This Brain of Mine

Sometimes I wish I could go inside my head and clean out my brain. I wish I could open it up and wash the whole damn thing out, because I don’t know how half of that crap got there in the first place.

Your brain is an object that weighs a few pounds. It contains volumes of data. Yet it’s only able to regurgitate the things you need around 75% of the time.

If your brain were a laptop, you would wipe the hard drive and reload the applications. If your brain was a radio, you’d fix it’s bent antenna.

We can’t do this with our brains. They don’t work like hard drives or radios. Instead, they work more like a garden or a pet.

You aren’t programmable; you’re grow-rammable.

In order to improve you have to invest time, you have tend, and you have to patiently accept the setbacks.

So what do we do with this organic machine in our heads?

While there are a lot of ways to deal with your brain, here is one simple method I use all the time:

1. Give it gratitude.
Why not thank your brain for all it’s hard work? I know it sounds cheesy, but close your eyes for a minute and thank your brain.

Hey Brain,

I know you work really hard all the time, and sometimes I ask you to think A LOT maybe even too much. But I just wanted to tell you thank you for all the thoughts you think, for all the ideas you’ve given me to ponder, and for all the choices you’ve helped me make. You’ve kept me safe from walking into traffic and have even helped me meet some really interesting people.

So I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the hard work. I’m sorry I don’t appreciate you more often.

Once you’re done just sit in silence for a minute and let it sink in.

2. Give it a break.
Remind your brain it’s ok not to think about everything; it’s ok to focus on your simple, impermanent body. It’s okay to enjoy this moment and do nothing more. It may not always cooperate and relax, but it just might if you give it permission. After all, it’s desire to think is a desire to help.

3. Give it a toy.

Brains are good at paying attention and they do better when we give them something simple to focus on. So you might say to your brain let’s settle down and pay attention to our body.

Then notice how your eyes are scanning across the page. If you pay attention, you can feel your eyes moving. Notice your breath moving in and out of your body. Can you notice both?

Right now I can feel my fingers typing as my eyes move. I can feel my breath moving in an out. I can feel my warm heart open thinking about you as you read this. When you let it be calm this mind can notice all these things.

Isn’t the mind amazing?