Mental chatter works like white noise. You are not aware of it but it is constantly running old thought patterns infused with anxiety, fears, worries, doubts, frustration and anger…
Like white noise, that masks the rest of the sounds around us, mental chatter blocks us from experiencing life at it’s fullest. It becomes a barrier for us to experience life just the way it is. It runs survivor programs to protect us from life, perceived as dangerous.
Mental chatter is unnoticeable once you get use to it. But it consumes a lot of mental energy to sustain itself. It frightens you ] with a fear of WHAT IF… and than it tries to resolve the fear. It sustains a never-ending cycle of negative thinking in an effort to prepare you for the future and the vicious cycle continues generating more of the fight and fly response.
You can’t drive your car forward and backward at the same time. You can’t act smart in the fight or flight. We either survive or thrive. We either move forward or backward.
There are a few steps you can take to switch from fight or fly to rest and digest, from your sympathetic to parasympathetic system, from surviving to succeeding in life.
It may take 15 min. of daily practice to rewire the old reactions. You can practice these four steps before bed time or first thing in the morning:
Step 1. Slow down to witness your breath. Focus on your breathing for a few minutes;
Step 2. Allow your thoughts as they come. Observe your thoughts without judgement for a few minutes;
Step 3. Become aware of how you feel for a few minutes. Don’t try to change the way you feel. Just observe and accept to the best of your ability.
Step 4. You will find yourself sinking into the pockets of NO THOUGHT experiences. At first, they may only last for a few moments. As you continue your practice, the gaps between the thoughts will be wider and the presence of peace within you too.