Thought Creates Reality

The same thoughts come up all day and you're sure they're yours

Episode 11 · June 1, 2023

Thought and creating realityEmotions and inner life

The Truth Hurts · Episode 11 · audio in Hebrew

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The conversation

You don't really choose every thought that runs through your head. Somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 thoughts pass through us in a single day, and from what Gili lays out here, most of them aren't ours. They're an old memory trying to come back, or worry about something that hasn't happened yet. Who is running that thought, and how do you know whether it belongs to you? The question gets both a scientific backdrop here and an explanation from the Hasidic world. And at least one of them offers a practical answer: stop stating facts and start asking questions.

The truth

  • We have 60,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day, and most of them repeat themselves. They're either an old memory we want to replay, or worry about something that never happened at all.

  • Emotion is the result of the thought, not the other way around.

  • In the Hasidic view, thoughts come to us from above according to the state of our heart. An open, believing heart picks up abundance, and a complaining heart picks up mostly the places where things aren't working.

  • Benjamin Libet's experiment shows that the brain's activity happens a moment before we're aware of the thought, and that raises an unresolved question about free will.

  • At any given moment the brain focuses on one thing only, not on several at once, so it's worth choosing what you concentrate on.

  • The main tip: ask questions instead of stating facts, and check whether a thought that comes up in your head belongs to you in the first place.

Questions and answers

What's the difference between a thought and an emotion?

A thought is an action of the brain and the brain's language, and an emotion is an action of the body and the body's language. When the two sync up, they create what's called a state of being.

How many thoughts does a person have in a day?

According to the episode, a person has between 60,000 and 70,000 thoughts a day, and the sheer number of them is considered impossible to grasp.

I heard about Benjamin Libet's experiment on decisions in the brain. What did he find?

The experiment showed that the brain activity happens before the person has expressed any awareness or intention about the thought. In other words, the thought arrives before the person is actively aware of it.

If thoughts are streamed into us from outside, where is our free will?

According to the episode, free will isn't in the first automatic thought, which will always come from a place of lack. It's in the moment right after it: does the person choose to identify with that thought and carry on with it, or stop and not identify with it?

The same thoughts get into my head all day and I'm sure they're mine. What came out of the experiment with the housekeepers?

A group of hotel housekeepers who were told that their work was their physical exercise showed a real improvement in their body measurements, compared with a group that did exactly the same work but never got that information and didn't improve. It's an illustration of the power of intention.

Why do the same thoughts keep jumping into my head and I'm sure they're mine? And what is real prayer?

Real prayer is giving weight to things before the Creator, not crying or complaining about what happened. The intention during prayer has to be the opposite of a complaint.

Gili's original episode description

Thoughts are a powerful tool, unusually influential in how we develop as people, but they can just as easily be a source of confusion and suffering.

In this episode, Gili and Tal focus on what thoughts really are, how they affect our emotions, and how to learn about our thoughts, get to know them and understand them in a deeper and more conscious way.

What are the complicated questions that touch on our relationships, and what is the connection between thoughts and emotions?

And of course there are also tips and ways to manage our thoughts more consciously.

About the podcast

Listening to The Truth Hurts feels like sitting in on a healing session.

The truth can hurt. It’s right there in the name. But we’re not here to cause pain. Quite the opposite.

In each episode, two women sit down for an honest conversation: an Emotional Healer and her client.

We talk about healing and consciousness, faith and science, the body and soul, personal growth, energy, and different approaches to healing. Above all, we face the truth no one says out loud: everything around us is upside down.

Is this podcast for you?

  • You want to hear the truth, and you’re ready to face it. (Yes, those are two different things.)
  • You want to gain insight and improve your quality of life.
  • You want to make a change.
  • You want a deeper understanding of the laws of the universe.
  • You want to live a healthy life in body and soul.
  • You want to take away something you can carry with you for life.

You don’t need any prior knowledge. You only need the desire to explore a wide range of ideas and discover practical guidance for living.

Listen and get in touch

Gili Man Wolner, Emotional Healer. Helping you heal and grow through Jewish wisdom.

Have a question about an episode? Send a WhatsApp message to +972 50-681-0611 (messages only).

Listen to The Truth Hurts (in Hebrew).

Tal Eckerling, co-host: Website · Facebook · Instagram