With the upcoming deadline, and the mountain of work still left to do, you have no idea how you will get it all done on time. You are literally down to the wire.
You need to push. Trouble is, just when you start to focus, competing thoughts get in the way. Your mind races with distracting thoughts.
You need to quiet the incessant drivel. Like, right now.
If only there were some way to get rid of the mental chatter once and for all.
Well, there is…
You're thinking too much
Well, duh.
And it's not that simple. Our mind doesn't have an off switch. Or, does it?
When there is so much stress and anxiety, getting your self talking prattle to quiet down is like asking a child to go to sit still after a candy binge.
You can hush the babble, but first you should reframe how you think about thinking.
Huh?
In other words, the key is not to think.
Stop thinking and start receiving
You don't need to think to accomplish the task. Just do it.
Your mind only needs to hold and access useful images and thoughts that will help you finish your project.
How do you access these ideas without thinking?
You have to be open to receive.
You are the empty vessel, ready to receive abundance. You are the unfurling flower being kissed, energized, and sustained by light.
The way to be open to receive is to be in a meditative state.
You need a meditative mind: awake, alert, and resting.
Meditation balances between being alert and relaxed"”that's why it's so powerful.
I'm not going to say, "Just meditate," because you have a choir of thoughts all begging for attention, like a flock of children tugging on their mother's leg, voicing themselves, hoping to be heard.
All thoughts need to be dispelled. To focus, you need a silent mind. And when you have that, you have the open mind"”the empty mind. You have the mind ready to receive insight, clarity, inspiration. The mind that is ready to create.
There's a technique for that. I learned it as a brown belt intensive of the Nia Technique , and they expanded on it during my black belt. This example is exactly what I use and it has served me really well for many years.
The Nia Technique to a peaceful mind
1. Imagine a still pool inside your head.
- Sit or stand with your spine upright like a receiving antenna.
- Close your eyes to eliminate distractions.
- Notice how the shape of your head"”from your chin to the crown of your head"”is like a hollow sphere.
- Imagine that, instead of your brain, your head contains a calm pool of water. The water level is at the third eye "”the point between the eyebrows and up about a finger.
- Let the competing thoughts hover over the still water.
- Focus on how still the water is.
2. Push away thought with a radiating wave and a word.
- Imagine a drop of water hits the surface , and out radiates a word"” STILLNESS.
- As it radiates outward, it pushes all thoughts away.
3. Tweak it, to find the best word.
The word STILLNESS might not resonate with you.
That's cool. If it doesn't work, play with other words until you find the best one. You may want to test words that have a high resonance, like OM, or LOVE.
How do you know you've found the right word? If the thoughts silence for even a moment, you have found it. And the word has to be easy to remember.
But sometimes, the thoughts don't remain quiet for very long. If this happens to you, (as it does for most people), the key is to practice.
4. Practice, and sustain it.
Notice how many times you use your word to sustain mental silence for 30 seconds. (Don't judge how "good" or "bad" you are doing. Just notice.)
Then do it for 60 seconds.
Practice using this word to stop mental chatter and to improve your ability to actively listen.
The more you practice, the longer these intervals will become. (I promise!)
Readers: How has this experiment affected your inner self talk? Were you able to focus? And if you have ideas for other high-resonance words to test, please share your word(s) with us!
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