Use Your Words to Declutter Your Brain
By Sandy Schroeder
Do you ever feel like your brain is overflowing with needless stuff? As you shuttle back and forth from home to work, the demands and details just keep growing. From the morning meeting to the daily deadlines, compounded by your family's demands, life gets complicated.
At the end of the day you may wish that you had an eraser to wipe away all of the needless information. All of that commotion puts a lot of pressure on us, often leading to depression, burnout, and exhaustion. Some of the impact lingers on as you struggle with hits and misses and find it hard to let any of it go.
EasyHealthOptions.com has come up with a simple way to relieve some of the pressure. Writing about your worries may help you think more clearly. Putting it all down on paper may help you let go of some of it.
What Is Happening
Michigan State University researchers discovered writing may be the way to declutter your brain. Initially the researchers found chronic worrying uses up valuable brain resources. When you are anxious or stressed, those issues hover in the background throughout your day, taking up energy and alertness. They compared it to having an unnecessary program running on your computer, as if you are constantly multitasking.
When I find myself in this situation, everything seems to go slower, and I frequently forget details. When I calm down and refocus, life moves forward much faster.
Write Your Way Free
Writing may be one way to put your worries into a better perspective. Here's how it works.
Set up a notebook - Put it in a good spot to remind you to make daily entries.
Pick a time to write - Often the end of the day proves to be the best time to write, letting you offload the stress of the day. Or you may want to carry a small notebook with you and jot down entries throughout the day.
Write whatever comes to mind - Let your thoughts spill out. Don't try to compose them. Just release them and get them down on the paper. All of the frustrations, fears, hopes, dreams, goals and little incidents can show up here.
After a week of journaling, review your entries and see if you spot patterns of worries, concerns or events. Also see if writing has become a form of meditation for you, where you can lay everything out, and then let it go.
If this works, but you want to refine it, consider seeing a counselor or therapist for more suggestions on using writing as a tool to de-stress and declutter.
To learn more about your health, wellness and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Atlanta, Ga.