I’m in month nine and I’ve got multiple ways to download.
1) I can free-for-all what’s in my brain, just dump it all out. I did this my first month or two – it was incredible to find what was in there. I had no idea and I learned a tremendous amount about myself. I don’t use it so much now because it just allows repetitive “negative” thoughts to run wild. I already know about them, and they can go chaotic. This begins to feel like a broken record, so I don’t do it much these days. As I type this I’m thinking the exception is when I feel swarmed by thoughts and I’m not sure what’s going on. I can do a brain-dump download to explore what’s going in. I think this really requires that I consciously remember to observe my thoughts so I don’t get sucked into them. I think it’s easier for me to get sucked in with a free-for-all download.
Instead I mostly do one of the following:
2) I can focus on a subject – a version of constraint. I can choose my “impossible” goal for 2019, the month’s assignment, an area of my life or a relationship that’s on my mind that I want to interrogate and know more about. This keeps me from the chaos of all the voices yelling in my head. The constraint of one subject encourages my growth because it provides focus. OR…
3) I can imagine I already HAVE whatever the goal is, whatever the relationship I’d like, etc. I download my thoughts as though it all already exists. I learn what it feels like, what the thoughts are that exist when it’s already true, and that becomes a map of the thoughts I might practice and choose.
I’m getting pretty good at this. That said, here’s the feedback I’d like:
When do you, whoever’s answering this, use the free-for-all brain download? I remember how rich it was at first to just watch what was going on and the stunning revelations I had, and I wonder if I’m closing off some learning possibilities – I also know what’s it like when it’s the same routine playing out in my head that I’ve heard before, and there’s a point where it’s time to simply say “no” to certain thoughts and move on. I hear you, I say no, I’m going this direction instead. That’s where “I’m already there” or constraining to one subject helps.
Talk to me.