The other day I heard mention that on average people have between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day—of which, 90% to 95% are repetitive.
I did a little research and didn’t see much by way of concrete evidence (how does one even obtain anything concrete on such a subjective and fluid topic?), but something inside me definitely resonated.
My own experience tells me that thoughts are repeated until the open loop is closed (i.e. “I can’t forget to do this later…” or “What am I going to do about this problem…” or “I wonder what people think of me?” etc).
And my own experience tells me that learning how to close open loops is absolutely key to better mental health (because how is living in the same thoughts every day not maddening?)…
The good news is that closing open loops is actually quite simple:
1. Write things down. If your brain knows the thought is saved somewhere, it’ll let it go. If it thinks it has to remember it, it’ll repeat the thought indefinitely.
2. Work problems out. Busy is the modern day disease that contributes to more mental health issues than most people want to admit. Why? Because busy prevents you from doing the inner work and creating the space that’s necessary to close open loops.
3. Practice doing nothing. What’s crazy is that most of us have zero awareness of our thoughts. We’re simply lost in the mix. Doing nothing allows you to practice watching your thoughts… so you can notice what’s happening upstairs… so you can identify what loops even need closing.
The other news is that is it simple… yes. Easy? Maybe not. Worth it? Undoubtedly.