Busy Mind Detox

I returned home from the 3PGC Practitioners conference in Manhattan Beach on Sunday evening. I floated into the house in a very settled state of mind despite having navigated my way through a busy LAX airport, short flight but long wait to get off the plane, and zig zag through a crowded Phoenix airport.

When I arrived home, there was little to do (for a change) but shower and fall into bed. I’m grateful to my husband and Kyle’s team for once again, making it possible for me to leave and have things run so beautifully while I was gone. I feel very fortunate.

The next day I woke up to my responsibilities to get Kyle ready for his day and figure out the direction of my day as well. My head felt a bit cottony. I floated through the morning routine with relative calm. Mornings don’t always feel this way. “What is this about?” I wondered. I wouldn’t have the answer to that until a little later.

A more settled state of mind. A mind with less on it. I can see that my settled state of mind occurred over the weekend and I was still experiencing an afterglow of sorts. I spent more consecutive time in the present moment than in a long time. Maybe even ever. In reflection, it seemed almost magical. Though in real time, while I was living it, there was no magic or even words to describe it. It simply was. I was able to soak up what the speakers were sharing and that led me to an inspired, beautiful feeling.

However, at the end of each conference day, I felt exhausted. Spent. It turns out, this was a common experience of many of the participants. Cathy Casey, one of the presenters, called it busy mind detox. Interesting.

The best way I can describe it is that bundles and bundles of thinking fell away. With a big energetic whoosh, my full and busy brain became a quieter one. Without doing, effort, planning, striving, trying, it was just what happened. My thoughts settled, allowing me to be in the present moment soaking everything up like a sponge.

A busy brain is like a computer with many tabs open all flashing or chattering at me in rapid succession. The system slows and doesn’t function as well. I keep refreshing the browser only to hear the same repetitive personal thinking. Then I start opening more tabs, somehow thinking that’s where the answers lie. So much energy required to keep the busyness going. It turns into feelings of overwhelm, frustration, and stress. My mind becomes so full. Lots of noise, very few answers.

When we detox from too much unhealthy food, we often crash. That’s just what I found myself doing at the end of each day of the conference. I was exhausted. But since I wasn’t judging it as good or bad or believing it should be different or thinking it meant anything, I just went with it and it turned into a nice experience. A slowing down or letting go, of sorts.

It turns out, for me, there was a byproduct of this detox. I was able to understand some things at a deeper level than before.

I got a new glimpse of the space referenced by all the speakers. It is the space that is fundamental to the three principles as uncovered by Sydney Banks. I get pretty tangled up trying to put this in words that make sense. I am trying to make form out of something that is formless. In this moment, I’ll take a shot at it anyway.

It’s the space that is not just within each of us, it is us. It is the space beyond our personal thinking. It is the space independent of the things that happen around us and to us. The space of well being, peace, health, and love. When we access this space we feel happier, more connected, more open, more loving. We become more present, slowing down to the speed of life, so to speak. We experience our wisdom, often leading us to new insights. Life feels easier to navigate even if nothing on the outside has actually changed. We know what to do next and it seems to flow effortlessly.

This space is always available to us. It just gets obscured by thought. Innocently, thought clogs it with mounds and mounds of personal thinking. Some of it, not helpful, even downright unhealthy. In a sense, our space gets filled with junk. Yup, a lot of our thinking, as it turns out, is pretty junky. Yet, when this junk drains out, we are left with direct access to our wisdom and all that most of us seem to be seeking: feelings of well being and peace.

At this point, you might be wondering, how you might get more of a sense of that space. How can you do a busy mind detox? Is there a special drink or technique?

The good news is, there is no tool, technique, strategy, or process to detox. There is nothing to put in the metaphorical blender to drain the junk out of the mind and help you access this space.

You can sit on the beach and look at the ocean, but you don’t need to. You can list 5 things you are grateful for, but you don’t need to. You can take 5 deep breaths, but you don’t need to. I understand you’re used to strategies that take effort so maybe this doesn’t sound like good news to you.

What I can see more clearly than ever, is when you have something available to you at all times, you are only one thought away from a shift. You are only one thought away from seeing something new. You are only one thought away from tasting and touching that space. You are only one thought away from hearing wisdom and experiencing the peace and well being you were born with.

Just knowing this, just this awareness itself, is all you need to head in that direction. This knowing is the shortcut to your all access pass to the busy mind detox.

And if you are moved to sit on the beach, express gratitude, breathe deeply or even make a green smoothie, do it. In fact, you will be moved to do all kinds of things from this space. It’s your wisdom calling.

Just know, like your computer, your mind has a default setting. Peace and well being. And you are one thought away from it at all times.