Would you say you can go 30 seconds without thinking a single thought?
3,
2,
1,
go 30 seconds without thinking anything, NOW.
What did you experience?
Were you able to NOT think during this time?
Most of us do think of something during that time, even if it is to remind ourselves to not think, it is a thought.
We all have quite busy minds most of the time. We think the whole day through. Most of the time we are not even aware we are thinking, or are you?
Do you know, what your next thought will be?
How much control does that leave to us in terms of what, how, and when we think?
I invite you to an experiment: Let's call it Tom & Jerry.
You are Tom, the cat, and Jerry the mouse, your next thought. Jerry is hidden in his mousehole and Tom doesn't know, when Jerry will appear to be able to hunt him down.
Imagine yourself as Tom sitting in front of the mousehole waiting for Jerry to come out. What will happen then? Will Jerry do something funny, unexpected, strange?
What will Jerry look like? When will he finally appear?
What do you notice?
When you are finding yourself in a train of thoughts, going nowhere or somewhere negative or turning in circles, become aware of that first.
And then pretend to be Tom sitting in front of the mousehole, curious what Jerry's next move will be. What is your next thought and when will that thought appear?
And as you are waiting for that new thought to come, how long do you wait now?
Will you find your mind slowing down?
Will you find you magically broke that negative circle of thoughts leading to nothing else than punishing yourself, blaming yourself, and making yourself look bad?
Will you find yourself thinking about something completely different?
Be curious to find out and play with the idea of waiting for that next thought coming out of its mousehole. Enjoy!
