On the games the mind plays with us

The other day, I called someone. No answer. No call back for a couple of hours. I sent a text message. Still no reply.

My mind, eager as always to fill the silence, began its familiar game:
“Maybe something is wrong.”
“Perhaps they are upset with me.”
“Did I say something yesterday that hurt them?”

By evening, I had constructed an entire narrative from a single unanswered call — a story stitched together with threads of assumption, reinforced with past data points and half-remembered experiences. Later, when I finally connected with the person, the truth was almost laughable: the phone had been left on the charging station at home. In an instant, my elaborate story dissolved. My mind sighed at the wasted effort.

This small incident reminded me how often our minds distort reality. Psychologists call these cognitive distortions. I call them the funhouse mirrors of the mind. You step inside, and suddenly your reflection is taller, shorter, wider, stranger than you really are. The mirror isn’t malicious. It simply bends reality.

We do the same with thoughts. We overgeneralize — “this always happens to me.” We catastrophize — “this delay means the whole project will fail.” We mind-read — “they didn’t reply, so they must be angry.” Each time, we bend the truth until it feels heavier than it really is.

Here is the quiet wisdom I am learning: the distortion itself is not the problem. Believing it is. The moment we notice we are inside the mirror maze, we have a choice. We can laugh at the distorted image, or we can mistake it for who we are. We can keep running through warped reflections, or we can pause, smile, and remind ourselves: “This is not the whole truth. It’s just a story my mind is telling.”

This simple act of noticing the mind’s game can be an act of freedom. Over time, it nurtures clarity. And clarity is the soil in which peace grows.

So the next time you find yourself spinning a story from a missed call, an unanswered message, or even a passing gaze from a stranger on the subway, step back gently—before the mind pulls you into its mirror maze. Ask yourself: Is this fact, or fiction? Is this reality, or just a reflection in the funhouse mirror?

You may discover that most of the weight you were carrying was never real in the first place.

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Letters for the Inner Journey by Pushkar

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