Have you had that feeling of shooting anger rise up out of nowhere? Do you ever noticed that doing something extremely simple, like taking a shower, turned your mind into an emotional battlefield?
Once this happens, your mind takes on you on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs of “she said this”, “he said that”, and “why didn’t I do this.” This is what I like to call “getting trapped in your head” or “getting into fights in your head.” Your blood pressure increases, you have shortness of breath and your heart rate goes up. Do you know the toll this takes on your overall well-being and stress levels? It’s not good.
If you were to take a snapshot of that moment in your life, when you are trapped in your head, you would realize that you weren’t actually living at all. You probably wouldn’t even remember what you were doing at that time. You were caught up in some mental confusion that brought you away from the present moment, where everything happens in your life.
Let me walk you through an example.
It’s morning time, and you start your day off with a shower. The warm water hits you and it feels amazing. Then after a while you notice the water temperature dropping. Immediately thoughts race through your head. Did I pay my water bill? Is there enough hot water in the tank? Is somebody else taking a shower? You start to get frustrated.
What happened?
No, not what happened to the water temperature, but where did you go? One minute you were enjoying the warmth of the water, then the next you were complaining about the cold water and thinking about all the possible problems in your life that bring on the cooler water. The cooler water is just that, cooler water. There is no reason to blame the water, attach a negative feeling to it, or start blaming yourself. You can notice that the water is not the same temperature it was before, but it is still just that, water. Sure, there might not be any hot water left in the tank, but don’t make a problem out of it. It will warm back up.
Many times in life we find ourselves in a comfort zone, our warm water. Then when the temperature changes we start judging the situation or why it happened. What is important is to notice right now, notice what is happening. Just notice it without attachment to any feeling. If the temperature drops, just watch it.
Have you ever had that feeling when you are completely entrenched in your mind, just fighting away at whatever is there, then break away from it for a second? You suddenly realize, “ahhhh, OK, I was trapped in my head, but now I am here.” That moment when you realize this, and have that sudden moment of quick calmness, that is the key to living in the moment. You may not know it, but what you are doing is becoming aware of the present moment. Right when you realize that you are trapped in your head, you are back in the present moment.
I am not asking you to do anything except notice when you become aware that you are getting trapped in your head. And when you do this, you will begin to be aware of the negative cycle you are putting yourself through.
And when the water temperature changes in your life, there might be something useful out of the cooler water. Just watch it.
– The Alternative Daily
