Listen to Your Mind

Go on a walk alone and listen to your mind.

Bring a small notepad and pen. Don’t bring your earbuds, airpods, or earphones this time. For best results, leave your phone behind.

You and your mind need some alone time.

The world will still distract you – add that to your investigation. Notice your thoughts. For now don’t try to stop or control them at all. Do your best to pull back and let your mind go wild – and watch. There is a meme that says ‘Not my circus, not my monkeys’. Now is time to find out about your circus and monkeys, and yes, we all have them. Your ‘monkey’ mind will show you the way to your limiting thoughts and beliefs. Clearing those will change your life.

As you walk along begin to track the different types of thoughts that arise. Some may be great ideas that you notice because you have space, time, and attention available. Briefly write down the core of the idea in the suggested notebook. This will allow your tenacious mind to check off that communication as complete and become just a little more clear.

Or maybe the idea enthralls you and everything that you think of for the rest of your walk is that idea – so be it. Still time well spent.

Or maybe, after you write down the idea your mind moves on. So continue tracking. Find some general categories and notice which ones most of your thoughts belong to. For me, I often notice a shift in thoughts during the course of my walks. I may start out with most thoughts in the ‘Bitching and Complaining’ category and then as I hear the thoughts and release them, calm them, or just laugh at them, they also become complete communications and my mind can check them off and move on.

As you become more aware and grow your capacity to observe your mind, start to look for sub-categories of ‘Bitching and Complaining’. This is where your real work lies. You will notice that you are applying old painful lessons from earlier times – even back to childhood. They might feel like ‘powerless’, ‘left out’, ‘alien’, ‘unpopular’, ‘overwhelmed’, ‘stupid’, or ‘ugly’- for example. Could also be ‘I have to do it myself’, ‘Don’t show weakness’, or ‘I can’t trust others, only myself’. Notice the general feeling of it and start to bring awareness of that category in your life. 

Bringing current reality to those painful areas will bring benefits to all areas of your life. If you feel it inside, be certain that it will be affecting your home and work life. Take those out-of-reality feelings to your coach or therapist if you need help clearing them.

Later in the walk, after my mind has spewed what it needs to, my thoughts shift. I begin to be more in the moment, noticing my surroundings and how my body feels. I become more grounded. I am more available to the smells and sounds of the world around me. My thoughts become more in line with my current reality. Life is better.

The more I practice this investigation, the less busy my mind is. Clients have also reported better sleep, more opportunities, and clearer thinking.

The spewing stage takes longer on some walks than others. ?? Let me know if I can help.

www.denisemiller.ca