Do you ever find that your best ideas come to you while you’re in the shower? Or that suddenly when you’re trying to go to sleep that your mind is overrun with thoughts?
I have a theory around this. And that is that we are not allowing our minds enough blank space during the day to give our heads time to process, ponder and create.
Think about how much we are constantly consuming. For most of us we roll out of bed and jump straight into our social feeds – for many of us BEFORE we even get out of bed.
When we are getting ready and rushing out the door or on our way to work we may be listening to the radio, the tv, music, a podcast (our kids repetitive questions).
When we take a break we jump onto our phones to check on messages and feeds. Often in meal times, perhaps even on the toilet!
When we exercise or walk we’re often consuming podcasts or audio books or chatting on the phone to someone.
Some of us even checking our phones while our car is in idle at the traffic lights or if not definitely while we’re waiting for an appointment or in line for our coffee.
The evenings sometimes we’re even double consuming watching tv while scrolling or sending emails at the same time!
So where is the quiet space for our mind to process? Our mind needs time to process conversations, ideas, problem solve and create. It needs time to self reflect and become more self aware.
Its no wonder that when we jump in the shower or finally lie down and put our devices to the side that suddenly our mind goes – hello! Time to process all those thoughts now!
I am becoming more and more aware of where I do this during the day (waiting for the kettle to boil, when eating, as a distraction from what I am doing) and noticing that I’m not allowing my mind time to process.
The good news is that awareness is the first step to change anything.
So I am practicing that when I become aware of when I am using my devices to fill time, or mindlessly scrolling for no reason – to pause, take a deep breath and allow my mind some white space to just think and ponder.
Or when I am going for a walk – to walk unplugged and let the mind wander.
Or use the opportunity to be present with the people around me.
I’m by no means perfect and still need to constantly remind myself but I have noticed that when I do this – it also drastically reduces my stress levels as I’m not trying to fill every moment with something!
What do you think? Have you noticed this for yourself? Could you give this a try too and see the impact it may have on your stress and mindset?
Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
And P.S if you need further support managing stress and overwhelm and are ready to create some change, DM Me and let’s chat about my business and life coaching options.
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