Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Overthinking About Overthinking

It's almost 6 am on a Wednesday morning.  It is calm and cool as I look out the window in front of my laptop.  What shall I write?  I'm not able to think of a title for this post.  My mind has not kicked in to thinking mode this early in the day.  That is a possibility.  Sometimes thinking mode is over-rated.  I read posts in different venues about how over-thinking can be problematic.  It's quite often associated with addictive behaviors.


I love to get in the place when my mind is involved wholly in a task such as crafting or reading.  I don't find watching television conducive to this mindful place that I like to be in.  The analogy of television as junk food isn't lost on me.  There are times when I like junk television and it is an escape.  I admit I watch Let's Make A Deal with Wayne Brady or Big Brother as a sort of calorie laden bag of potato chips for my brain.  I'm not able to do this as a constant.  It saps my inner reserves of self discipline if I watch a lot of television.

To achieve the mindful place where I'd like to be, I quietly meditate and pray, I crochet on the prayer shawl that I'm making for Ernie who is seriously ill, or I listen to music.  It is such a gift to me when I am able to focus my attention and do these activities.

Reading has been a difficult area for me to re-establish.  Due to depressive episodes, the focus and attention to it has been lost to me at times.  A lot of my childhood and youth were spent in this beloved pastime.  The rewards to me of achieving the focus I need to read a book in its entirety are limitless.

I listen to the vehicles speeding by on the US highway I live on and I hear the birds with their tweets and song.  It is an interlude of sound that sends me on my way this morning.  I have hope that I may achieve some mindful time such as this as my day progresses.  It may include some reading, crocheting, or music.  That is a bonus in any day of my life.