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KenPainter | 3 years ago
Serious answer: yes but it's not a change of personality. It's about recognizing fear and developing skills.
When I experienced this level of deep self doubt I emerged having learned a few things.
One, I'm not broken and don't need to be fixed. I'm more like some sloppy code that got rushed to production and could use some fixes. I do them one at a time to remove whatever blocker is hindering my happiness at the moment.
Two, I'm much happier when I do things I like. I took up oil painting because I wanted to. I painted a nude and hung it in my living room. I became a private pilot. Full in your own blanks.
Third and most importantly, I learned how to deal with racing thoughts. Racing thoughts feed on the energy we put into fighting them. If you fight them you feed them. Meditation was my method but it's tricky for us. We are told it relaxes you but when we try the racing thoughts give us an experience of failure. The trick is to stop fighting them and let them flow freely, while gently bringing your attention over and over to the meditation object (typically the breath). The first meditative state described in the oldest Buddhist texts "is accompanied by sustained and appplied thought". It's normal for everybody. Sooner or later you learn not to believe everything you think and freedom begins.
Best of luck.
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