What Are You Pretending Not To Know?
Brian Ford
Using personal development to fundraise for charity | Self-Improvement Podcaster (20+ million downloads) | Social Impact Leader (Nonprofit founder at For Purpose Foundation)
I’m going to propose a very, very difficult question. In order to receive it I want you to know that you don’t need to take action on anything in this, a good outcome would be creating awareness to start.
There are certain things in our lives that we find ourselves not paying attention to. Maybe you’re in financial strain so you don’t want to look at your expenses. Maybe there are some red flags about a business colleague or romantic partner that you’re ignoring. Or maybe you’re telling yourself a story that 'you’re giving your all' to something and not getting the results you want.
We all shape our reality in a way that is comfortable, but in doing so we often misrepresent the facts. With that in mind, the difficult question is - What are you pretending not to know?
What are the things that you’re too afraid to give a voice to because the reality of it is difficult or painful? What thought sits in the back of your mind as a lingering fear that you don’t want to face up to??
We all have some story we’re telling ourselves to keep secrets with ourselves. But once we acknowledge and work through the secret, we tap into a well of opportunity for self-growth and personal evolution.
Again, the purpose of this right now is to become aware of some of these things. And in order to discover it let me add a few prompts.
领英推è
Is there a piece of advice that you received and pushed off because it was so different from what you are doing?
Is there a bad outcome you created that was caused by something in particular that you don’t want to admit?
Is there a different reason why you showed up, or are showing up to a certain situation, in a way that you don’t want to other than the reason youu're already telling yourself about it?
What this overall question suggests - “What are you pretending not to know? -?is that you do know what’s happening. You do know what’s wrong. And whatever it is, acting upon it would add some short-term pain to your life because it would add so much work to do, undo the progress you’ve made, lead to difficult conversations, make you question yourself and your abilities, or whatever else it might be.
What are you pretending not to know?