Thought Audit

Thought Audit

Today I want to offer a couple exercises to find our thoughts. If you're like me, there are times where I can't find the thoughts. Doing a thought audit is an exercise to get our thoughts on paper so we can look at them, evaluate them, audit them. In upcoming weeks, I will talk more about what else we can do with the thoughts and feelings that are reveals during this process. For today, we're simply doing a thought audit process.

The Thought Audit process is taking a look at the thoughts we are thinking. Becoming aware of them. We have so many thoughts happening in our subconscious that we don't even realize. This process is designed to bring those thoughts to our attention, so we can take a look at them. Evaluate them. Audit them. When we bring these thoughts into our awareness, we have already shifted our perspective. This process alone changes the impact of the thoughts. We are now thinking about the thoughts, not just thinking them. If left without review, we have thousands of thoughts running through our subconscious, affecting our lives in ways we may not want. 

Remember our thoughts create our feelings, and our feelings drive our actions. The way we show up to the world, the way we experience our life, is all based on the thoughts we are thinking. Which is the reason we need to know what they are. 

Once you have the thoughts, you can decide if they are thoughts you want to think. Evaluate how they are affecting your life. Decide on purpose what you want to think.

The process to notice your thoughts can happen a couple different ways. You can do a thought download, where you take a blank paper and write down everything in your mind. Get everything down on paper, out in front of you. Give yourself plenty of time. No judging or opinions, just getting everything down on paper. Even if you notice a lot of negative thoughts, we want to write them all down. No filters, write down everything. We also don't want to make ourselves feel bad for what we are thinking. Just take the time to download everything. We want to build awareness and notice what we are thinking. Notice how this affects how you feel. We're just exploring at this point. 

Another process to find the thoughts is intermittent check-ins. At set intervals throughout the day, you'll ask yourself what you're thinking. This can be first thing in the morning, mid-day, before bed, you choose. Set the intention to discover the thoughts at key points during the day. Or possibly when you encounter a stressful situation, ask what you're thinking in the moment or immediately following the moment. 

The goal here is to get curious. Discover the thoughts you are thinking. Then review or audit these thoughts. How are they making you feel? How are they driving your actions or inactions? 

Notice the relationship between your thoughts and your life experience. 

And remember that thoughts are optional! We just have to know what they are first and be intentional about thinking them, instead of letting them passively or unconsciously run through our minds. 

Put some space between you and your thoughts. Audit what thoughts you are thinking. Decide if that's what you really want to be thinking. I go into more detail in the video below, click to watch.

In upcoming weeks, we'll talk more about how this impacts our emotions and how to be more intentional to drive our actions.