Mental De-cluttering
“Mental De-cluttering”
[Instructions]
Three suggestions for clearing your mind to prepare for writing:
a. What is your process of keeping a “To Do” list? Do you keep it in a notebook, on your phone, or just floating around in your head? Or on little pieces of paper that you push around on the top of your actual desk or table? Take a few moments to download and/or collect all of your TO DO entries onto one large piece of paper or into one electronic file on one of your devices. Now, put it away where you can’t see it and take a deep breath. The commitment to make here is to clear a space, both in actual geography and in your mind, for the thinking that allows you to write meaningfully on the subject of your intention—whether this be a haiku or a treatise on statistics—not on the necessity of the moment.
b. Alternatively, if your TO DO lists are present in objects around you in your setting, you can take yourself to another place. Leave the task reminders behind and go to the library, coffee shop, or bookstore where you may find what I call “creative chaos,” the human or locational buzz that synchronizes with your mitochondria and energizes your creative thinking.
c. Ten Fingers Breathing: Do this in conjunction with either “a” or “b.” It sounds so simple, but it works. Spread your ten fingers out with fingertips lightly touching a surface in front of you. Say, “inhale” while pressing lightly with left pinkie and saying, ‘inhale, left pinkie.’ Say, “exhale” while pressing lightly with left ring finger and saying, “exhale, left ring finger.” And so on across all ten fingers. Repeat several times. The concentration required to coordinate this will clear almost everything else from your mind.
Answers to "Get Ready; Get Motivated!"
- Discover
- Blood
- Difficult
- Suffering
- Vein
- Unable