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Sometimes it is easier said than done but these are a few techniques that I have found useful when something is weighing heavily on my mind, interfering with sleep, occupying far more space than it deserves even during daylight hours when my mind would best be put to use in a more effective way. The main question I ask myself is what if anything can I do immediately to resolve the situation. If the answer is nothing then I have to let it go. If the answer is doable then I do it, or set a plan to conquer it if it is complex. Very often there is a simple solution but the solution is elusive or too complicated. Letting it brew – but only in the Back of my Mind is what works best for me …

My friend Jean Ann French posted this story on her Facebook page –

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and then his old pickup truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward, he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied. “I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing is for sure, troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again.”

“The funny thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”

Everybody needs a trouble tree..

*separate yourself from your troubles by trying the following:
*give an allotted amount of time to brood over them but not too much time! 15 full minutes is more than enough and then put the thoughts away for the rest of the day. IF there is a solution it will find you best if you are in a relaxed state of mind**
*meditate – by meditating you release your mind from worries as you cant concentrate on counting, mantras or breathing at the same time as worrying
*walk with music playing
*relax entirely before falling asleep by shutting your body down one segment at a time starting from the toes and moving up slowly
*hang out at a park watching dogs and children
*immerse yourself in something you love to do
*Volunteer – by helping others it puts your own troubles in perspective
*realise that some things are out of your hands and that life is the way it is meant to be – that each and every event has a purpose and that the purpose may not always surface at the moment you need it to – this philosophy has a life changing impact that can include any religion or belief system.
*find yourself a Trouble Tree! and use it liberally
I wrote a poem about the subject of dealing with pain and/or memories/troubles that just won’t go away and about dealing with a problem that you have no power to change – Only the power to accept and deal with in whatever way suits You. I used a filing cabinet in the mind:
THE LEGACY

If I was told

“Rewrite your life,” 
I would not edit it.
Instead I’d glorify

The good and
Cross out the negative.


The red line strikes
Would be so few,
The words allowed to flow
To tell great stories
Deep and true and still
Allow for sorrow.

It’s challenges that make
Me proud, and they
Are overcome, and
When left to steep
In time and sleep,
Illuminate me some.

The dawn breaks gently
On the pain.
Now so much time has passed
And that filing cabinet,
Oh so precious,
Has numbered out and slashed.

The drawers remain
So full and bursting,
But the folders
Marked with ‘L’
Hold love and laughter,

Life and longing.
There are no such things in hell!

&

 

Reroute those thoughts.
Reroute that fear
And all that don’t belong
And fill that drawer’s capacity
To hear the angel’s song.

The day seems clearer
Than the night.
And so it’s meant to be
That the systems of our thought processes
Are meant to let us see.

And hide I won’t
Nor strike – nor cover
The past cannot be buried
But rather used to rectify
And give us back the power.

Power fragile – power strong,
Power wide and far,
Power making offerings
Of gentleness, desire…

Knowledge deep and
Knowledge clear
Become our legacy,
A legacy that holds no boundaries.
It’s made of you and me.

The Circles of Life – Monoprint 2011

 

 

Does anyone have any other great tricks to allow for the mind to rest? I know I have several … the best being Get the Heck out of your Current Environment! Can anyone else hear the Ocean calling?

 

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