Monday, January 23, 2012

More thoughts...

So, this morning I was changing the sheets on the bed and happened to look up and saw the dust that had accumulated on the ceiling fan. After that my thoughts went something like this:
"Wow, I really have to dust this fan. Actually, all the fans in the house. Especially the one in the kitchen, it tends to get grimy. That reminds me that I need to clean out the kitchen cupboards and clean on top of the cupboards. Speaking of cleaning out, I also need to organize the coat and linen closets. And then there's our walk-in closet that needs a good once over. I really need to donate some of my clothes. And when I take those to goodwill, I should see if they have any shelving I could use in the bathroom. But, really, first we need to paint the bathroom. And the bedroom of course. We also need another bookshelf in there."

And so on and so on. For quite a while. It was impressive.
Does that ever happen to you? Runaway thoughts?!
It started with a simple observation and by the time I was done thought hopping, I had several weeks worth of projects in front of me and was overwhelmed and exhausted! And hadn't even done anything yet.
Luckily, today I was able to observe this process in my thinking and come back to the original thought - the dusty fan in the bedroom.
That I could handle. Right then and there.
 And have energy left over for the other things that were actually on my list for today.
Again I was reminded of the importance for me of living in the moment. So, I grabbed the camera and walked around for a few minutes to create my visual gratitude list for today.
That helped. A lot.

Actually, for me these overwhelming thought rambles can happen as well with really fun stuff, like all the creative projects I want to tackle. It can absolutely paralyze me until I come back to one project I can do right then and put the others on hold.

What do you do when you thoughts take over?

13 comments:

  1. I know exactly what you mean with those wandering thoughts. I like your idea of a visual gratitude list.

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  2. Silke, if you ever took the Myers-Briggs temperament inventory, you would be an ENFP. I had to laugh reading this: this is me too. Like playing hopscotch!

    But my mother changed some of that for me. She got too old to keep up. So she changed her style to a wall at a time. No longer a whole room, too overwhelming. Just one wall in the room. She would dust, clean, handle only what was on or in front of one wall

    What a difference it's made for me!

    Not to say you shouldn't clean all your ceiling fans if you want to ..... :-)

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  3. So did you dust the fan blades? I want to know.

    The same thing happened to me yesterday evening while I was on the phone with my best friend. I told her the air duct screen on the ceiling needed cleaning. You know what? That's what I did exactly. I took a long broom and swept the screen. All done.

    Sigh, I have not been here for a while because I have been so busy. I thought I'd take a break and now you got me talking about cleaning.

    HAHAHAH! Have a great week. Tsup!

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  4. Oh yes!! Happens to me constantly!! With both the household chores AND creative ideas!! Sometimes I actualy feel tortured by my own brain!! I often ask myself.....Is this ADD?????

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  5. Yes! This is me and I get so overwhelmed I don't do any of it, I go paint :-).
    Also we seem to have the same list.LOL.xoxo

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  6. oh my silke! what a post! yes! this happens to me too all the time. and now with the endless inspiration in the world that blogging brings, i find myself not doing anything either. usually heading out for a walk on the beach gets me centered again. i like that you were able to do just the fan (like kj) doing just the thing in front of you and thats all. good enough!
    xxx

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  7. Liebe Silke,

    herzliche Grüße und einen guten Tag

    Elisabeth

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  8. Is this *NOT* supposed to happen??? LOL!
    Yep, I have that all the time, to the point that when it stops, I have NO IDEA what it was I was going to do in the first place, which is usually greeted with a shrug and an "Oh well.....I'll figure it out later..." and then I escape to either studio, knitting, reading or cooking.
    So it's not a big deal, as long as I don't PAY ATTENTION to those rambling, flying thoughts and try to follow through! ha!

    XXOO~~
    Anne

    P.S. Beautiful photos; just lovely!

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  9. Goodness, what lovely things and what a lovely view out your window.

    Yes, my thoughts runaway too. It's worse when I'm trying to sleep (I'm just up now waiting for the Ambien to kick in). What I do is to try to refocus on something restful, and this usually works pretty well because I have several thoughts and images that I can turn to.

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  10. I've been loving your last couple of posts, so honest and real. i also love the idea of the photo gratitude list. Gratitude helps slow my mind.

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  11. Silke, your "gratitude" photos are wonderful. I've been enjoying your lists, but the photos really tell the tale. Completely understand your thoughts that lead to other thoughts and on and on and on. Perhaps this is normal for women in general ~ glad to hear this happens to others. I am feeling jittery and overwhelmed this week. Have had company for 2 weeks and my life has been very busy, but my personal time has been "nil". I need to take a very deep breath and pull myself together. Reading your blog certainly helps.
    ♥ audrey

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  12. Oh I have had this happen many times. I just try to take a step back and clear everything from my mind and allow the refocusing to come back on its own. :)

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  13. Oh, I love this post! Too funny, mainly because it's so right-on!

    And I like your visual gratitude list idea. Hmmm, you must be creative or something. ;-)

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