Did you know that we have approximately 60,000 thoughts a day?
Excluding sleep, that is a little less than a thought a second.
Guess how many of those are original thoughts?
In most of us, only 5%!
Which means the other 95% are recurring, repetitive thoughts…those thoughts you think of over and over again. Unfortunately, most of those recurring thoughts are negative.
Have you ever noticed a beautiful tree when you were driving? How many of you ever think of that tree again during the day? Probably never again. What about when someone cuts you off on the highway? I bet angry thoughts of that driver loop around in your noggin for a while before you let it go.
Really, what we do to ourselves should be considered torture!
Why do you think people are so addicted to TV? Because it stops the mental chatter. You can’t pay attention to the show and think about the crazy driver at the same time. This is the same for video games and really any computer time: our focus helps quiet the mind.
There are plenty of healthier ways that quiet the mind that I bet you are already doing. You may not have even realized why you enjoyed them so much. In their own way, they are all very meditative:
- Reading
- Exercising
- Listening to Music
- Working on a complicated project
- Intense cleaning
- Playing a sport
- Taking a cat nap
So, pat yourself on your back. You are trying to stop that crazy head of yours and you didn’t even know it.
When you are ready (if you don’t already) meditation is a great way to practice quieting the mind so that you can more easily find those quiet moments anytime during the day. When you get used to how it feels, you can better identify when your brain is out of control. If you want to give it a try, take five minutes focusing on your breath. Just count to six on the inhale and six on the exhale. You will be amazed how 5 minutes of breathing can shift your mood! It is hard to think about someone who made you mad and count at the same time.
So, here’s to breathing today. And reducing our thought imprint by…say 10%? That would be 6,000 thoughts!
I love reading and doing yoga (nothing negative, all positive) to still and clear my mind:) When I have an encounter sometimes I take a break and count to 10 and then let it go – my mom did this and I think it works at times. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, yoga has been a life saver! I need to start counting to 10 – I bet that works…thanks for that.
As many of you know, I am a Special Education teacher at a local High School (Lina’s mom). One of the disadvantages shared by many of my students is the inability to concentrate for an extended period of time (sometimes less than 2 minutes). They often seem to be unable to prioritize thoughts and sounds. The students are often distracted from concentrating on their work by small bumps or clanks from inside or outside the class or voices that for most of us would not even register.
Over the years I have hit on many positive ways to get my students back on track. The first, of course, is music. I’m sure that we all remember our middle school and high school days when we would listen to loud, obnoxious music (or so our parents thought) while we were doing homework. “How could you even THINK with that music blasting?” But we could. When my students need to concentrate on a quiz or test or practice a difficult skill I allow them to put on headphones and listen to music from their MP3 players. It works.
When I see them getting restless we march around the room (even high schoolers can appreciate “silly”. When there seems to be tension in the room we talk and I tell a funny story or actually show a very short video clip from Youtube featuring old funny men (Like Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello’s “Whose on First”). Laughter works like a charm. If a student seems to have had a hard night or is anxious about something that I can”t help them with I let them put their heads down on their desk.
One thing I have learned throughout my years of living and teaching is that we need to break the cycle of the chatter that keeps us from concentrating on the positive.
My observation of the human race is that Special Education students are not “different”. They are simply part of the continuum we are all traveling on. For each disability we can identify, we probably can see a portion of that disability within ourselves, but to a different extent.
So, please be kind to yourselves and hold off your “chatter”. Lina has suggested that you try any of these activities to help in accomplishing this.
Reading
Exercising
Listening to Music
Working on a complicated project
Intense cleaning
Playing a sport
Taking a cat nap
I’m writing to tell you that they can work for most anybody.
Carol
Reblogged this on Red Rock Crossing.
Thanks, Red Rock! Have a great day! xo Lina