Ep 70 – Qs to reflect on when negative mental chatter won’t stop
By Shweta
Have you ever suffered more in the mind than in reality? You sat for hours thinking of worst case scenarios and then even worse scenarios only to realize nothing happened besides the hours you lost worrying, your vitals that shot through the roof as you sat there in panic, the hair fall thanks to the undue stress and maybe the demise of some well-manicured nails in the nail-biting clincher to nowhere. Maybe some bit of that is an exaggeration, but the truth is like Seneca said centuries ago – We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. If that’s you too, then this episode is for you.
Hello and welcome back to the Deep Dive series of the Being Meraklis podcast and I’m your host and self-awareness coach Shwetha Sivaraman helping you ask the right questions.
Today we are going to look at Qs to reflect when our negative mental chatter goes on endlessly. Let us first understand what causes this mental chatter. To put it very simply it is the non-acceptance of the present moment. Think about it if we were totally present and unconditionally accepting of our reality as is – what is there to think about? Nothing. We will just be. When we are not present and not in acceptance of the current reality what do we do? We think about what happened 4 years ago or what could have happened? Or build castles in the air what if this happened or this didn’t happen? All thought is a way to escape/avoid/deny what is….
We refuse to look at the fact and add an opinion to it and confuse ourselves even more. Like Jiddu Krishnamurti says, “Confusion exists only when there is the fact plus what I think about the fact: my opinion about the fact, my disregard of the fact, my evasion of the fact, my evaluation of the fact, and so on. Our opinions, our beliefs, our desires, ambitions, are so strong, we are so weighed down by them, that we are incapable of looking at the fact. “
So the next time your mental chatter keeps going on and on:
- Sit with it – the thoughts feelings, what is being churned continuously
- Identify the timeline? Is it the past or the future ?
- Dissect fact from opinion
- What’s in your control about the fact?
- If you’d like to go deeper explore, who is thinking these thoughts? Where is it coming from? Who is this thinker?
Deep dive on these aspects the next time you experience failure and find answers within! If you’d like more 1:1 support with me as your Coach, reach out to me for a 30 min discovery session and let’s explore if coaching and deepening your self awareness can help you master your mind and circumstances.
