When I first learned the model, I also learned (and/or interpreted) to not try to change a circumstance or to not try to “act my way out” (taking action) to try to solve issues. That changing our thoughts is the only solution. I can see why its helpful in the sense of changing circumstances, because they are not the cause of our results, and we just end up with the same results somewhere else. With Actions, I don’t see how its not helpful to take action.

My perfectionist brain tells me I should not try to take action without a changed thought and that thoughts take time to change, so I end up in a situation where I take no action at all. For example, If I am wanting to stop overanalyzing I need to figure out what feeling causes that before I can stop. My brain is in the all or nothing thinking where it wants to live by the correct ways to do things using thought work & by implementing the model no matter what. Although intellectually I understand there is no right or wrong way to do thought work, I am running subconsciously off of this do these things or nothing, and ending up with a lot of nothings. It is like I have made the version of thought work I have in my head (I view it as a tool to help me get what I want in life if I master the skill) the absolute law so much that I don’t really open my mind up to new things and I close off the helpful past experiences and deem them as incorrect. I am not even utilizing the tools in a helpful way and I am even buffering with thought work as if it will take me out of the human experience if I can just figure it out perfectly. That puts a lot of pressure on me expecting it to do that, and in result makes me not want to go near it..

I guess my question is, where do I go now that I realize how much I am self sabotaging myself?