I could say.

Todd: Okay, yeah, that’s fair, that’s being very fair, uh, because we use these lines, right, he’s destroying children’s lives, we use these in politics all the time, like, they did this, they did that, like, as if that was their primary, motive in doing something and we frame them for doing something terrible and In this from this point of view that may not have been What he was planning to do like I’m I’m running on destroying children’s lives.

Todd: I mean, it’s like probably not right Okay, keep going any other ways you could balance this idea instead of he’s destroying children’s lives he’s not[00:20:00]

Client: well I guess he’s not destroying all children’s lives Just immigrants.

Todd: Yeah

Client: No, you

Todd: know you have to sit with does that does that example land is it enough it does it satisfy or not Wow And, and it can be helpful depending on how you use it.

Client: I mean,

Todd: what I’m hearing is it could be worse.

Client: Yeah. Well, I mean, my, I’m telling you, I’ve got a great imagination and where my mind goes is he’s traumatizing these kids, then they’re going to grow up. Traumatized and they’re gonna destroy other people’s lives because they have all this to figure out and so I feel like it’s a big huge chain reaction anyway, so it is a little bit of a stretch for me.

Client: He’s not destroying all children’s lives, but but it is something it’s a it’s one of those little tiny fractures, you know.

Todd: Yeah, so keep it [00:21:00] in, you know, keep it in perspective that not every example you find is going to just necessarily destroy that belief. Yeah. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be destroyed in this process.

Todd: It’s more like All the weight in the mind was on one side of the scale, and there was just so much weight, he’s destroying children’s lives, he’s destroying children’s lives, and it just keeps building, and all the evidence you just keep gathering, and what we’re doing is just saying, hey, could there be anything on the other side, even if a little something comes in there, it might balance it, so that there’s a more balanced perspective,

Todd: so, okay, well, let’s play with another turnaround, he’s destroying children’s lives, what’s another way of Turning it around.

Client: And I actually wonder if I should be saying he’s destroying immigrants, immigrant [00:22:00] children’s lives. Cause that’s what

Todd: you really meant, right?

Client: With that in mind, um, immigrant children are destroying his life.

Todd: Okay. Any, any truth in that? Or any possibility of truth in that? Well,

Client: I know he doesn’t like them.

Client: So having them around is probably making him crazy. I don’t know. I mean, that’s what he, You know, that’s the garbage that comes out of his mouth. I didn’t say that out loud. You do edit these, right?

Todd: I do not. Nope. This is mine. Oh

Client: my God.

Todd: Yeah. So I

Client: did not know that. I did not know that. Okay. All right. Let’s see.

Client: Um, I need, I need my little glasses with my mustache on it now.

Todd: And it, and [00:23:00] always, if this, if, if there is a session that you just don’t want to have out there, we can, we don’t have to put it out there. So

Client: it’s okay. All right. Well, well, I’m just a little, yeah. Okay. Let’s get back to work here. Um, Cause I could go on.

Client: Um, okay. So the, uh, the turnaround is, uh, that immigrant children’s are destroying his life.

Todd: Look at it from that perspective.

Client: Immigrant children are destroying his life.

Client: Hmm.

Client: I mean, I actually, I mean, sitting here thinking about it, it’s, it’s [00:24:00] not about the children at all. It’s about the immigrant, the parents. Who decided to come here without the proper documentation and he’s, he’s trying to make that right. And unfortunately there are children involved. So the children, the immigrant children.

Client: Are kind of,

Client: um, getting in the way of him cleaning up what he thinks he needs to clean up with the adults that came over. So immigrants, especially with the images online, you know, of kids being ripped away from their parents and screaming and crying. Those immigrant kids are ruining Trump’s life because it’s a bad image.

Client: I’m sure he doesn’t want that image to be a monster. [00:25:00]

Todd: Really good point. Yeah. So the nice thing about this turnaround is it brings in a little bit of balance because in the beginning you’re thinking he’s destroying children’s lives. It’s like he’s the perpetrator. I’m the victim, you know, or we’re the victim or something.

Todd: And then it’s this victim mentality. But here it’s like, wait a minute. He could be victim in this from another point of view just as well. And it just helps to balance the story. That’s all we’re doing.

Client: That is hard to swallow. Have him be a victim. I feel like that one might be a little too far. I don’t know.

Todd: Yeah. So we’re looking for what makes sense to you. That’s all. This is your work. So let’s look at another turnaround. He’s destroying children’s lives.

Client: He’s [00:26:00] destroying his own life.

Todd: Okay, what do you see that

Client: really good?

