How to Get Out of Your Own Head

Start with something other than yourself

Free writing which is supposed to be a kind of brain dump, but sometimes it mires me in the swamp of obsessive thoughts. One side effect of living in “in your head” is that you tend not to pay much or enough attention to other people or the world around you.

Doodling has an advantage. You start with a mark on the page and see where that takes you. You allow something else — your hand, what emerges on the page to lead. You observe where they take you. Because you aren’t leading with your thoughts, but observing something outside yourself, you are starting your inquiry in a different place. Working from the outside in.

This is why walking or physical activity as a starting point is both grounding and good for creativity:. Physically moving through an environment, whether with your hand or your whole body, gives you a chance to encounter the world the world around you. Observation, curiosity about what you observe and willingness to interact with it in some way — with a sense of play or fascination — is a good way to wake yourself up to the larger world around you and also to invite yourself perceive how connected you in fact are.

Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog