A cluttered mind can’t see anything clearly.

A mind cluttered with thoughts tends to feel stressed, insecure and tense.

This tense feeling, however, can be seen as a gift. It can be seen as our innate wisdom letting us know that we’re nurturing our thinking with way too much belief.

A fundamental understanding that I explore with students and clients is the fact that…

Your feelings are not informing you about the state of the world, relationships, work, etc. Your feelings are only informing you about your state of mind.

When we see that our feelings are giving us feedback about the quality of our thinking in the moment and nothing else – our lives, and what we used to believe was the cause and remedy for our struggling and suffering, transform.

Why and how does it transform?

When we don’t understand that our feelings are giving us feedback about our “right now” thinking and nothing else, we quickly and easily (almost instantaneously) get caught up in a vortex of thoughts without even realizing it.

In the moment, we might believe that we’re processing reality – how much money we have in the bank, how that person treated us badly, how we’re going to deal with the stress at work, etc. – but in reality, we’re only processing our thinking about all of that.

In short:

We create our own pain, frustration and suffering when we are thinking, feeling our thinking, and then attribute our pain to something other than our thinking. (Think about that for a moment)

The great quantum physicist, David Bohm, said it best “Thought creates the world and then says ‘I didn’t do it!’”

The only way this can happen is if we’ve temporarily gone ‘blind’ to our thinking. Meaning, we are not aware that we’re thinking in the moment. Believe it or not, most of us are in this boat, or go in and out of this boat.

To the degree that you’re not aware that you’re thinking in the moment (and feeling it) is the degree that you are attributing the source of your feelings to something outside of you.

And when this happens, you’re cooked!

Because now you’re caught up in a thought-created situation where, in order to change how you feel, you start thinking about how to change the outer conditions, circumstances, people, etc. that you believe are responsible for how you feel.

This leads to the all-too-familiar experience of “spinning out” feeling stressed, stuck, confused – or what I  call, a cluttered mind.

So how do we unclutter our minds?

We start by stopping.

We start by coming to a ‘full stop’, slowing down enough to notice that we’re thinking, that we’re spinning a world of thought and feeling it as it spins.

Once you see that you’re feeling your thinking and not something else, the rest is simple (but not always easy since we all have some degree of addiction to complexity): Do nothing.

Or in other words: Drop it. Let it go.

Don’t try to analyze, process, fix, change or figure out your thinking. This is just thinking about your thinking and that won’t help to clear your mind.

Instead, let your thoughts pass.

As Zen philosper, Alan Watts, once said “Muddy water is best cleared if left alone.”

The natural state of your mind is clarity.

What that means is that if you engage in some activity to gain clarity (like positive thinking, reframing, etc)…you’re heading in the wrong direction. You’re just giving your mind more to think about. Clarity is in the opposite direction.

The sages and mystics of the ages have all said the same thing, in one way or another: Do nothing (meaning, let your thinking settle like mud in a pond) and clarity will happen on its own.

I would translate that as: Come to a full stop. Notice that you’re thinking right now. Notice that you’re feeling your thinking. Notice that your feeling changes as your thinking changes. Notice what happens, if you’re courageous enough, to drop your current thought.

What I’ve noticed, and what all my clients eventually notice, is that you’re always only one thought away from clarity.

Clarity is always present (omnipresent), and reveals itself the moment we stop fixating on our temporary, passing thoughts.

You’re always only ONE THOUGHT AWAY from clarity. Click To Tweet

To your joy and freedom,
Joshua

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Thank you and create a beautiful day!