Todd: So we’re looking for looking for balance, what do you see

Client: that one just maybe you know, can I have something

Todd: He’s

Client: destroying His life. Um, he’s destroying his life

Client: regarding the immigrant children. Let’s see.

Client: Hmm.

Client: Uh, I don’t know if I’m [00:27:00] justifying now, but he’s, he’s definitely destroying his

Client: likeability. With half the United States. Um, so I, you know, his,

Client: you know, uh, let’s see, he’s destroying his life. So with these decisions that he’s making about the immigration, the people that don’t agree with him are going to be more grounded in that belief and he’s destroying any possibility of whatever it is he wanted from them, if he wanted anything from them. I don’t know.

Client: A second term. A third term.

Todd: Right. Okay. How about turning it around [00:28:00] to yourself? He’s destroying children’s lives. Instead of children’s lives, put yourself on it.

Client: He’s destroying my life?

Todd: No. Put yourself on all of it.

Client: Dang it. Um,

Client: I’m destroying, I’m destroying children’s lives. Oh God.

Todd: I’m destroying my life.

Client: Oh, I’m destroying my life? Oh, I am destroying my life by sitting here thinking about him and just, like I said before, in the corner going, you better not come anywhere, you know, that’s really defensive and just thinking about that and I think I need to go see a dentist because my teeth are clenched so much all the time right now.

Client: Um, so yeah, definitely I’m destroying my, but I’m destroying my life. I get the point. I’m destroying my life. thinking about him destroying the children. I, I’m stuck in my, I’m stuck in my, Ooh, just [00:29:00] hearing me say I’m stuck makes me feel like a victim. And I don’t want to be a victim. Um, I don’t want to be a victim.

Client: I don’t want to act like one. I don’t want to talk like one. I don’t want to be a victim. So me

Client: sticking myself being stuck, um, thinking about what he’s doing and what he’s not doing and how he’s doing it wrong. And everything else is, is victim is very victim.

Todd: And that’s even

Client: wanting to protect myself and my mom right now is a, which I’ve never in my life. And I’m, you know, I’m 58 years old. So never in my life have I ever wanted anything remotely to do with violence or guns or anything like that.

Client: And, and I, I’m investigating that and that I, I don’t like that feeling at [00:30:00] all. Yeah. Victim hood.

Todd: So this is how you’re destroying your life.

Client: Yeah.

Todd: Bye. Peace. By focusing on this idea that he’s destroying children’s lives, it’s like it, it keeps it fueled up for you. And then you end up destroying your life, your peace, your, your peace of mind.

Todd: Um, yeah, that’s the cost. And that’s, and it’s really good to see because if you’re the one destroying your life rather than him destroying your life or others lives, if the focus is there, It’s more of an empowering place to be like, Oh, if I’m destroying my life, I can, I can stop doing that possibly as well, depending on where I focus.

Client: Yes, where I focus. Good.

Todd: Yeah. [00:31:00]

Client: Is there another turnaround that you saw?

Todd: Um, well, I think you did point to it there just for a second and then I was already going in another direction, but I’m destroying children’s lives. Like that’s also a turnaround might be in your mind, but how are you destroying these immigrant children’s lives?

Todd: In your, in your mind.

Client: Which this makes me sad. I

Todd: mean, don’t you see them already destroyed? Those lives?

Client: Um,

Client: I am not, um, doing anything to help. [00:32:00] So, I’m destroying immigrant children’s lives. knowing that they’re going to be in these situations, these detention centers or whatever, wherever, whatever, down at the border. Now it’s not very close to here. Um, but I’m sure there’s something I can do with my bilingualness and, and, uh, I don’t know my time.

Client: There’s something I can do. Okay. Yeah. I’m not doing that. So I’m destroying their lives because I’m not helping. I’m not helping. I’m not helping. I’m not doing anything.

Todd: So fair point. And that gives options for what you could explore to help if you feel moved to.

Todd: And, you know, you were [00:33:00] saying earlier, like you were seeing them ripped from their parents and seeing them, you know, like, like basically the repercussions of it going on to the next generation and all of that. Like, This is what the mind does and it’s like painting a picture of destruction right like so this turnaround also works from that point of view I’m destroying children’s lives like I’m seeing destruction there whereas

Client: I’m creating it in my mind

Todd: that’s right

Client: it up yeah it doesn’t even haven’t they haven’t aged a day yet and I see them you know with Uzi’s in crowds and whatever Transcribed Exactly.

Client: Yeah. Good one.

