It is tricky to take the context of a long-form manuscript and make it make sense through the medium of a bog, but here we go. Previously I shared how I give my thoughts a location to flourish through journals and a structured(ish) practice. Now I want to share how I give my thoughts space through meditation. Meditation for me is not what you think of, it is more about making the time & space to let my brain do its thing and generate some seeds to plant into action.

Sleep is something I used to be really good at! As I’ve gotten older, and as my exhaustive mind has become even more active (or at least I’ve become more aware of it), I’ve found it more and more challenging to turn things off in a way which leads me to a relaxed and restful night. Gardening my thoughts in two specific ways has really helped me overcome this, and beyond journaling the other is meditation. I know what you’re thinking. The guy talking about ways to leverage overthinking, wants you to spend more time alone with your thoughts. Yep, here I am. I am also 100% certain I am not doing meditation the way experts would have you do it, but I have adapted a version of it which helps me manage my anxiety, and make the most of my systemic overthinking, so I’m going to share it with you.

Much like my mind, my body has a hard time sitting still. I’ve discovered through meditation I can harness that a bit, and will often combine some guided meditation with journaling to make this a multifaceted stress reliever, and also help to generate some seeds for my thinking. Perhaps I’m stretching the analogy a bit here, but I think you’ll get where I’m coming from. When I have so many thoughts swirling around in my mind, I will meditate a bit and try to focus my brain on one area at a time. As I pick the seed of thought I want to target, I will then use the time to slow down and really explore that seed to its fullest. Giving it the time, and space to find its way towards a solution, or outcome allows my brain to stop fixating upon it, and gives me the information I need to plant that topic in the journal of choice. If I do not have an abundance of ideas flying around, I will instead use this time to leverage a guided meditation through the Calm or Peloton app as a way to remove distractions and take advantage of their expertise in controlling my breath. I tend to still keep a journal close by in case I need to jot down something, but giving yourself to this process is a great way to slow down your thoughts, and give your mind and body a nice space to relax. The last form of meditation I utilize is to focus on more general topics at home or at work. During this practice I will likely use some instrumental music, maybe step outside if the weather is nice, and of course take a notebook with me. When I take this approach I try not to structure my thoughts beyond perhaps a problem statement, or question I need to answer. My goal with this application is to let one thought lead to another with a focus towards that central problem or question. As my aging parents’ health declined, I’ve found myself using this approach to help navigate the mixture of emotions and actions I need to take not only for their benefit, but also to ensure my own mental health is in a good place. Before that, most of my time was spent trying to navigate parenting or spousal challenges along with those professional solutions. It doesn’t really matter what role you are solving for, the key here is that you need to fertilize your thoughts within your gardens to ensure they have what they need to thrive. And you have a place to leave them so they don’t consume your time and energy to the point of exhaustion.

I even find myself using meditative breathing techniques to help me set aside intrusive thoughts when I feel them creeping in. This is extremely useful when I lie down to sleep at night, and I am away from my journal to capture thoughts. Many people keep a notebook by their bed to jot things down, but I feel like I would just never sleep at that point, so I attempt to mentally log the themes, and know that I will give them their space in the morning when I garden. I set aside specific space at the start of each day to ensure that space is there, and if something crops up, I reschedule it. Making it a part of my routine is key to preventing obsessive thoughts from taking over. It’s like telling them to get back in line to wait their turn in a way. Utilizing intentional breathing, and planning for when and where I will explore my thoughts more deeply helps me to move on, and to relax more as I try to fall asleep. This process tends to happen multiple times for me as I often wake up in the middle of the night when I hear something, or a dog moves around the house. There’s no limit to the number of times you go through these motions, and if you can’t move on from them, perhaps you do need to get a journal close by to get things down on paper so you can comfortably know you won’t forget to explore them further with a rested brain and eyes.