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Category: Calming The Mind

Sunny/ Seventy Is The Way

Published on August 2, 2022

The ‘inner weather’ of our mind directly impacts how we get to travel in life.

A sunny/ seventy kind of mentality = full speed ahead.

An overcast/ foggy kind of mentality = which way is even forward?

In life, mental clarity is the sunny day that allows us to unleash our full energy and potential into the journey that lies ahead.

Mental cloudiness is what throttles all of our efforts to that creeping, hazard lights pace that makes the prospect of the journey seem so daunting, confusing, and un-accomplishable.

The good news with our “inner weather” vs the “outer weather” is that we can actually influence our inner weather.

Which is excellent news for the person who is driving 25mph forward on a road that they’re not even sure is correct.

How do we influence/ change our inner weather? By incorporating more of the tasks that lead to mental clarity and removing more of the tasks the lead to mental cloudiness.

Some tasks that lead to mental clarity:

  • Writing
  • Therapy
  • Meditation

Some tasks that lead to mental cloudiness:

  • Click-bait topics
  • Superficial Gossip
  • Busy, distraction-based work

Mental cloudiness is typically the byproduct of passive, modern day living. Click bait bombards you at every turn, superficial gossip is the comfortable/easy form of communication, and busy is essentially society’s status update.

Mental clarity is typically the byproduct of active, rebellious type living. Writing when click bait is buzzing… Therapy when superficial is literally calling your name… Meditation when busy is ingrained into your state of being…

If you want to unleash all of what’s inside, you need to rebel; you need to make space for clarity; you need to clear the fog that’s inside.

Less For Less Anxiety

Published on July 5, 2022

Wanna know why you feel anxious?

Too many open processes.

You’re doing too much; thinking too much; taking on too much.

What you need is a healthy dose of less.

Less obligation. Less running around. Less distraction.

So that you can focus more on closing what’s already open.

For When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed:

Published on May 24, 2022
  1. Breathe.
  2. Brain dump—write out why. Don’t worry about being neat, orderly, or proper. Just write. This will help you gain clarity. Include lingering thoughts that seem to keep reoccurring. Do this even if you think you already inherently know why. Most of the time, there’s a lot more to it than you think.
  3. Breathe again.
  4. Prioritize—mental health comes first. In all cases, you must take care of yourself before you can properly get anything else done that’s on your list. Once you feel solid, sort tasks so you know what’s top priority and what’s not.
  5. Breathe more.
  6. Make moves—don’t focus on the whole list. Focus on the first top task. Block out distractions. Get started. Don’t overthink this step—just make your inertia-breaking move.
  7. Keep breathing deeply.
  8. Use momentum—to help you get the next task done. Doing is easier once you’ve started. Maintain your momentum from one task to the next for as long as you can sustain it.
  9. Finish this stretch of work with some, you guessed it, deep breathing.
  10. Relish in the feeling of having gotten tasks done. Give yourself some credit. Remind yourself that your work will never be done. And let grace fill you up so you can mentally check-out and enjoy the next part of your day overwhelm and stress-free. After all, life is short and there’s PLENTY to be grateful for.
  11. BONUS: More breathing.

Note: Don’t just gloss over breathing like it’s a non-step. Breathing is fundamental to managing our physiology. And if we can take some quality time to breathe deeply and consciously, it will help us calm our state which, in turn, will only help us perform better.

Forced Clarity

Published on March 24, 2022

You can’t force clarity.

Clarity is something that needs to be surrendered to.

Like when you’re in the middle of a big life decision—stuffing more “solutions” into your mind will probably only further confuse the matter. When what’s really needed, in most cases, is less stuff altogether so that the quiet, unmistakable voice that speaks from deep within can offer its solution based on the depth of knowledge that’s already there.

Try to force the mudded pond to settle and you’ll mud it more.

Surrender to the settling process and the pond floor suddenly starts to come into view.

Present In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

Published on January 24, 2022

You know what time it is?

—A great time to relax that mind of yours.

Stop what you’re doing and name out:

  • 5 things you see.
  • 4 things you hear.
  • 3 things you feel.
  • 2 things you smell.
  • and 1 thing you taste.

Ground yourself into the present moment and enjoy the beauty that’s already here.

Sitting With A Raging Mind

Published on January 9, 2022

Sometimes, meditating might make you feel anxious.

Of course!

…Because you’re choosing to confront an anxious mind that’s full of clouded, mudded, raging thoughts.

Here’s the thing: the means to settling an anxious mind isn’t done by stirring it up with more information, stimulation, and distraction—it’s done by giving it the space it needs in absence of those things.

Sitting with the discomfort is the means.

And what you might realize, is that your raging mind—like a child raging with a temper tantrum—does eventually relent to the space, boredom, and non-stimulation of a good timeout.

The only question is, can you be firm enough to put your mind in timeout or will you continue to let the child of your mind rage?

Can’t Sleep?

Published on November 17, 2021

Wondering why your mind starts running wild right before bed?

Maybe it’s because you’re not confronting the problems your mind gets wild about while you’re awake.

Maybe you’re so distracted during the day—from the pings, beeps, bells, busyness, and notifications—that your mind conveniently forgets.

Until, finally, you turn the screens off, put your phone down, stop all conversation, and close your eyes to all of the incoming information of the world.

…Of course that’s when your mind all-of-a-sudden gets wild—it remembers. And it can finally start working its way through some of those damn open-ended problems.

Mental confrontation exhausts the mind—so sleep comes easier.

Mental avoidance simply delays the mental confrontation until it can no longer be avoided.

Which is, usually (and inconveniently), right before you sleep.