Today’s prompt offers you a chance to start the process of cleaning your mind of cluttering thoughts.
Set your timer for five minutes and write about whatever comes into your mind. If nothing is coming, write that!
When your timer stops, get up and do something else for five minutes. Make some tea, bring in the trash cans, empty the litter box, practice your krumping.
Then, come back and look over what you wrote. Do you notice any themes?
Finally, take your sheet(s) of paper and destroy them. This is good for purging, but it also guarantees that no one will ever read what you wrote. You can shred them, tear them up and flush them, or – if you’re dramatic like me – burn them.
Repeat as necessary whenever you’re feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, I can’t share what I wrote because I burned it, but I will say that this is a monumentally useful process, one that I was doing even before I came across Five Minutes in the Morning.
When I was first getting into Tarot, I pulled one card that was wreaking havoc on my mind all morning. I couldn’t concentrate on my workout and I felt that old panic reaching its long, sinewy fingers around my chest. So I stopped mid-workout and wrote down everything that was bothering me about the card, about how it was getting in the way of the day, about its implications, about every conclusion I was prematurely jumping to. Getting it all out, I immediately felt better. Then, I tore the page out of my notebook and burned it. I can’t remember if I had a better day after that, but I do remember the weight being lifted from me.
If something is weighing on you, too, dear readers, take five minutes to just write about it. I promise you that you’ll feel better after.
Here are some prompts that Five Minutes in the Morning suggests if you’re still having trouble getting started:
Today, I am most grateful for…
Today, I want…
Today, what I really need is…
Today, I am going to…
Today, I feel…
And a personal favorite that I’ve used before: In this moment, I am…
Happy decluttering!
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