While laying in bed thinking, I semi-consciously rolled over to escape a story that was turning to politics. Thirty seconds later my semi-conscious self rolled again, this time to escape a worry about a loved one.
It's like I'm lying there, minding my own business, and these streams of mental energy float through, like ribbons floating by on the breeze. Enticing me to engage.
It can be addictive to have a thought fragment about "That politician," coalesce into "He's not trustworthy," which in turn becomes an emotionally juicy "I don't like this; it didn't used to be this way." Now I'm invested in the narrative.
But my semi-sleeping self knew better, which is why I rolled over.
This time, rather than letting the thinking mind kick in, I imagined the streams of mental energy like paper ribbons floating through my mind - ribbons that I could snip, snip, snip with scissors and watch the paper pieces fall like big confetti.
Getting out the mental scissors isn't just a game. It reinforces my desire to disengage from the mental energy, and breaks up the coherence of these thought streams/ribbons before they take hold.
There are other ways to deal with busy mental energy when I'd rather sleep. Counting sheep, making meal plans, or inviting a song to become an earworm can distract a mind that's leaning into areas I don't want to go. A little gratitude exercise done in good faith can sweep away the negativity and bring in a spark of light. But these alternatives just change the mental energy, they don't do much to quiet it down.
I was in bed to rest though, so I chose the snip snip method to quiet the mental energy. It's a decision. No matter how attractive the thought fragments, they don't become a story that keeps me awake until I make them one.
