Just the facts ma’am...

[gerg]

Joe Friday is credited with the phrase “just the facts ma’am”. It is an important concept for those of us that suffer from anxiety and depression. His intention was to avoid the story telling and the emotions that were caused by the story. Friday was a police detective on a show called Dragnet, I think I saw it in reruns... If we can stick to the facts we find that a lot of things that happen around us are not our problem. One fact that I love is “I don’t care”, I seldom take things personally anymore. We take offense, we make ourselves angry, it is all us, so we need to control us and only us. His or her crummy opinion is of no benefit to me. That opinion is not made up of facts.

So check the story that you are telling yourself, and dump anything that is not a fact. Problems will grow smaller and the emotions that you feel will be real.

[Strongheartforever]

That’s good. Not taking things personally is a huge lesson in this life. They should teach it in school.