4 Ways to Find an Off Switch

4 Ways to Find an Off Switch

Hi I'm Hanna and I'm addicted to information. I recently read that like sex and eating good foods, taking in new information releases dopamine, which effects and controls the brain's pleasure centers. The Internets proliferation of information is actually feeding our brains and rewarding us in real physiological ways.  

Information is power.  Correction, information is power + feeling rewarded. Information is powerful. 

I think that I've actually trained myself to be constantly on the look-out for new ideas and information.  My brain doesn't stop. I obsess over the same problems over and over again.  Looking at each situation I experience through a slightly different lens.  I keep looking until all angles are assessed, analyzed, and dissected.  

As I critique each part of a situation, I retreat into the inner crevices of my mind and am no longer operating in the present.  I remove myself from the 'here and now' and ponder the future and the past. As I consider what plays into my never-satisfied-thoughts, I have started a resistance to always analyzing.  Here are a few things I do for activating an 'off switch': 

1. Walk Outside.  Fresh air can melt even the most cynical mood.  Observing the order of nature and breathing in outdoor air is an in-my-face-reminder that I'm not the center of the universe. Good reminder.  It's also a way to 'slow' the pace down.  I just think about the next step ahead of me. 
2. Rest in God.  In the book, Jesus Calling, anxiety is described as a result of  'envisioning the future without God'.  Taking moments, minutes, seconds to be return my thoughts to God helps me release the over analyzing junk that I sometimes carry. 
3. Speak Truth.  A friend went through an extremely difficult time at work years ago mentioned that she started ending every day with listing out things that she knows to be true of God.  Choosing to rest in the truth of the known rather than to dwell in the worries of what may or may not happen tomorrow is a simple, yet powerful, experience. 
4. Envision Your Calming Place.  For some reason, ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to run through a field of vibrant wild flowers (...on a practical level though, I would be intimidated by the bugs and probably be sneezing the entire time).  Whenever I find myself overwhelmed or unable to sleep, I bring my thoughts to a field smooshed with colorful flowers like a Monet painting.  

Sometimes our mind needs a break. I love to think and I enjoy my thoughts but in recent months, it's become clear that I need a working 'off switch'.  

Here's to you and hoping that you're able to quiet your thoughts in ways that re-energize you and bring you rest.