How to organise your life and your mind

Is it time for a spring clean?

I love packing away the winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves to make way for summer clothes. Not only does it lighten my draws and make space in my cupboards, I feel mentally lighter too.

This is part one of two-part blog post. Today I am writing about spring cleaning your mind, and tomorrow we will move onto areas of your life, like your home.

Did you know that you have about 60,000 thoughts a day? Many of them run subconsciously because they are efficient and repetitive. These ‘automated’ thoughts the brain does very well, and we don’t need to do anything with the ones that are useful for us, like instructions for walking.

However, it can be beneficial to consider organising the repetitive and automated thoughts that don’t serve us. These thoughts are often stuffed away, like some of your clothes in the back of your wardrobe. They seem harmless because you don’t really know what’s in there; you aren’t really paying attention. But these thoughts are continuously creating unwanted emotion in the background. We need to pull these thoughts into our consciousness and make decisions about them.

We also have thoughts that are conscious. These are new thoughts you are thinking on purpose. Often, these are judgments about daily things, thoughts about the present, and thoughts about the future.

Depending on how much thought work you have done, these thoughts might be very deliberate and useful, or they might be more like daydreaming and indulgent. It can be hugely beneficial to organise our thoughts on purpose and make conscious choices about how you want to think. Being organised is the best way to manage your mind at the highest level.

The art of the Thought Download

When it comes to the mind, the best way to start a spring clean is to observe what is in there to start with. This is a bit like eavesdropping on your own thinking and it takes some practice. Organising your wardrobe is easier if you take everything out and see what you have before you determine what you want, and the same is true of your thinking.

When you are in your brain, you are at the effect of your thoughts, and it’s very difficult to recognise that everything going on in there is a choice. It’s much easier if we take those thoughts out first. And the way that we do this is with a Thought Download. To do a Thought Download, simply grab a pen and paper and write down everything that is going on in your mind.

Try it now. What are you thinking? Don’t judge or think about your thoughts, just get them all down on paper from the perspective of being an eaves dropper on your own thoughts.

Next separate the facts from the thoughts. The facts are things that cannot be disputed such as:

• I have a dentist appointment this afternoon.
• It’s Jack’s birthday on Tuesday.
• I’m married.
• I’m alive.
• I’m breathing.
• I have a house.

Leave the facts to one side take each thought and apply the questions:

• Is it serving me?
• Do I really want it?
• Is it current or outdated?

When you ask yourself these questions, make sure you have a sentence in mind, not just any “problem” you’re dealing with that you aren’t recognising as a thought.

For example, let’s say your husband yelled at you about the kids staying up late, and you thought he was rude and dismissive. You are NOT asking these questions about your husband’s behaviour.

You are asking these questions about the thought: He is rude and dismissive, and considering:

• Does that THOUGHT serve you?
• Do you really want THAT THOUGHT?
• Is THE THOUGHT current or outdated?

Once you ask these questions about your thinking, you can decide to eliminate the thought or keep it.

Keep going until you have covered all the thoughts in your download. You may want to bring in new thoughts to practice, say goodbye to the thoughts you have been thinking, and start creating and practicing the ones you want to think. Keep straightening up your brain of thoughts like you would a room that you want to keep clean and organised.

Teaching my clients how to incorporate Thought Downloads into their and showing them how their thoughts create their feelings, is a great step forward in helping them to feel better.

Tomorrow I am going to share tips for decluttering your home.