#60

Welcome to Weekly Whisper #60.

If you are overthinking, write. If you are underthinking, read

I picked this up from a random twitter feed and it spoke to me.

As a way of softening the sometimes harsh thoughts I have about myself, outcomes, achievements, etc I’ll take to my journal and begin to write. Just write. Nothing too serious. Occasionally something appears on the page that I’ve never considered before. More often than not the writing transfers the emotions, attachments, and stories from inside my head onto paper – yes I’m old skool 😊.

The benefit is that I’m less attached to the ‘overthinking’ and more able to see it for what it is – just a series of repeated thoughts.

I’m not sure if I fully understand ‘underthinking’ but I certainly use a variety of stimulation to think a little differently when required. I’ll dive into old journals. I’ll scroll Instagram. I’ll pick a random book from my library, turn to a random page and start reading. On many occasions I’ve found the stimulation very helpful. Doesn’t necessarily help me see around corners, but it helps me remain present to what might be heading my way.

How about you? What do you do when you over/under think?

 
We suffer more in imagination than in reality

Our brain is hardwired to protect us from any perceived harm. It’s hardwired to scan the environment for threats and do anything it can to avoid painful situations. Despite the potential learning and development in something that’s hard for us, our brain often reacts in the opposite way to which it’s grown. We have a phenomenal imagination and our brain goes to work to create an imagined future reality in order to help us avoid potential harm. Our brain doesn’t do ‘context’ very well and so often can’t really tell whether the situation is real or not – hence our imagination paints a picture of suffering in order to protect us.

As we know, on many occasions, our worries rarely materialise in the way we’ve imagined, and we’ll often use language like “it wasn’t as bad as I… thought (imagined)”. So, when your imagination runs riot inside your head please remember that it’s trying to help.

A simple hack would be to imagine it’s something designed to help and take a moment to thank it for its compassion and thoughtfulness. When we’re able to do that we can sometimes turn the internal volume down to a more manageable tone.

Question of the week: Can you hear the whispers amongst all the shouting?

We live in a very noisy world – noise from volume, noise from chatter, noise from everything that drains our attention.

What’s the noise drowning out?

What’s there for you that you can’t hear yet?

For me, life is asking me about balance, surrender, and attachment.

How about you? What’s life asking of you right now?

Quote of the week: "I think everyone should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer” – Jim Carrey

When I first read this it made me smile in recognition of the possible truth within.

I then sarcastically said to myself “yeh, but it’s a different kind of question and answer if you were”!

Here’s the video

And an additional take on the quote

Freedom Fridays Podcast Episode #53

An exploration of what freedom means. Through a series of conversations with experts and leaders in their field, we explore some of the ways we can be free from whatever is holding us back. We’ll share some of the ingredients – easy, hard, and almost impossible.

The lessons are hiding in open sight within the conversation – it’s up to you how you apply them.

Episode #53 with Conor O'Malley

In Episode #53 Pete chats with Conor O’Malley, a Scot with an Irish name and an English accent, who now calls himself an Australian too. Conor is an executive coach for leaders who want to learn, and be more effective leaders of their business, their team, and in society. He is also the author of “Trust – Begins and ends with self” and the creator of the life and coaching philosophy Observe | Choose | Act.

Conor and Pete chat about the definition of a leader, how it’s changing, and the importance of being a more effective leader in and of society. They discuss the internal freedom gained from letting go of a story that is holding you and how that, in turn, leads to external freedom. They also look at the concept of shifting your way of being so you can shift your way of doing.