One conversation yesterday and two from today led me to thinking of how old thoughts seem to hang around and sneak into our consciousness to take over when we least expect it. I call these circular thoughts, since they lead me to go around and around without ever getting off the turntable. These dizzying thoughts fill all possible space making the switch to another topic extremely difficult.
How can we get out of these vortices? The first step is to notice when this thought process takes over. Suggestions for stopping the flow include changing body position -- sit or stand tall and then breathe. A deep breath can help since when being pulled into the illogical flow of thoughts, the body tends to breathe more rapidly and shallowly. The use of the body can disengage the hold that limbic system has on the body enough to lead us to countering the swirling ideas with something more logical. These steps are designed to help regain some control of the brains. It is challenging, but then we are changing physiological and biochemical processes that the fight-flight-freeze response has triggered. In short, it is a survival instinct and we've 'frozen' in place hoping the attacker will just think it has won and leave us alone. Still, this takes practice and I am a neophyte at this point. Lots more to do to improve the situation. <smile>
Thinking of the main concept today and how it would be represented in music presented a challenge. I did come upon a lyric that related to the need to be able to purge the thoughts from one's brain. I love the metaphor used here -- note that it is not a limo that takes them away <smile>. The visual metaphor links the purge to music. So, this made the song seem made for the blog today. Enjoy!
Soul Meets Body -- Death Cab for Cutie
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