The Noise in our heads!

Noise! Noise! Noise! It’s all around us but the noise I am speaking of is the noise within our heads!

What?

Many of you may not call it noise, but that’s what I refer to it as. So, what exactly do I mean by noise?

Noise is our running thoughts, the millions of things in our head from our to-do lists to our many running questions. Maybe it’s our worry, our concern, our anxiousness, our feelings of being stuck or our thoughts of being overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated.

Noise is what stays in our head and takes up unnecessary space. That does not leave a lot of room for much of anything else, right?

So, what do we do about the noise? How do we get past this to get CLARITY on our thoughts and head in a direction that gives us more peace, comfort, and joy?

We all will handle “our noise” differently but let me shine a light on a few thoughts for you…

Sometimes pouring out our thoughts will allow them to get out of our heads This allows for some relief from our noise!

You may be thinking, Ok, great but HOW do I do that.

I am so glad you asked! 😊

Let’s try what I like to call a thought download or mind dump.

Are you thinking, What the heck is she talking about?!

Let me expand on this exercise. I thought download or mind dump allows you to get "all the noise" on paper which includes the good, the bad, and the sometimes the ugly.

So, here is what you do! Go get a paper and pen. Find a quiet place.

Yes, a quiet place where you won't be interrupted. (For some of you that may not be till later at night after the kids have gone to bed. That's ok!!)

Begin to write down everything you are thinking and feeling. Even the things that you may not want to write down, write them down. Get everything on paper that you can so you can get it out of your head and someplace else. There is something magical that happens when you write things down!

You might find there are thoughts on that paper that you never knew you even felt. You may learn something new about how you are feeling or why you might be feeling or thinking that way.

Now, you have all your thoughts down on paper. (No, worries you can throw this paper away if you want when you are done!)

Take a moment to look at what you have written. Decide for yourself which thoughts you might want to get rid of. I’m sure, like me, you will find that there are thoughts you wrote down that may just not belong there. Guess what, cross those off your list and forget about them! Let me give you an example of one of mine. My husband comes home and does not ask how my day. (He normally does ask me about my day.) However, since he didn't today, I feel hurt and then think he does not care about me. I then ask myself these questions below and really search for the truthful answer. When I look at the whole picture it might look a little differently.

If you are having a hard time eliminating some of those thoughts, ask yourself these questions.

· Is this really true?

· Do I believe it to be true?

If the answer is no, then cross those off your list. Get rid of them!

You see friends, our thoughts create our feelings, and our feelings create our actions.

Think on this for a moment and you will find this happens to be very true!

Still asking yourself “What are we doing here, Natalie?

Let’s refresh- We are writing all our thoughts down in order to clear our heads so we can get rid of the noise that overwhelms us.

With getting the noise out of your head you can focus on what’s really bothering you and THEN my friends it is so much easier to take steps forward when we can focus on what is truly on our hearts!

As a coach this is an exercise I do with my clients, and it is one that is very impactful. Part of coaching is “peeling the onion” and getting down to the heart of what we are struggling with. From there we can take steps forward and move in a direction that is clearer and more focused.

Happy thought downloading, friends!!