Too Much Thinking

Last week I wrote about craziness. Now I'm feeling overfull, it's a kind of progression I guess.  Awareness often happens in my Tuesday restorative yoga class as some of you will know. Yesterday when my teacher responded to my query "What is this pose doing?" with "Don't think about it, let it reveal itself" I noticed tears happening. I realised in that moment I had been in continual over think about EVERYTHING, well my world kind of everything at least. Her words felt like guidance from God. You know when simple messages really get in deep?
 
I'm an over thinker from way back. I was known to wake in the night wondering what I had forgotten to worry about. Thinking too much is really just another addiction, meaning another way we avoid feelings. Feeling emotions brings relief and healing. Simple. (Although we usually need to get comfortable with allowing our self to release big, old emotions without thinking about them.)
 
I left my yoga class with 'Don't think about it, let it reveal itself' moving gently around my system. I was realising how overfull my head was. I was thinking about Too. Many. Things. So I decided I needed a self imposed brain simplification.
 
The first thing that I was thinking too much about actually needed me to feel some grief rather than think. So I stayed with it, stopped thinking and cried. 'Revealing itself' would come, it was surrender time. The 2nd thing needed a few phone calls for more information, easy. Number 3 wasn't such a big deal, just taking too much of my time, so I handed that over to relevant parties. 4 needed action so I scheduled it into my diary. 5 needed cancelling. 6 just needed a decision so I made one. And 7 needed me to leave the 2nd lot of the days dishes, laundry and grocery shopping and make a cup of tea and read, challenging and perfect. Later that day I was drawn to find a non thinky comedy movie (not usually my thing) Laughing with my partner was fab over think tonic.
 
I'm now in a don't analyse, allow reveal kind of zone and I like it.
 
You might like my current brain simplification recipe -
 
1. Realise you are overfull. Know your signs. Look for rushing, blaming, inability to meditate, fast talk, body tension and meltdowns.
 
2. Delegate. Schedule or reschedule. Cancel. Say no. Put thoughts onto paper. Share with a good listener (who doesn't feel a need to fix.)
 
3. Care for your self. Let yourself feel. Do simple, peaceful grounding things. Thinky thinky usually means we're out of touch with our bodies needs so move, rest, hydrate. Tune in to your body
 
4. Do fun things. A full brain can be boring. Laughing is healing.
 
5. Beware of becoming overfull again.
 
wishing you a peaceful mind
 
with light
Dawn
 
Photo by Ashley Batz