Getting Mentally Stuck

This Last Week

Hello everyone. This last week I uploaded two new videos to my channel: one about the “Cognitive Shuffle” and one about how music gets stuck in your head. If you haven’t checked them out already, I think they are kind of fun!

The underlying theme of both of these videos is the concept of our brains getting stuck in a state of mind. One being insomnia and not being able to sleep. The other one being a song stuck on repeat.

Well the thing we have to notice about all states of mind is that it is possible to get out of them. But if anything from these two examples shows us, it’s not from trying to “think your way out of it”.

Stuck in a Loop

Our minds should be treated gently. They are in charge of a lot of what we do, of course.

But too often we try to force them to our whim: “think like this” or “don’t think like that”.

Now I’m sure many of you have had heard the pink elephant example.

No? Well, let’s start with this… don’t think about a pink elephant.

What are you thinking about? A pink elephant. Example over.

When you try to think your way out of things, you are working against your brain by thinking about the thing you are trying to avoid.

Your brain doesn’t work that way, it can’t think in negatives like that. You can’t subtract something from your mind as much as you may try.

I heard this example somewhere and I’m not sure if it’s true (any skiers out there can tell me), but skiers don’t focus on NOT hitting the trees. They focus on the paths between the trees.

Why? Because if they focus on not hitting the trees, their brains will focus on the trees, and then they will hit the trees.

Filling Our Minds With Alternatives

So going back to this week’s topics, we can see the same thing with insomnia and songs getting stuck in our head.

When you’re in bed and trying to fall asleep, it doesn’t help to tell your brain to “stop thinking and sleep”. Your brain is not some child that doesn’t want to go to bed.

Additionally, you can’t focus on how much you need to sleep to prepare for the next day. Your brain doesn’t work this way.

Instead, you need to focus on something else. This is where “Cognitive Shuffle” comes into play. It gives your brain something to focus on so you can drift off to sleep.

Any of you fall asleep while watching TV, YouTube, or TikTok at night? I certainly do. The reason this sometimes works? Well, your brain is not focused on sleeping.

Same thing when songs are stuck in our heads. We can’t negate a thought in our mind: “stop thinking about that song”. There needs to be an active and alternative method.

Working with Our Minds

I’m sure we all have had thoughts that keep coming up that we don’t want in our day-to-day lives. We want them to stop, but we can’t.

While it depends on the thought and there is some merit to sitting with your emotions and processing things… sometimes it’s better to occupy yourself with something else to take your mind off of things.

Things happen at work or school that really bother us and we bring it home. It really cannot leave our mind and it ruins our whole afternoon. We want to “get over it”, but we just can’t. It’s tempting to just sit there and stew on it.

Honestly? In this case, if you really want to feel better, you have to think about something else. Play an engaging video game, go for a walk with a friend, grab coffee with your sister.

Your brain can’t NOT think about something, it can only think. So make it think about something else, something that will help you from spiraling.

Wrap Up

There are so many strategies involved with clearing our heads and getting our brains to think the way we want them to think, but way too many for this video.

I guess the main takeaway here is that you should be filling your mind with the things you WANT to think about and not the things you are trying to AVOID thinking about.

If you begin there, you are well on your way.

Newsletter Updates

So far we have over 20 people subscribed to the MindfulThinks Newsletter, which I am very excited about!

I haven’t been publicly promoting this on my YouTube channel yet because I’ve been trying to find my rhythm with this medium.

That being said, if you have anything you would like to see more of in these newsletters, I am very willing hear your feedback!

Until next time.

-Carlos

If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, consider sharing it with all the people in your life! I run on coffee, so if you would like to support the channel you can buy me a coffee here ☕️