Client: Yeah. I’m destroying their lives in my mind. [00:34:00] Like it’s, it’s done. Like you can’t go back. Like he, you can’t fix this.

Todd: Right.

Client: In my mind. Yeah. Wow.

Todd: Which kind of points back to the first turnaround of like, he’s not destroying children’s lives. Like, we don’t know, like what, there might be, there might be some real destruction happening.

Todd: Um, and you never know exactly what’s the, what’s the final repercussions of the situation. And even though it may point towards destruction and it may be true, uh, in the end. Just having that possibility that we don’t know leaves me in a much more present place of mind rather than the imagined destruction and then the reaction that I have to have in seeing those imagined images.[00:35:00]

Todd: Okay. So thank you for the work. Thank you for doing it in a, in a public forum like this. And, uh, thank you for, for being courageous enough to look at these thoughts. You know, this is. Work that that is important in our times to see if there’s other ways of seeing what we’re experiencing, um, and on both sides of the political, uh, political, you know, situation, there’s emotion that gets built up, there’s, there’s victimhood that gets experienced, and there’s all kinds of stressful, uh, Uh, stories that we live with, and so on either side of that, of that divide to have the courage to first of all, name what it is that I’m thinking and have the courage to [00:36:00] actually go through and question it and consider the opposite.

Todd: I mean, we’re talking like that’s sacrilege from, from, from a certain point of view. And, and so it takes a certain amount of openness, which I’m so grateful that you were willing to explore in this way.

Client: for giving me the platform to do it.

Todd: Yeah. Welcome.

Client: It’s important. I, and I do feel a little bit of a shift if nothing else, um, putting power back into my hands and my control to do something and we do what I can, like I’m not going to change any trajectory of other people, but I can do something.

Client: And that’s really, really, really, really so important to see. And I’m very grateful for it.

Todd: Like, if I try to control someone else that I can’t control, I will absolutely become, I will feel like a victim. I’ll feel powerless and, and frustration and everything you just [00:37:00] described. Useless.

Client: What

Todd: was the word?

Client: And useless. Useless.

Todd: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

Client: anything about it.

Todd: And so what the work does is it just puts brings us back to ourself. What is it that I is under my control? Where is my business again? What can I do? Um, and that makes all the difference in the feeling of empowerment versus disempowerment. So,

Client: and it’s crazy because you know, me, I’ve been studying this for a long time.

Client: And like I, know that I can’t control other people, but without the work you kind of forget and you get mad if you can’t control somebody else. It’s

Todd: visceral. It comes from, from a strong, um, emotion. And, uh, and so You can understand it intellectually and then all that goes out the window in the moment of when you start seeing the images [00:38:00] and start believing the thought he’s destroying children’s lives.

Todd: It all just comes out. And so what I love about the work is that it’s a way of of slowing that down and and letting that emotional part, find the answers. So when you were, even though you’ve been doing the work for years, you’re so familiar with it, you were answering from, you know, trying to find answers from a place within.

Todd: And it was like, sometimes there was just no answers because the doors are shut. Exactly. So this is, that’s why I mean, it’s courageous work because you’re knocking on a that you’ve been trying to keep shut for a long time. And And you don’t, you’re scared of what could, what might come out of that. And so that’s, yeah, that’s real courage.

Todd: And that’s what this, that’s what this work invites. Um, the beauty of it is when you do, um, you, you start to get little chinks in that armor. It starts to [00:39:00] loosen a little bit and a lot of loosening can happen. And it doesn’t mean you flip to the other side. It means that you come out in a more balanced state gradually.

Todd: So that, um, at least you’re not stressed about it and you may start being more objective about what I can do, what the limitations are, and it’s just, yeah, more, just more healthy. So you’re doing the work for all of us. So thank you. Yeah. Yeah, Wendy.

Client 2: I have noticed that the more I do the work on a particular subject, especially, even if I don’t like something or I disagree with it, I don’t feel threatened by it anymore.

Client 2: It’s almost like I give the other permission to have their perspective. And even in this case, it, I had some pretty bad months, I’m sure it felt like months, but days, you know, in [00:40:00] dealing with some of the same issues. You know, the same concerns about these issues and I just kept doing the work and doing it and doing it and doing it and then I finally found myself in it.

Client 2: I said, you know, it’s like I’m, I take a specific criticism and then I see where I’m doing it, right? That turnaround and it just, it floored me a couple of times that I was able to find myself. And Trump, you know, and it’s like, wow, and it really did not make, it created something more realistic in how I’m responding to it versus the victim mentality and the, desire to attack and, and the exhaustion that it was giving me.

