What I have found in the last few years of reading and soaking in The Three Principles -- and it's been a gradual process of understanding -- is that I generally feel and perform better when I do not have a lot on my mind.
What do I mean by "not a lot on my mind"?
I mean not talking to myself when I'm walking to my car.
I mean not carrying on a conversation from decades ago with the person that annoyed me.
I mean not fretting about what I will do this afternoon or tomorrow or next week when I'm standing in line at the grocery store.
I mean not focusing my mind on solving or figuring out problems that exist only because my mind made them up.
I mean leaving an empty space where worry and anxiety would drive me to distraction.
I mean seeing and understanding that those thoughts are not real, are not really happening to me now, in this moment. They only have power if I choose to pay attention to them.
There is a big meeting at work tomorrow. Four or five years ago, I would have been nervous and anxious about attending and speaking at it.
I still have a bit of thinking about it. That's normal and human. But I know my thinking isn't real and is telling me only about what I'm feeling in the moment. My thinking cannot predict the future. My well-being does not depend on its outcome, whatever its outcome.
I can hear my inner gremlin wanting to engage in debate with me. You haven't prepared enough! You're not knowledgeable or skilled enough! What will they say about you when the call is over?
Those are thoughts that I find easier now to let drift down the river. I do not need them on my mind. New thought will come along if I wait and if I'm not burdened with that old stale thinking.
Part of trusting my intuition and my creative spirit is accepting that I do not control my thoughts, when ideas come to me, or even sometimes why I do what I do when I do it. Part of trusting my subconscious includes trusting that the actions I take may not make much sense in the moment, but that they will in the fulness of time. Like seeing only dots on a canvas, only to step back and see them resolve into a beautiful painting.
After so many years as a worry wart and a Nervous Nellie, it's odd to not feel the weight of those heavy thoughts in my cup. An empty cup is so much less distracting, so much lighter.
