the MIND less FULL

Mindfulness

Tuesday 4th February 2020

Often our thoughts can take us down rabbit holes. We get caught up in blame, self-criticism, re-hashing "if only I had done/said ....". Re-living painful memories again and again.

Practicing Mindfulness techniques allows us to become more aware of the traffic of our thoughts and feelings that we experience and to see how we can become entangled in that traffic in ways that are not helpful.

Mediation encourages us to sit with the traffic rather than running into it and being carted off by a juggernaut. It teaches us to bring awareness to thoughts and recognise when we are getting caught up in them.

Another useful exercise is a 'brain dump' - writing down all the thoughts and worries can bring an awareness to them and reduce some of their power. Circling the worries we can control can help us to find ways to deal with them more productively - and those we can't, viewed with an acceptance that we need to let them go.

Perhaps by stepping back from the negative thoughts we might just make room for the beautiful, glorious, joyful, creative thoughts to step forth.