If ever there was a time for a mental detox it’s the end of 2020. But! no matter what time of the year, I’m going to share my favorite ways to clear your mind.
Backyard time
Here you have privacy, unlike a park you can be in nature, but you are at home. Here you can rest, in your favorite chair, hammock, pool, towel, blanket, in the grass whatever you feel most comfortable in that day. You can declutter, un-rust your dream gears, and visualize your future. Here you can let go, create, plan, write, find your voice, practice a mindful listening meditation, and reground yourself back into the present moment. This is where I love to take out my journal and set intentions or dig deep to create content or just BE.
*To practice the mindful listening meditation, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, bring your awareness to the first sounds you hear, hold your attention there, then move to the next sound, and back to the first sound, see how many sounds you can bring into your awareness. The more you practice this the more sounds you will discover you automatically filter out. Common outdoor sounds are birds chirping, the crickets singing, an airplane passing in the distance, cars, children playing nearby, and animals.
Shower
Here you can solve your most difficult problems because you think in an abstract way, or in a stressful state. The environment is safe and provides natural relaxation, allowing dopamine which is linked to creativity, to flood and distractions to melt away. I’m not kidding! Studies have been done in this area to back up my theory and my practice, not because of me directly but ‘great minds think alike!’ and you can have your greatest ideas here, in the shower. If you are going to opt for a bath, try to keep your ears under the water while it’s still filling up to really change up your senses and limiting distracting noises.
Days of silence
On these days if you are at home, you would nourish your mind by not speaking, and by not having an audible input of information (so no television, no phones, music, people) you would spend your time quietly. You would move through your day with your own narration or with your own silence if your mental chatter is reduced from the low-key vibes. If you notice yourself caught up in a whirlwind of thoughts, you can bring your awareness to the present moment by stating what’s happening at the moment silently, which is fine. “Today is Sunday, Dec 27th at 4 pm and I am making lunch.”
Something to interrupt the normal pattern of recurrent and most often negative, self-talk. Of course, if you need to communicate with your pets or something, feel free to speak, just don’t call your best friend for a 3-hour conversation. Put the phone on do not disturb if you can. Throughout the day or at the end of the day, perhaps by dinner time check-in with yourself and see if you can take notice of how much energy you conserved. If a day seems too much, start with just 1 hour. Realy just connect to yourself, and your space.
Mind Dump
Lastly and this is for everyone! Have you ever had something important slip through the cracks? Especially the people who struggle with overwhelm, anxiety, anyone ‘adulting’ these days really!! Grab a sheet of paper or a notebook with a pen. Write out everything on your mind. Your to-do, your simple tasks, your projects, for work, for life, for family. Write down anything you have been holding onto trying desperately not to forget, week to week, like the recycling or upcoming important dates, baseball games or special events, loose ends on things you need to start or to finish, financial planning, errands, pet care, health, personal/professional development, house repairs, organization, items to pick up at the store, reoccurring or strong feelings. You write down anything that is on your mind.
Here’s why. The human brain is NOT meant to hold onto all of this thus, it doesn’t. Something has to go, the ‘problem’ is, sometimes it lets go of something without consulting you, or because you are holding onto all of the 10,000 things- the bandwidth begins running the programs at a slower pace. This practice will not only improve your memory and retention of what important but it will also reduce mistakes you make, which will yield fewer arguments, that naturally arise when you mess up. Spend 5-30 minutes doing this as often as you need to be it weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.
From there you can begin to sort what shows up on paper into categories so you can better manage. You will be surprised how much relief this can provide, most effectively when you follow through withactions to get that stuff off your plate.
