Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash
What do you think of this picture?
What are the thoughts that immediately spring to mind when you see a pile of rubbish like this, littered all over the path?
Are you thinking 'what a mess!' or 'who would actually do that?' or 'about time the Council picked all that lot up!'
Maybe you might be thinking something completely different?
I confess that I am a bit of a tidy freak, so looking at this picture makes me very twitchy indeed....
It struck me when I looked at this picture, that our minds can also become a dumping ground for thoughts that are no use to us. Maybe someone has said something that hurt us, or we feel annoyed about a situation, or we have read or watched something that has stuck in our mind and it is triggering some anxious or stressful thoughts?
Sometimes, my mind gets full of 'rubbish', or 'litter', and my thoughts then get jumbled up and my mood changes, not straight away, but it sort of creeps up on me, a bit like the rubbish bin at home, you throw away rubbish until you suddenly realise it needs emptying..
So, I ask you, what's littering your life?
What thoughts and images are you holding in your mind that are eating away at your peace, and triggering stress and anxiety to spill out into your life, changing your mood and leaving you feeling, well, rubbish?
Would you like to know how to get rid of the litter in your mind, the litter that is beginning to pile up and take up too much of your valuable space?
I'd like to share a tip with you that may help you to get rid of the litter in your mind, so that you begin to think clearly again and feel lighter and freer.
This is something that I like to do when I feel that my bin is overflowing.. This takes me 5-10 minutes.
- Stop. Go somewhere that you can be alone. Sit. Put your phone out of sight and on silent.
- Close your eyes and imagine that whatever the thought that is stressing you, or upsetting you, or causing you to feel anxious, is a piece of litter.
- Imagine yourself screwing that piece of litter up, and when you have gone through your thoughts, turned them into litter and thrown them away, imagine yourself tying up the sack and putting the sack containing all the rubbish into a skip.
- Slowly open your eyes, and as you do this, notice how your body is feeling. Notice how your feet are planted on the floor, notice your posture, notice your muscles, are they tense? relaxed?
- Take 5 deep breaths, breathe in through your nose-smell the roses. Breathe out through your mouth-blow out the candle.
When you are ready, stand up, and go back to wherever you were before. Remember that you are in control of how much rubbish you want to keep, or get rid of.
The choice is yours.