“In one ear and out the other, don’t you get criss crossed, I recommend you try a little mental floss.” Jimmy Buffett.
Buffet again has this clever line that makes some sense. What is mental floss? What can we do to clean out the “plaque” in our brains? Here are three ideas:
- Find a way to recover from the stress of your day. We often say we want to relax…then just do more. You can start with meditating or relaxing — sit in a quiet place to calm your mind on a daily basis. One way to do this to follow your breath. Close your eyes and pay attention to breath with the idea of doing it for at least 10 minutes; do not look at your watch until you know the time is up. When you mind throws to you the problems of the day, think “oh well” (“In one ear and out the other”) and go back to the breath. You will get back to the problems soon enough and be refreshed to boot.
- Perhaps the opposite is to mind storm. This is brainstorming by yourself. Write out a specific concern you have and come up with at least 20 options. Do not restrict yourself by saying “that’s too stupid” or “that will never work”; when you do this, creativity stops. Combine ideas and when done, pick one or two that have the most appeal and begin to apply the ideas to your concern.
- Get another perspective. Share your concern and ask for ideas. As with mind storming, don’t start by telling the other person what will or won’t work; instead look for ideas that clean out the plaque. You want a fresh view. Talking to the same persons you have always talked with is unlikely to produce different thoughts…reaching out for different ideas is a key here.
So get to it, clean out plaque on a regular basis. As Buffet says at the end of the song, “don’t forget to floss every day”.
Please share ideas you might have or use to do “mental floss”.
Bill
