By My mind is always on overdrive. I blame it on being led by a force that I don’t fully understand yet. It’s always been a constant struggle for me, even more so now with my mum’s cancer diagnosis.
It’s very challenging for someone with a highly active mind to settle the mind storm. All it takes is one situation, word or instance which sets the tide of no return — getting your mind back is like a battle in the war. The war is between me, myself and I. There have been times in my life where I let my mind run wild, and then it seemed like everything around me crumbled in the process. The mind is both fascinating & fearful. It can make a hell out of heaven or a heaven out of hell. I have read an abundance of books on mindset and never really grasped the importance of controlling your mind. I never seemed to be able to do this. I can’t even sit still when meditating; It seems the more silent I became, the louder the voice would become. Does anyone else feel this way too? Weight training is the only place that stopped my mind from wandering and put an end to the ongoing train of thoughts. That’s why I always think of training as my therapy. It does help my mental health. I wondered if there was some other way to incorporate an activity, which would give me peace and help me train my brain to do what I wanted rather than it leading me astray. It’s tough to integrate both when you are weight training. Paying attention to the mind and muscle connection when you lift weights is one of the most magical things anyone of us can do to get results. I had mastered this through constant repetition and found that I could build strength and muscles size through this alone without spending hours in the gym. If I can do this with my muscle, I can control the largest and most important muscle of all, which is my brain. With this task at hand, I decided to try a couple of things. Walking is one of my greatest low impact niceties, and I would do this every single day. Whilst I got a lot of benefit out of my mid-day walks, I discovered that my mind would still wander off into space, and whatever I was listening to didn’t register. Midday walking felt like a mind dump instead of a cleanse. One morning, after my weights session and breaking my fast, I decided to go for a walk whilst the moon was evident in the sky. It would be wonderful watching the transition to sunrise. There was no one in sight at that time (it was about 5.30–6 am) and the silence helped calm my whole body and mind. I wasn’t competing to drown out the outdoor sounds of cars, kids shouting, or people talking. Listening to my chosen motivational messages on Audible felt like the words were finally were sinking in During that time, I felt like a weight had lifted from my shoulders, and I had within me the means to make this the best possible day, make sound decisions and open myself up to infinite intelligence to get those answers I most needed. These mornings helped me so much that I can’t go one day without them. Whether it’s raining or there is a storm, I am out the door. Then I christened these mornings my moonlight therapy sessions. I was being led by the beautiful calming energy of the moonlight, transitioning to sunrise. I found this moment’s extremely helpful when my mum was first diagnosed with Cancer. Her hospital stays went well over a month, and coping with work, seeing her twice a day, looking after my family and making sure I was on top of everything took its toll. I found my therapeutic moonlight walks were helping me clear my mind and I become a lot calmer. Spending those 45 minutes conditioning my mind to become centred, peaceful and transparent — then filling the filtered mind space with positive suggestions and prompts was the difference that made the difference. On those moonlight trips, I am thinking about what I want to achieve, how I want my day to be, and practising my breathing and silencing of the mind. Does my mind still wander off at times? It sure does, but I bring it back to my awareness and move towards the future, not look back into the past. As a result of these walks, my move towards writing more of these heartfelt posts became more manageable and less daunting. Anyone else who writes or exposes their raw self to billions of people online can feel daunting. It’s scary to share pieces of information that even your closest friends don’t know. It’s your heart song written down on a blog post exposed for everyone to see. I’m looking forward to seeing what else I can condition my mind to do and its results on my side hustles and writing.
If you want to try some moonlight walking to see what it can do for you, here are a few tips that help me make the most out of that sacred time.
- Make sure you take a toilet trip before your walk. Needing to go to the bathroom is uncomfortable, and it will cloud your thoughts.
- Listen to motivational and inspirational audiobooks, YouTube videos or even a ted talk. Please make sure these audible sessions are positive, and they help you to see something beyond your current thinking.
- When those thoughts start to make their way into your mind, allow them to surface, and then focus intently on what words you’re listening to.
- Keep warm or cool so that you won’t be affected by the elements. Cold and heat can cut out your focus.
- Take your time on these walks. They aren’t a workout — more so an easing of your mind. Walk at a pace that’s easy for you, in which you can get lost in the words you’re listening to.
- It helps to be near trees, grass or a park. It enhances the overall organic experience/
I do hope you try moonlight walking. If you are already a morning person, these will be pretty easy for you to transition into. There is a peace and serenity during this time that I don’t quite get early in the morning when the sun rises. It’s an experience you should try and compare the differences. You’re bound to get some creative inspiration during this time, and I guarantee your day will flow a lot smoother, and you will have a crisp mind.