An open spot

"If you clear out all that space in your mind that you're using right now to obsess about this guy, you'll have a vacuum there, an open spot -a doorway. And guess what the universe will do with that doorway? It will rush in -God will rush in- and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed. (...) You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone oughtta be." - From Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

For years I've kept journals. The pages are filled with my thoughts, some experiences and a lot of quotes and excerpts from books I find inspirational. Digging down to the deep stuff and getting it out on the page is not one of my strong points.

However, lately I've been trying to get it out. I realized how much time I spend thinking the same -usually negative- thoughts over and over again. The only reason I could find in this is that these thoughts linger around because they simply haven't received the attention they needed. The attention being to acknowledge their presence, deal with the emotions that surface and then let them go. Or at least let them be.

These days, whenever I find my mind cluttered with thought I try and pick up my journal and start writing. I've found that the writing doesn't have to be long. As long as I get the basic point down the thought no longer has to try and get my attention, because it already had it for a while. If it needs more exploration, I can always go back to the page. There the thought lingers, which I think is a much better place for it, than in my brain.

This leaves room for a doorway, or at least a tiny window. It leaves room for other things, other thoughts - good ones. I do more, I feel more present and most importantly I feel like I'm dealing with everything that is going on in my life right now. I'm not saying it is easy, I'm just syaing I feel a little lighter these days.