It’s a healthy part of human nature to be able to vent to those around us, but this isn’t always possible with the fast-paced lives many of us now have. I like to think of downloading as my free daily session of therapy. The idea behind it is that our minds are constantly brimming with thoughts, especially first thing in the morning, when we have all the stresses and anxieties about the coming day swirling around inside us. Most of the time, we just launch into our busy schedules without doing anything to get rid of these mental worries. Time and time again, I’ve found that simply spending just five minutes downloading them out of your brain can have a big impact on overall health.
Some of my patients like to call this health snack a “brain dump,” because you are literally dumping your thoughts out of your brain. There’s something so therapeutic about seeing all that worry contained as words on a page that you can just ball up and toss in the trash. Once you start downloading regularly, you’ll soon find you’re living every day with a clearer and less anxious mind, and your ability to absorb the ordinary stresses of modern life will start to soar.
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You can listen to an exciting conversation between Dr. Tara Swart (neuroscientist) and me, where we discuss the power of writing down your thoughts, on my Feel Better, Live More podcast at drchatterjee.com/58 |
THE BRAIN TAP
Transfer those whirring thoughts out of your head and on to a fresh piece of paper.
I’d like you to find a quiet space, set a timer for five minutes and simply write down every thought that comes into your head as it happens. Some of my patients find this a bit difficult at first. They sit staring at the blank sheet with the timer counting down, worrying that whatever they put down is going to be wrong.
If this sounds like you, my advice is just to start. There is no “wrong” in this exercise. It’s really important that you don’t filter or judge yourself as you’re writing. This isn’t a diary, or your debut novel; it’s a garbage dump. When you find your flow, you’ll probably notice all sorts of craziness pouring out of yourself. It might be complete gibberish. It could be stuff that you’d hate anyone else to know. This is good. It’s a sign that the process is working.
Don’t be tempted to do this exercise on your phone or laptop, or tell yourself that you can just speak your thoughts out loud and process them that way. There’s something about the act of physically writing it all down, with a pen or a pencil, that allows you to work through it all in a way that’s incredibly powerful.
Some people find it useful to buy a journal, as this can help make your decision to create a regular practice of downloading feel committed and real. If you do decide to get a journal, treat yourself to the nicest one your budget can stretch to. Choose a color that you love and a quality of paper that feels just right. Take pride in it. Treasure it.
Of course, some of my other patients are worried about prying eyes. They’d be mortified if anyone else read their innermost thoughts, anxieties, and desires. Some of these patients lock their journal away or simply do their download each day on a fresh sheet of paper, which they then recycle or perhaps burn. They tell me there can be something profoundly symbolic about setting fire to all that toxic brain rubbish.
Note: Of course, if you do choose to burn your notes, make sure you do it somewhere safe!
THE 5-STEP RELEASE
Set yourself up for a calm day by working through these simple steps.
Some people prefer to do their downloading with a bit more structure. If this sounds like you, try to download by addressing the following five points on a blank sheet of paper.
1One thing I’m anxious about today
Perhaps think about the issue that’s most dominant in the swirl of thoughts that’s going around in your head. You might also think about focusing on something that’s going to happen in the near future that’s bothering you.
2One practical thing I can do to prevent or prepare for it
Not only is it usually a good idea to be proactive in dealing with our day-to-day anxieties, the act of doing something practical can in itself help make us feel better. Do you need to make sure you’ve worked out your route to a meeting in advance so you’re not late? Do you need to prepare three points you absolutely must get across in a difficult conversation you’re going to have?
3One reason it’s probably not going to be as bad as I fear
It’s very common for us to catastrophize about things. Our minds naturally try to prepare themselves for the worst-case scenario and we can easily start to believe that things are worse than they actually are. That difficult conversation is probably not going to end up with your being fired or your child running away. Even if you are a bit late for the meeting, nobody will really hold it against you. Try to foster a more realistic view of your problem by refusing to accept the worst-case scenario that your mind is trying to focus on.
4One reason I know I can handle it
The chances are that, no matter what it is that’s concerning you, you’ve been through much worse before—and survived! Try to gain perspective by remembering how you tackled a similar event (or a harder one!) and got through it.
5One upside of the situation
Things are very rarely entirely bad. Most dark clouds really do have a silver lining. What’s one upside of the problem that’s worrying you?
CASE STUDY
A couple years ago a young nurse named Merope came to my clinic, complaining that she’d started having anxiety attacks at work. Seemingly out of the blue, her breathing would become rapid and she’d feel a tingling sensation in her fingers. As well as being frightening and embarrassing, these attacks began drawing some negative attention at work. The last straw came when she was trying to take blood from a patient and she started shaking, needle in hand. The patient filed a complaint. It was after this that she made an appointment with me.
I tried to understand a bit more about what was going on in Merope’s life. She’d been struggling to sleep and that had led her to start drinking as many as seven cups of coffee throughout the day. I told her how much of an impact that was having on her body and asked her to limit herself to two cups each morning. I was hoping that this would allow her to have more and better-quality sleep.
But a couple of weeks later she was back in that same seat in front of me. She still wasn’t sleeping. “I'm just lying in bed most of the night with my thoughts going ’round. I don’t get to sleep until after three. I’m mostly thinking about all the things I haven’t managed to get done at work that day, all the things I’m worried I might’ve got wrong, and everything I’ve got to do the next day.”
I asked her if she had anyone in her life that she could off-load to and talk about her worries with, but she told me that, because of her work’s erratic hours, she didn’t see many people socially.
I suggested that Merope start each morning doing a download exercise. I asked her to write down all the thoughts that were going around her head on to a piece of paper until five minutes were up. I told her not to worry about what she was writing or about spelling and grammar. I explained that this was a way to transfer all her anxieties out of her mind and on to the page in front of her.
At first, she found the process a little odd. But when she lost a bit of that initial self-consciousness, you couldn’t stop her. She began starting her day with a clearer, calmer head, and the benefits of that calmness fed forward into the whole of the rest of the day, right up to the moment she put her head on the pillow. The knowledge that she was going to download the stresses of the day when she got up allowed her to leave them alone at nighttime. She began sleeping better. Within a couple months, the frequency of her attacks had reduced by around 70 percent, and those she did have were less severe and more manageable.
I recommend that you do your Download health snack first thing in the morning. This is a great habit to help launch you into your day with a calm and clear mind.
If you choose to do it just after waking, you might find it useful to put a piece of paper or your download journal next to your bed with a pen. This will act as a visual trigger that will prompt you to do your health snack.
If the first thing you do in the morning is go into the kitchen to make yourself coffee, put your journal and pen next to the coffee maker the night before. You could then take yourself to a quiet space and do your morning download while drinking your morning coffee.
If you commute to work, you might want to keep your download journal in your workbag. As soon as you’re settled into your seat on the train or bus, you can start writing.
Don’t forget, it’s really important that you try to celebrate every time you do your health snack. Pop a sticker on your wall chart or put a bean in your jar and say something positive to yourself like, “Yes!” or “I did it!” once you are done.