The Sushi Bar

Have you ever had one of those days, where you have thoughts racing through your mind? I don't mean the helpful, creative type of thoughts, where you're in a flow state. I mean the type of thoughts which are really unhelpful, when you're trying to concentrate.

As any business person knows, there are a lot of competing pressures for your time, and attention. If you're not careful it can quickly lead to a feeling of overwhelm, and when we feel overwhelmed, we stop taking action and tend to procrastinate. Have you ever been in that situation? I know I have.

Then we get the situation where there's something we need to get done, but just can't seem to find the motivation to get going. Our mind starts to wander and before you know it, an hour or two has passed and we're still no closer to getting the job done.

In these situations it's best to take a step back. It's important not to chastise yourself, as that will only make you feel worse and even less motivated.

I've noticed through my own experience there seems to be a simple rule to getting things done.

Whether you're motivated or not, if the work needs doing, it will get done when you put some energy into it. If you don't put energy into it, it won't get done. It really is that simple.

The magic happens when you start to put energy into some work, even if you didn't want to start it in the first place. When you take some action, then you tend to feel more motivated to finish what you started. Even if you only commit to doing the work for 10 minutes to start with. Motivation tends to come from taking Action, in my experience.

That can get you started, and when you take action and get things in motion, they tend to stay in motion.

However, you may have already started the work, but you keep getting thoughts popping into your head which are distracting you. It could be about the work you're doing, some other pieces of work you still have to get done, what other people may be thinking of you or something else that's personal.

You may attach to some of these thoughts, which may lead to feelings of stress, anxiety, overwhelm or some other kind of bad feeling.

Here's a metaphor I heard, that may help you, when you find yourself in this situation.

Sushi Bar Metaphor:

Imagine you're sitting in a sushi bar.

In front of you is a conveyer belt, which brings all sorts of random dishes before you. You never know which will be coming around next, it's just an endless array of dishes.

Think of the conveyor belt like your mind, constantly in motion and bringing a flow of thought. Think of the dishes on the conveyor belt like your thoughts. Totally random, sometimes the dishes like thoughts could be related in some way, other times, they have nothing in common.

You select a dish from the belt and you start to chew on it. If it tastes and feels good, you start to eat some more.

This is like when we consume a thought. If we chew it over a little and we like the thought, then we can continue to enjoy it in the moment.

But can you imagine picking a dish from the belt, you start to chew on it, it tastes awful and starts giving you a really bad feeling. Would you keep eating it?

Or would you put that particular dish in the bin? I know what I'd do!

Sometimes we do that with our thoughts. A bad or unhelpful thought comes along and we chew it over a little, it gives us a bad or unhelpful feeling, but we still keep chewing on it and eat more and more of it.

Then we wonder why we feel bad, upset, stressed, overwhelmed, anxious etc. You get the idea.

But when we become aware we're still chewing over a bad thought, we do have the choice to bin that one, and wait for the next random thought to come around instead. The next thought may be helpful or not, but we can bin that one too if we need to.

What did you take from that metaphor?

Was it helpful to you?

Your Help Please

I'm thinking of creating a group program in the near future, based on a new way of looking at life. I've taken several clients through this understanding on a one to one basis in the past with great results.

Would this be something you'd be interested in hearing more about?

You know that feeling, when you go on holiday. You get to your hotel and you get your first drink in hand, sit by the pool and feel the warm sun on your skin and you feel the stress of everyday life just drop away?

That's the feeling I aim to give my clients. I can't replicate the sun on your skin, but I can help you to let your everyday stress melt away, so you can sink into a good feeling, much more of the time.

Life's too short for stress and overwhelm.

If you'd like to explore how I can help you slow down your thoughts and enable you to be more in the present moment as well as have access to your own inner wisdom more of the time, then either message me or email me and we can arrange a chat and coffee over Zoom.

[email protected]

Love Mike