Living with an Unruly Mind: Is your mind tugging at your coat sleeve?

I find that my unruly mind will sometimes nag away at me about some unsolved issue in my life. It might be a relationship problem, a client that I’m working with, an outstanding bill to pay or just me wondering why the sun isn’t shining today – whatever it is, sticky thoughts sometimes just keep whirring away in the background and these can really disturb my moment-to-moment enjoyment.

Here’s something I’ve found helpful. I know that my unruly mind is actually an efficient problem-solving machine. The trouble is, I don’t give it the proper attention it deserves, so we don’t reach agreement on a solution – it just keeps chugging away offering me more and more options, but I don’t take the time to sit down and have a chat about it.

I suppose this is what we call “worry”.

So, I book an appointment with my unruly mind to get to the bottom of the situation.

I sit down quietly at a specific time I’ve booked in my calendar and turn off my phone and lock the door.

Now, I explore why my mind is tugging at my coat sleeve, trying to get my attention.

I ask myself what am I thinking, what am I feeling, what sensations are in my body regarding this issue?

I put the rest of life on pause and give my unruly mind the respect it deserves and treat it like a friend, pat it on the head, share a cup of coffee and have a good old chin wag.

It’s amazing what magic solutions that unruly mind can come up with when I’m prepared to listen.