Have you noticed when your computer gets slow when you run many programs (or open many windows) at the same time? Likewise our brains get slower when our brains are filled with so many thoughts and other distractions. Have you ever noticed your brain is filled with incessant mental chatters, which make you worried, stressful, distracted or angry? These unwanted thoughts hinder your career and drain energy from your brain.
Incessant mental chatter (or simply incessant chatter) is a stream of thoughts, for example, a thought about your past, a worry about your future, criticizing yourself or others, fantasizing about something, arguing with someone, inner narration, (resentful) memories, non-constructive thoughts, images, tunes, and other thoughts. Incessant chatter can make you worried, stressed, depressed, distracted or angry. Usually one thought follows another. Some people may not yet realize it. Have you ever noticed your mind is not there with you? Try to see if your mind is in the car or in the shower next time you are driving, or having a shower. It is all too common our mind often absent in our daily activities. Incessant chatter makes your mind absent from your daily activities.
A problem of incessant chatter is that it keeps on going without your permission. A bigger problem is that it does not stop even though you try to stop. Telegraph, a UK newspaper, says, men and women everyday think about sex 13 and 5 times respectively. (It may be true for some people but it may not be true for others but we can temporarily use it as an example of incessant chatter.) Such thought occurs in our mind without our consent. Although you may be able to stop a particular thought in your brain temporarily, incessant chatter will continue with other thoughts regardless. If you ever tried to stop all thoughts in your mind, you realized that it can be nearly impossibly difficult and frustrating. It is like a puppy chasing its own tail- the harder or quicker you chase the tail, the quicker the tail will run away. Our mind is flooded with thoughts that we do not want but can not stop. The thoughts in our mind persist and refuse to leave.
When such thoughts arise in your mind, they interrupt your thought process, disturb concentration, weaken your mental capacity and make your mind wander while draining your brain energy. Imagine that you are a football player. What if your mind is not in the playground while you are playing a game? What if your mind is not in the concert stage while you are playing music? What if your mind is absent while performing an operation on a patient? The same applies to other professionals. When your mind is not operated under your control but fall under influence of irrelevant thoughts at work or play, your performance is likely compromised. Furthermore you are more likely to make an error under influence of incessant chatter. (A small error can be fatal in some situations. Errors of medical professionals caused annually 250,000 deaths in US according to the Journal American Medical Association. About 93% of all car crashes were partly or solely due to driver’s negligence, driver error, intoxication and other human factors, while about 57% of all car crashes were solely due to driver’s negligence according to a study on British and American crash reports. )
Incessant chatter not only hinders our career but also our life. Imagine you are living in the world most luxurious house and always eating the tastiest food. However what if your mind is not there while eating the tastiest food in the most luxurious house? You may not be able to appreciate and enjoy your life when your mind is not operated under your control but fall under influence of incessant chatter. Furthermore resentful memory or other incessant chatter in your mind can make you angry, worried, depressed or stressful even though you are eating the tastiest food with the most loving family in the most luxurious house.
Would it be nice if you can silence incessant chatter in your mind when you want? So that you can best use your brain for your life and career. It is your brain. (Your brain consumes 20 percent of oxygen in your body and daily draws about 1,080 liters or 285 gallons of blood, which is about 15 percent of your cardiac output.) So you should have more control over when and what thoughts are processed in your brain than as it is now. You choose what program to run on your computer. You run it when you need it. You stop running it when you do not need it. Likewise it would be nice if your thoughts are functional when you want: started when they are needed and stopped when no longer needed, instead of popping up of their own accord and distract you. When your mind is not occupied with worries, irrelevant thoughts or other incessant chatter, you will have no or less mental distractions. When you have no or less distraction, you will have increased concentration, which will allow you to perform better at work at play. When your brain does not waste precious resources on unnecessary mental activities, your brain power and resources will be available for productive mental activities, for example, solving a problem or coming up with a creative idea. You will have less stress when your mind is not occupied with habitual worries, non-constructive thoughts. You will likely perform better at work when you are not under influence of incessant chatter in your mind. You will enjoy your leisure and time with your loved ones more when your mind is also there to appreciate activities and interaction.
A good piece of news is that incessant chatter can be silenced. One of the pioneering scientists in this field is Richard J. Davidson, who is a neuroscientist and psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin and is the world’s 100 most influential people according to a 2006 issue of Time magazine. His research demonstrated, as a byproduct of research on brain, that an incessant chatter-less state of mind, a calm state of mind, can be maintained without exertion for a prolonged period of time.
If you have not noticed incessant chatter in your mind, here is a way to find out. Do the following exercise for five or ten minutes (with a timer). 1. Take some deep breath and relax. 2. Pay attention on thoughts in your mind. 3. Do nothing but notice rising and disappearing of thoughts in your mind without trying to suppress them. 4) Write down all the thoughts when time is up. (In addition you can also write it down if you encounter any thoughts while eating your meal.)