Client 2: So, and, and I’m just so appreciative of what you just, what you just did with that. Thank you. [00:41:00]

Todd: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Ruby. So it’s, it’s about, um, yeah, the willingness to look at our own judgments of other people. And as you say, find myself in those judgments and like it, it starts to. Um, it starts to ease the more I do that, and it’s a process, right?

Todd: It’s a process, and we have so much social. Um, support on either side, you know, whether it’s Republican or Democrat, um, whatever side there’s, there’s all this support. We’re all like an army fighting each other. And so if you look around within your own camp, then it seems like you’re being a traitor to question your own thoughts like this, but.

Todd: That’s you’re being a traitor to to judgment. You’re being a traitor to stress, and that’s not a bad thing at all. The ironic [00:42:00] thing is when we transcend this kind of stressful thinking on either side, there’s there’s all those human good qualities start to come out and clarity comes out and ways of solving problems.

Todd: Uh, come out and that’s, um, yeah, that’s the side benefit of a clear mind. One that isn’t just locked into hate or judgment, um, against anyone, either side.

Client 2: Like, I hate that he hates.

Todd: Right. It’s like, starting to sound like a family feud, you know? He did it first, and then, you know, it just goes round and round and round.

Todd: I hate them for hating me, for hating them, for hating me. So, we can break this cycle, um, but it does take courage, and it takes work, because the mind is in it. And the heart are so closed on these issues, um, you know, and, and I, you could easily sit and do the [00:43:00] same work with someone who is, is seeing the world just the opposite.

Todd: And they’re seeing something that, that is, um, threatening their sacred beliefs, you know? And so we’re all in this together. We’re all human beings. And if we’re caught up in this war, it’s kind of psychological war that’s been going on, then. One of the best contributions we can do is to question our stories and see if we can at least free ourselves from that and create more space in this world.

Client 2: Someone’s got to hold a place for everyone to come to when it’s time for peace.

Todd: That’s it. Yeah. That’s it. The more you do your work, the more you’ll be that person.

Client 2: Yeah.

Todd: Yeah. In this episode, we looked at how easy it is to get overwhelmed by politically charged, uh, situations. And [00:44:00] it’s because they’re political.

Todd: They’re meant to be charging people up. There’s black and white thinking. It’s either my way or their way. There’s all kinds of posturing and energy that gets involved, and it’s very easy, especially for highly sensitive people, to get overwhelmed. We also looked at why questioning a politically charged thought can be challenging, and that’s because we’re not Like, we’re not alone.

Todd: There’s social norms that we’re trying to fit into, there’s pressures, there’s, um, there’s, uh, a kind of me versus, us versus them kind of thinking that comes into play, and this makes it even harder to begin. questioning a thought, um, just like it is, it’s hard to question thoughts that we’re attached to.

Todd: And so political thoughts can be a kind of thought that we get very attached to, especially with the, [00:45:00] the, um, amped up rhetoric that gets, um, created on both sides of the political, uh, experience. And then we looked at how to hold political beliefs more loosely without giving up our values. Never when we’re doing the work, are we trying to change our minds, change our political parties, change our experience in terms of What, uh, feels right to us, we all naturally gravitate towards certain values and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Todd: That’s what makes the world, uh, varied and interesting and rich. It’s that if we are holding too tightly in any way, uh, we’ll feel stress. And so doing this work, even though it’s not easy, can lead to a little loosening of the, uh, attachments we may have or the fears that we may have. And this can [00:46:00] just bring more space in our lives.

Todd: Let alone, it makes it easier for us to get along with all different kinds of people in different parties in our world. So thank you for being here for this work and for also having the courage to listen and play with these ideas a little bit and just see if we can open our minds in whatever ways that is possible.

Todd: Without forcing ourselves, right? It’s like we’re inviting ourselves to open our minds to all different points of view without, uh, making that some kind of a have to. I think that’s really important. We have to be gentle with ourselves and, um, just go at our own pace. And that’s what I love about the work of Byron Katie is that it never forces us to go anywhere.

Todd: So even though It was challenging for this person to find some of the turnarounds. Some didn’t [00:47:00] really land, didn’t always make sense. There was, uh, no, there was no pressure in that. It’s fine. We’re just looking. We’re just exploring. And so, thank you again for being a part of this. And, as always, Hope you have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you next time.

Todd: Dreaming of a stress free, balanced life? Visit TrueInnerFreedom. com and complete the HSP Stress Survey. Gain clarity on your stress triggers, and enjoy a free 15 minute Inner Freedom Call designed to guide you towards lasting inner peace and fulfillment.