Lesson 2 of 6 · Certainty is not removed by doubt
The one sentence
You will notice this plan does not tell you to ignore the doubt or to refuse the repeat. Deliberately. Working directly against a compulsion is effective and it is done alongside a therapist, not from a page. What a page can do is help you see the shape of it, and get one clear ruling instead of forty.
The move
Acting on what you last knew
5 minutes or less
- When the doubt arrives, ask one question: what did I last know for certain?
- Answer it once, in a sentence. I made wudu after asr.
- Act on that. Do not check, do not re-examine, do not ask.
- The discomfort will still be there. Let it be there. You are not required to resolve it before you act.
If it does not work
If you cannot remember what you last knew, take the ordinary answer a reasonable person would give and act on that. The rule the lessons set out does not require a good memory.
Write the one sentence
A specific plan works better than a good intention. Fill both halves in your own words.
Pick a day and a time and you will get a calendar file to open. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Kept in this browser only.