Walk Outside and Clear Your Mind

If I stay alone in my office or alone in my home, I begin to believe my own thinking without question.

The mind is a dangerous place to go alone. I heard a person say one time that people should never go into their mind alone. “They do drive-by shootings in there.”

Of course, I can turn on the television or the radio and check something on the Internet. For me, all of these activities are diversions, but they are still forms of isolation.  I pick television shows and radio shows or Internet locations that confirm what I already believe.

If I leave my home or my office, I move into places where I see and hear people who are picking their own way of doing things and saying things that originate in their mind. I learn things that I may not have selected to learn. I get a chance to quit listening to myself, and getting a break from my own thinking can be refreshing. I will find myself thinking, “hmm, I didn’t know that” or “wow, when did those things change?”

If I stay out long enough, I become aware that I have legs and feet. I begin to notice how my shoes fit and, if I am wearing jeans, how they rub my legs and make noise when I walk.

I am going to go out. I am not getting in a car. I am going to walk. I am planning on an hour, but I will allow my body to go where my mind decides it should go as I move along. Two hours is a long time for me to be away, but the experience of moving out into the world can be so powerful and refreshing that two hours out of my office and out of my own thinking might be what I need

People do many ways to think clearly.

Here are five of them.

Make lists.  For me, having a list of things to do helps me clear my mind.  Working with my list, I can think of one thing at a time.  I can focus on what I am doing.

Write things out.  When I am worrying about something or angry about something, I can write down what is bothering me.  I can write something as simple as, “I am angry at John, because he took criticized me in front of the other people in the meeting.”

Take responsibility for my actions.  When I make mistakes, I can admit my mistakes.  When I have offended someone, I can clear my mind by saying to that person that I regret what I said or did and that if I had it to do over, I would hopefully handle things differently.  Strangely, when I admit that I am wrong, I stop being angry or resentful.

Take breaks.  For me, a break can take many different forms.  I can step away from my desk and take a short walk.  I can spend time organizing things around my office.  Once a day, I stop for twenty-five minutes to lie down and focus on letting my muscles relax.  I just become aware of which part of my is not relaxed and release the tension.

Reduce distractions. I cannot watch a television program and listen to a person at the same time.  I cannot type on my computer and learn anything from a podcast at the same time.  Whenever I am expecting myself to handle two mental tasks simultaneously, I am not able to think clearly.

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