Tuesday, November 10, 2009

The Lost (Life-giving) Art of Jettisoning Thought

Lately I’ve had a lot on my mind. You know when all things conspire together and come to a point of either decision or action, all at the same time. When it doesn’t rain it pours, right? Then, suddenly, in a moment I thought, ‘I have to wash the car,’ and I was off in a world of thought as to when was to be the best, most appropriate time to do that. (The car had to be clean for a driving test.) Thirty seconds later, if that, my mind’s occupied on the next thing.

At times keeping up with life is a full time job it seems, and depending on whom we are, we could interchange ‘at times’ with ‘most of the time.’ It seems that’s the life I lead, though I’m not complaining.

It’s plain easy to lose track of things as they bear down on us. If we don’t have methods of capture we can soon lose momentum.

Jettisoning thought is a term I’ve coined for something I’ve engaged in when I’ve been floundering in my thoughts and plans in the eventful times of my life. It’s the process of allowing thought to seep out onto another medium, like a list, for instance.

Like the Bowler Hat Guy on Meet the Robinsons (2007), I love lists. Little notes are also a favourite as I wrangle with the—at times—restless world between my ears. Once the thought’s down on paper I can then forget about it.

Jettisoning thought is also a way of processing the dangerous, caustic stuff that sticks to us like excrement to a blanket, a.k.a. emotional baggage. We find a way of simply letting it go. It’s freeing, life-giving.

Releasing thought as it flows works equally well on the negative thoughts that fast become emotional baggage as it does on the positive thoughts, that when nurtured, engender everything from productive action to creative expression. It facilitates both very effectively releasing the load on our conscious minds for other more time-worthy, less resolved thoughts.

How do we do it? We need to find a way that works for us as individuals. Lists work for me, but perhaps they don’t work as well for you. Some people use a dictaphone or some other technology. The tool is less important than the issue of actually doing it—jettisoning thought.

We simply need to find ways of getting rid of—jettisoning—the mounting load on our minds. Real, true, manifest freedom begins and ends in the mind.

© S. J. Wickham, 2009.

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