Doubting yourself is usually bad because it weakens your frame of reality.

But doubting yourself might not always be bad.

Because sometimes you might be in a dysfunctional frame, without knowing it.

These dysfunctional frames are interpretations of reality built upon a negative blindspot.

Breaking out of them can be extremely hard, because when they are present they feel objective even if they wouldn’t make sense to anyone else but you.

Now instead of trying to break out of them by force (which is very uncomfortable and can leave you confused), there is a far easier and less strenuous way to do it.

This is to doubt the interpretation itself and ask yourself “is this really true?”.

For example:

Let’s say that you’re entering a social environment, and right off the bat your perceptions are tainted with negativity

You feel anxious and limited in your expression, the thoughts that go together with these feelings are thoughts like ”If I start talking to someone at this point I will greatly embarrass myself” or ”If I start expressing my real thoughts people will strongly dislike me”.

Now, when you’re in this state your belief is that these thoughts are accurate predictions of reality, of what's likely to happen. Of course you are emotionally biased, but you fail to recognize it.

There are two approaches to breaking out of this state.

The first one is to go against your emotions and the thoughts that go with it and try to break your own perception of reality by forcing yourself into another one.

The problem with this is that it’s very uncomfortable and it still might not work, because you’re going against yourself.

Your emotions are designed to keep you in that state, and by going against them you risk suppressing strong negative emotions and you might become confused by what to feel and think.

The second approach to this situation is to instead of going against yourself and trying to break your own perception, you instead doubt it. You ask yourself ”is this perception the only one that exists?”.

By asking yourself this question you doubt the fact that your current perception is the only one, and that opens you up emotionally, to the fact that this situations can be seen from more than one angle.

This will strongly shift your emotions, since you’re not attached to the first perception of reality anymore. You’re no longer operating from the dysfunctional frame of reality and your emotions are now working for you.

To summarize:

When you find yourself in a negative frame of mind, one of the best ways to break out of it is to doubt it.

Next time you find yourself stuck in a negative emotional state or frame of mind, ask yourself the question ”is this perception the only one that exists?”.

When you FEEL that there are other ways of seeing the situation, your attachment to that frame of mind lessens and you can choose a new perspective.

-Nils Flair