My brain seems to be constantly filled to overflowing and just doesn’t have room for anything else. I wonder how much I am passing by because of that condition? So, when I came across an article lately about decluttering your mind, it managed to crowd its way into my thoughts.
The article told me that what I have is called brain fog. I guess that is a Zen thing, but it does describe it pretty well. The first step to clearing your mind means emptying your cup and fill it with useful things. Four ways were mentioned on how to do that, but I want to concentrate on just a couple of them.
Long Walks
When you take a walk concentrate on yourself and the walk. The purging comes from actually vocalizing the thought currently cluttering your mind. Clearly vocalize your thoughts instead of letting them ricochet through your skull. Often times by vocalizing your thoughts you actually resolve the issue, or at least you push it to the back burner as being somewhat trivial. You don’t have to shout but actually saying them is very helpful. Even if it doesn’t totally work, at least you got your cardio exercise for the day. Surprisingly, this often works for me.
Asking The Right Questions
Just the idea of trying to empty your mind periodically seems very helpful. I too often I am thinking about something I did in the past that didn’t turn out too well. I replay the incident over and over again trying to figure out how I could have done it better. These types of thoughts are seldom productive, so I have to convince myself to purge them from my active thoughts. The more I practice at this, the more successful I will likely become.
Another thing that fills my mind are things are “What if something goes wrong”. Thinking of all the negative things that might happen is seldom productive. If you recognize that fact you will more easily purge the thoughts as quickly after you get them.
Does all this actually work?
Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t. Maybe I just need more practice?
As I have mentioned before, one of the things that helps me to clear my mind, at least temporarily, is picture puzzles. That might seem weird to you but if you try it, you will likely understand. When I do picture puzzles my brain seems to be able to totally concentrate on finding the right piece to fill the hole. Everything else just fades into the background. To me, puzzles are much more relaxing than reading a book for instance. Learning new things that books can teach me just seems to add to the clutter. It is useful clutter, but clutter just the same. 😎
On a regular basis, try to empty your mind so that more useful things can find a place to sprout.
RJ's Corner 
Vocalizing your thoughts while walking seemed a little odd, until I realized half the people I pass are talking
…to someone on their cell phone. So, walking and talking out loud is pretty much normal behavior.
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I guess that does make it a little less weird, but talking to clear the trash from your mind really works for me. 🙃
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I feel better knowing I’m not the only person walking around talking to myself. I don’t when I started doing this, but it seems to have gotten more frequent as I’ve aged. Thank goodness for ear buds. 🤣
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I’ve noticed the same thing, Laurel. Now that I have a regular path of 1 mile which I use a couple of times daily, it really seems to help. When the temperatures reach below freezing that shuts off that exercise somewhat.
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I call it talking out loud instead of talking to my self. I’m talking to my dogs or to my dead husband or to God. It helps me get some of my feelings out there instead of just thinking about stuff all the time. I started doing it last year after my husband died suddenly. It helps me cope.
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Yeah, getting your feelings out there is really the purpose of this exercise, isn’t it?
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