We often forget what we are doing because we are stuck mentally or, you can say, in a mental black hole. Where everything is going inside but nothing is coming outside. It is basically a loop or a whirlpool. Whenever I hear the word "whirlpool," I always remember a washing machine advertisement for the Whirlpool Company. But here it is different.
It is a WHIRLPOOL OF THOUGHTS. When you are stuck in a range of thoughts, whether they are recurring or random. You cannot easily escape this whirlpool. The deeper you go, the closer you are to overthinking.
So, basically, the whirlpool of thoughts is a process in which you get stuck and have a storm of thoughts, and it is not wrong. I say that it ends in overthinking, which is basically its state. A state of mind where you start feeling pressure, anxiety, stress, and exhaustion; not being able to see any thoughts clearly; and BOOM, you start feeling negative, and your mind adds the same kind of thoughts in the whirlpool, and here you are STUCK. If you are like me, I felt that on a daily basis, and sometimes even now. Now I know how to manage it. It is a simple, easy hack that anybody can do. So, whenever I feel stuck or in a loop of thoughts, I do JOURNAL. It helps me, and today I am going to tell you how it will help and what you can do.
What is journaling? Journaling is basically writing your thoughts and emotions on paper. Whatever they are, just pen them down in your journal, on paper, or even on your mobile or laptop.
How will it help? When you write down a storm of thoughts running through your mind, you start to feel relaxed while writing or, in some cases, after writing. The reason is that when you write, you take your thoughts from your mind and paste them onto paper. And by doing this, you create an empty space in your mind, which helps you to think what you want to think. Now, an important question:
How to do journaling? Many people ask me how to do journaling. Any steps or actions we need to take? I always say your journal is your rule. The main or important part is you, then your pen and journal. So, how I am doing journaling, I am going to tell you. If you feel it will work for you, you're good to go; otherwise, you can do anything.
- Take my journal and pen and sit in a quiet place.
- Mention the date. So if you want to reflect, you can.
- Take a 2–3-second pause, then start writing at the speed of your thoughts as they occur, or as I can find them.
- I never think about my grammar or writing. Also, don’t change my words or sentences. Write as they come into your mind.
- Don’t judge my thoughts, whether they are good, bad, worse, or even neutral.
- Stop only if you feel there is no clutter in my mind and I have nothing more to write. Sometimes, even after writing everything, when I stop journaling, I give myself some time to figure out whether my mind is really clear or some thoughts are still wandering. If so, I start journaling again till I get a NO from my mind.
- At the end, I always thank Ganpati for his grace towards me and my family and ask him for his further guidance.
- I don’t read that page at the very same moment.
- Observe and feel the lightness in my body.
- When I was done with everything, I took 2–3 deep breaths and drank water to hydrate.
These are the steps I follow whenever I journal. It always helps me, and I recommend that if you are ever stuck in a whirlpool of thoughts, the easiest way out is JOURNALING. Do it, feel it, and let me know how much it will help you.
If you need any assistance, feel free to connect.
Till then, have a clutter-free mind, and take care.
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If you'd like a simple, structured way to stop overthinking and clear your mind through journaling, explore my book Mind Dump Method: Stop Overthinking in 10 Minutes a Day.
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