If you noticed that your mind is occupied with worries, non-constructive thoughts, emotional storm and other incessant chatter, don’t worry. The second part of this article will show an effective technique that you can use to silence incessant chatter when you want.
Incessant mental chatter (or simply incessant chatter) is a stream of thoughts, for example, a thought about your past, a worry about your future, criticizing yourself or others, fantasizing about something, arguing with someone, inner narration, (resentful) memories, non-constructive thoughts, images, tunes, and other thoughts. Incessant chatter can make you worried, stressed, depressed, distracted or angry. Usually one thought follows another. Some people may not yet realize it. Have you ever noticed your mind is not there with you? Try to see if your mind is in the car or in the shower next time you are driving, or having a shower. It is all too common our mind often absent in our daily activities. Incessant chatter makes your mind absent from your daily activities.
A problem of incessant chatter is that it keeps on going without your permission. A bigger problem is that it does not stop even though you try to stop. Telegraph, a UK newspaper, says, men and women everyday think about sex 13 and 5 times respectively. (It may be true for some people but it may not be true for others but we can temporarily use it as an example of incessant chatter.) Such thought occurs in our mind without our consent. Although you may be able to stop a particular thought in your brain temporarily, incessant chatter will continue with other thoughts regardless. If you ever tried to stop all thoughts in your mind, you realized that it can be nearly impossibly difficult and frustrating. It is like a puppy chasing its own tail- the harder or quicker you chase the tail, the quicker the tail will run away. Our mind is flooded with thoughts that we do not want but can not stop. The thoughts in our mind persist and refuse to leave.
When such thoughts arise in your mind, they interrupt your thought process, disturb concentration, weaken your mental capacity and make your mind wander while draining your brain energy. Imagine that you are a football player. What if your mind is not in the playground while you are playing a game? What if your mind is not in the concert stage while you are playing music? What if your mind is absent while performing an operation on a patient? The same applies to other professionals. When your mind is not operated under your control but fall under influence of irrelevant thoughts at work or play, your performance is likely compromised. Furthermore you are more likely to make an error under influence of incessant chatter. (A small error can be fatal in some situations. Errors of medical professionals caused annually 250,000 deaths in US according to the Journal American Medical Association. About 93% of all car crashes were partly or solely due to driver’s negligence, driver error, intoxication and other human factors, while about 57% of all car crashes were solely due to driver’s negligence according to a study on British and American crash reports. )
Incessant chatter not only hinders our career but also our life. Imagine you are living in the world most luxurious house and always eating the tastiest food. However what if your mind is not there while eating the tastiest food in the most luxurious house? You may not be able to appreciate and enjoy your life when your mind is not operated under your control but fall under influence of incessant chatter. Furthermore resentful memory or other incessant chatter in your mind can make you angry, worried, depressed or stressful even though you are eating the tastiest food with the most loving family in the most luxurious house.
Would it be nice if you can silence incessant chatter in your mind when you want? So that you can best use your brain for your life and career. It is your brain. (Your brain consumes 20 percent of oxygen in your body and daily draws about 1,080 liters or 285 gallons of blood, which is about 15 percent of your cardiac output.) So you should have more control over when and what thoughts are processed in your brain than as it is now. You choose what program to run on your computer. You run it when you need it. You stop running it when you do not need it. Likewise it would be nice if your thoughts are functional when you want: started when they are needed and stopped when no longer needed, instead of popping up of their own accord and distract you. When your mind is not occupied with worries, irrelevant thoughts or other incessant chatter, you will have no or less mental distractions. When you have no or less distraction, you will have increased concentration, which will allow you to perform better at work at play. When your brain does not waste precious resources on unnecessary mental activities, your brain power and resources will be available for productive mental activities, for example, solving a problem or coming up with a creative idea. You will have less stress when your mind is not occupied with habitual worries, non-constructive thoughts. You will likely perform better at work when you are not under influence of incessant chatter in your mind. You will enjoy your leisure and time with your loved ones more when your mind is also there to appreciate activities and interaction.
A good piece of news is that incessant chatter can be silenced. One of the pioneering scientists in this field is Richard J. Davidson, who is a neuroscientist and psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin and is the world’s 100 most influential people according to a 2006 issue of Time magazine. His research demonstrated, as a byproduct of research on brain, that an incessant chatter-less state of mind, a calm state of mind, can be maintained without exertion for a prolonged period of time.
If you have not noticed incessant chatter in your mind, here is a way to find out. Do the following exercise for five or ten minutes (with a timer). 1. Take some deep breath and relax. 2. Pay attention on thoughts in your mind. 3. Do nothing but notice rising and disappearing of thoughts in your mind without trying to suppress them. 4) Write down all the thoughts when time is up. (In addition you can also write it down if you encounter any thoughts while eating your meal.)
If you noticed that your mind is occupied with worries, non-constructive thoughts, emotional storm and other incessant chatter, don’t worry. The second part of this article will show an effective technique that you can use to silence incessant chatter when you want.
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