Power of the mental twirl

I was reminded this weekend of the power that our minds have over us - and how we can shift that power to support us. I just came back from vacation and, in spite of planning for my return before leaving, I was feeling overwhelmed with all I have to do. A million thought of things that need to be done kept flying around in my mind. Then I got on the phone with my business partner and we started brainstorming and reviewing what happened while I was gone, but that just seemed to add a ton more to my mind.

On Sunday morning I was walking on the beach with my hubby and my dog and I was apologizing to my husband for snapping at him. I explained what I was feeling and that I knew in my gut "working" on Sunday wasn't the answer. And he reminded me of one of my power tools - write it down.

(image here of Sandy hitting herself on the forhead with the palm of her hand -- Duh!)

As soon as he said it I realized that he was right. By writing the thoughts down on paper I can release them from my mind and stop the twirl. Writing them down also exposes the "to do monster" to the light of day and shrinks him down to size. As I wrote out all these things I thought I had to do I realized that many of them were just reminding my kids of things they had to do and many more couldn't even happen yet (like buying school supplies). So the list wasn't as long as I thought, I was able to delegate things and the rest can be planned for and handled with a calm clear mind that has been released from the power of the mental twirl.