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How to Identify “Cause” Thoughts vs. “Symptom” Thoughts

Cows
Bossy didn’t like me photographing her herd. My stressful thoughts included “I’m a coward (being stood down by a cow).” And “She is bossing me around.” The first is a “symptom” thought (self attack), the second is a “cause” thought (what she did to me).

Every Stressful Moment Has a Mixture of Thoughts

The first job when doing The Work of Byron Katie (4 Questions and Turnarounds) is to sort through all of those stressful thoughts to find the main ones to question.

One of the main distinctions I use when sorting my thoughts is the idea of “symptom” thoughts and “cause” thoughts. “Symptom” thoughts are secondary thoughts. They arise as a result of the “cause” thoughts.

Though I’ll question any thought (and I mean that), I generally find it more helpful when I question the “cause” thoughts rather than the “symptom” thoughts.

Here’s How I Tell the Difference

I find “cause” thoughts by asking myself questions like this, “What started the war? Who or what triggered me in the first place? Why am I bothered? Who is bothering me? What am I a victim of here?”

These questions help me identify who or what is offending me. I’m reacting to some perceived injustice. Who did it? That’s how I find the “cause” thoughts.

On the other hand, I recognize “symptom” thoughts by the fact that they are reactions. They look like my typical answers to question 3, “How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?”

Thoughts like these primarily include self-judgments (shifting blame to myself instead of staying with who I was originally blaming) or secondary attacks (attacking the person for unrelated reasons).

Symptom Thoughts Are Distracting

Symptoms are usually louder than causes. That’s where the pain is strongest. The mind gets distracted by this and goes into emergency mode dealing with all of the symptoms. But if often misses the cause as a result.

And on top of that, the mind often wants it that way. The mind doesn’t often want to look at the real causes because it might have to give up things if the truth came out. So it keeps the show going about what a bad person I am, or how I’m no good at this or that. It’s a smoke screen.

Or it keeps the focus on some separate issue blaming the other person for something where it knows they were wrong, instead of looking at the issue at hand which might not stand up so well to inquiry.

Which Ones Shall I Question?

I literally will question anything. And sometimes I will question the “symptom” thoughts just to pacify things a bit. After all, “I’m a coward” turns around nicely to “I’m not a coward.”

But the fact may be that I am a coward in that situation. The real work lies in identifying what makes me react in a cowardly way. I’m looking for causes. I this case, I react this way because “The cow is bigger than me.” That could be the new “cause” thought I could question.

It Takes Courage to Admit what the Cause Thought Is

It’s usually something very trivial, embarrassing to admit even, where I was weakly blaming someone else for my misfortune. If I can come to terms with this, and write it on paper, my work is more than half done.

This is why writing simple Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheets lies at the foundation of doing. The Work of Byron Katie. The worksheet almost forces me to look for the thing outside of me that I’m feeling victimized by. And that almost always points to the “cause” thought that started my stress reaction.

Usually everything else, especially the self-judgments, fall away once the cause thought has been questioned.

Have a great weekend,
Todd

“If you start by judging yourself, your answers come with a motive and with solutions that haven’t worked. Judging someone else, then inquiring and turning it around, is the direct path to understanding.” Byron Katie, Loving What Is

Todd Smith has been doing The Work of Byron Katie on an almost daily basis since 2007. He is just as excited about this simple process of self-inquiry today as he was when he first came across it. He also enjoys writing about The Work, and training others in the subtleties of this meditative process. Join Todd for The Work 101 online course, private sessions, virtual retreats, and his ongoing Inquiry Circle group.