Mental Clutter: Why Your Brain Won’t Shut Off (and What to Do About It)
Alright, who here has popped awake in the middle of the night for no apparent reason… and then lay there for hours while your brain puts on an entire circus show—from the MC to the elephant finale?
Yep. Me, too.
There are, of course, about one trillion suggestions on the internet for how to fall back asleep. Some helpful. Some… decidedly not.
But I want to walk this thought train back to the station and figure out why we’ve got all this mental clutter in the first place.
Where did it come from?
Who does it really belong to?
And how do we take back control of our own head space?
Know that just because it’s in your head, doesn’t mean it belongs to you.
I’m not sure we’ll solve everything here… but let’s at least make a dent, shall we?
During the day, we have an estimated 10,000 to 70,000 thoughts (depending on which scientist you ask).
Even on the low end, that’s about one thought every six seconds.
High end? More than one thought every second.
Um… no wonder it feels so crowded in there.
What’s really going on?
replaying past conversations (still trying to understand)
overthinking decisions (because we’re afraid to get it wrong)
running someone else’s voice on repeat (for so long it sounds like our own—and it’s usually not cheering us on)
looping thoughts so we don’t forget that thing you need to do/buy/read/watch
Any of this sound familiar?
Yeah. Same.
A couple questions I keep coming back to are:
· Is this useful right now?
· Is this even mine?
Because the truth is—
not every thought deserves a seat at the table…much less a microphone.
Let’s have a moment of compassion here.
We live in a fast-paced world. We have access to so much information—and honestly, a lot of it is interesting and fun and keeps us connected in amazing ways.
Aaaaand… it can be a wee bit much.
So, what do we do about it?
There are a lot of ways to try to “control” the thoughts.
For me, it comes down to two things:
1. Find a way to get quiet
Not perfect. Not silent. Just… quieter.
Maybe that’s:
5 minutes of meditation
3 slow breaths
looking at something in nature (even a picture counts)
noticing a few things around you—colors, shapes, textures
slowly rubbing your hands together and actually feeling it
You’re not trying to stop your thoughts.
You’re just giving your brain somewhere else to land.
2. Let your system know it’s safe
A lot of overthinking comes back to hyper-vigilance.
Your nervous system is trying to protect you from the tiger…
by making sure you don’t forget to put toilet paper on the grocery list.
A little dramatic? Maybe.
But also… kind of brilliant.
It’s doing its job. It just doesn’t realize the “threat” isn’t life or death.
So we remind it:
hand on your heart
a few slow breaths
some EFT tapping
This is where your awareness comes in. Then you get to decide something new.
(Remember: Just because your brain generates thoughts, doesn’t mean they’re true.)
And those middle-of-the-night thought spirals?
If your system spends all day in go-go-go, hyper-alert mode…
it’s not going to suddenly feel safe enough to power down at night.
It’s going to stay on guard.
That’s just how the nervous system works.
So any calming you can do during the day is what helps your body feel safe enough to actually rest later.
What works for me?
A good old-fashioned brain dump.
Get it all out. The good, the bad, the random, the “why did I think of that?”
Messy is better.
Then tear it up. Burn it. Black it out with a Sharpie.
Whatever helps you get it out of your head and into the world—where you can decide what happens to it next.
Whatever you do, try something.
Give your big, beautiful brain a little breathing room.
Let it support you, instead of spinning you out.
I’m cheering you on.
One thought at a time. 💛
