Should we note down potential negative outcomes to situations and review them as much as we review our positive outcomes?
Hi Jorge! I'm very new to GTD and actually I did not get much further than learning
about the method (which I see as very different than actually learning it – still have some "work" ahead). As I started reading his book and watching some interviews with David I almost immediately realised that this will/can be a very helpful tool for me to track my "forgiveness work".
What you are talking about, "potential negative outcomes or situations", is an image that is typically associated with fear (to different degrees: worry, panic, etc..) in my experience. I personally have started to gather a lot of my thoughts on paper, among those are things "to do" as well as a lot of thoughts and images that arouse some sort of discomfort in me; something I fear, feel guilty over from the past, and quite a bit of "negative self talk". In my understanding none of these thoughts/emotions have any "real" ground and come from some sort of belief that I hold about myself or the world.
When we imagine or experience something that is not aligned with how we (sub)consciously want or do not want them to be it will automatically trigger "negative" thoughts and emotions because we find ourselves outside our comfort zone. For me, the thing to do is NOT to try to deny or suppress these thoughts/images/emotions but rather to start looking at "what is it that I believe about myself/people around me/the world that is causing these thoughts"? And then to start questioning them, a useful first step towards letting them go... This process is basically what I call "forgiveness"... I'm aware that this is not the way people typically use or think of forgiveness
Beliefs that I find a lot of negative images coming from can me a number of different things among them: "I am not good/smart/beautiful/loving... enough", "I am not safe without this job/this person in my life..." "I do not deserve to be happy/at peace..." etc. These has seemed to be "common themes" behind my thoughts and emotions lately...
Of course, this is not true. All of us deserves to be at peace, happy, loved... and ultimately, regardless of how it might appear to ourselves or the world around us, everyone is doing the best that they can!
The reason for my interest in "tracking" my negative thoughts and emotions is for me to be able to take a closer look at some of them and really starting to question where they come from, which belief do I hold on to that is causing me to feel this way? And, realising that this belief is causing me to "suffer" (in one way or another), is it really worth keeping or am I willing to let it go? That, of course, can be easier said than done and sometimes requires quite a bit of determination, practise and patience... but it's not impossible.
It translates quite well to the structure of GTD with "forgiveness actions - just let this belief go, it's obviously not true!", "forgiveness projects - something that I still don't feel ready to let go of for some reason and need some more introspection/questioning", "areas of focus - aspects of my life that seem to grab my attention and affect me in a negative way but I'm still not clear about what it is exactly that I believe that causes this discomfort"... Something like that... just saw a flash of this in front of me in this sort of framework earlier today. Curious about what will come.
Since I have been feeling really overwhelmed about "everything I have to/want to do" and can't seem to fit it on a timeline I have also started questioning my motivation for why I want to or think I have to do these things". Is it to "prove I am worthy", for example? Well, that already assumes that I am unworthy in my "current state". And is that true? Ultimately NO! I may still believe it is... but it's not actually the truth and that means it can be "forgiven".
I can see myself reviewing some of these things from time to time as a way of asking myself: is this still affecting me? And if so, what is it here that I still believe? Sometimes reviewing things/thoughts that really used to upset me (or being faced with a similar situation that I felt really bad in) has resulted in the pleasant surprise that this really does not have as big of a negative impact on me anymore and sometimes it just has no effect on me at all.
If you're interested in this type of thing at all I might be able to share some helpful perspectives or resources related to the metaphysics of "freeing your mind"
It actually is an active process that requires some "work" and for me I have been longing for a structure or some type of "map" of what is actually occupying my mind. Sometimes it just seems like a complete mess and I have no idea where to even get started. Playing with terms like GFD (Getting Forgiveness Done), related to this little experiment of mine.
