Ins and Doubts

The difference between questions and doubts

This week in my Infinite Creator group
One of my wonderful clients
Was big smile breathing.
A sigh of relief.
Questions about her book
Had been answered.
Her doubts were allayed.

Hearing that both these things happened
Questions answered
Doubts allayed
I was struck by
The fact that
Are closely related.
But not the same thing.
Questions and doubts are both part of uncertainty.
But they serve different functions.
Questions help us solve problems.
Doubts help us resolve emotions.

As a recovering know it all
I’m often reminding myself
Love the question.
But when there are too many questions
It’s hard to love them.
And when there are too many questions
They seem to trigger doubt.

Doubts are emotional.
You can have them soothed.
Or allayed.
Or you can be re/assured.
But you can’t have your doubts answered.

Answered questions
Can diminish doubts.
But quelled doubts
Don’t neccesarily answer questions.

If you are reading this with a burning need for help.
Stop for a second right now
And try to locate your uncertainty.
Is it questions?
If it is questions can you articulate them?
Are there any questions you can answer?
Are there any questions you can find resources to answer?
Can you love any of the remaining questions?
Now locate your uncertainty again.
Is it doubt?
Can you name the doubt?
That’s a kind of shining a light on the fear.
If so, does that help?
If not can you think of anyone who can quell the doubts?
Managers, coaches, editors, BFFs, therapists etc.
I do creativity coaching if you need a bigger team.
Do you have any practices that quell doubts?
Can you re/mind yourself of all the things?
Be you everyone else is taken.
It’s a messy first draft.
It’s never too late to be what you might have been, unless what you might have been was an ingenue.
Etc…
Can you put aside your doubts and work anyway?
Less is always being revealed.

The word doubt
Comes from a French word - dote
Meaning fear, dread, doubt.
So use everything you know
About dealing with fear
To deal with doubt.
Everything you know.
Meaning love.
And especially self love.
I know.
Easier said than done.
Especially self-love without self-obsession or self-centeredness.

And here’s the thing.
That French word comes from a Latin word
Related to the word dubious.
Uncertain.
And it’s root is duo.
Two.
Of two minds.
Uncertainty comes from a split.
Of two minds.

Can you use one mind
To answer the other mind?
Can it be a conversation?
Or can you locate which of the two minds is yours?
And which of the minds
Is some uninvited else
Taking up space in your consciousness
Without paying rent.

All this work is key.
Being of one mind
Is what the world needs.
Makes you more effective in your creative work.
And it’s the opposite of being under one thumb.

As the song says
Free your mind.
The rest will follow,

Hope that helps.
If you have questions I can help you answer give a holler.

Infinitely Yours

xx
B