Make a clearing in your brain

Sometimes I feel like I'm winding myself up, week after week, like one of those little toys you have to twist to get to move. I can feel my insides getting tighter, my head less clear and decisions more difficult to make. I find it a struggle to stick to what I say I'm going to do, and most crucially I fail to keep my promises to myself.

In those times I have learned that the answer is to pause. This notion is fantastically counter-intuitive because in my mind all I can see are that there are pressing things that need attention and the urgency feels real. Still as much as there is work to do, I have learned through experience that the biggest lever for making a shift is to stop. Take a break. Make a clearing in your brain. 

This past weekend I spent three days in the hills of Maryland where I grew up (a few miles south of Westminster). It was an immersion back to acres of space where the loudest noise was the wind brushing through the trees, the birds chattering and an occasional truck roaring by. Lush green landscape everywhere I look. Fireflies lighting up crisp nights like paparazzi. The most important tasks are finding an hour or so to walk the dog and figuring out what to eat for the next meal.

Coming back from 3 days in that life is a total reset button. The fog in my mind lifts, the excuses I put between what I want to do and what I actually choose to do release, and life boils down to the simple things that seem to matter above all else. 

When I'm in this headspace, focus and execution flow without resistance. The outcomes I was looking for before come out naturally. Creating space for a reset is like doing a cleanse for the brain so it can return to functioning at it's brilliantly high level.

Do you need a reset button somewhere in your life right now? How can you create the space to make a clearing in your brain?