I have decided to write another blog alongside my usual informative one, this blog will be about whatever. My usual blog is designed to create a library of helpful things to current clients and anyone else that reads it online. This  new blog might not always be about exercise and might be long and might be short. If I reference conversations that I have had with people please note that I would have ALWAYS asked permission to reference them. 

 

Whatever : 1 = Meditation is Selling empty heads.

 

Having nothing much going on in my head has long been quite the weapon for me. I think it’s quite possible that a few of the connections in my brain aren’t there. It’s very easy for me to just stop…

By stop, I mean turn it all off and just stare at stuff. The problem is that this place is quite unproductive. However, it is what some people are paying good money for. If I could sell the moments of nothingness that my brain provides, I think I would be in a position to afford kitchen roll (The rich person’s cloth).

There are certain things that stimulate this response in my brain. When I ride my bike, for instance, my brain turns off, and time disappears. I could genuinely ride my bike for most of the day, as long as there aren’t too many people walking spread across the pathway, staring at me hurtling towards them, seemingly not understanding that getting out of my way would be a helpful option. It’s okay though; I’ll just slow down and wait for you all to awkwardly shuffle to the side at the exact last minute, making me lose momentum and general hope for the existence of mankind.

Other things that stimulate this empty-headed nothingness are being asked to do anything by my wife other than what it was that I wanted to do. She loves it; apparently, asking me to do the thing 3-7 times before I acknowledge it was one of the main things she looked for in a partner.

For many years, my nocturnal routine has been rigid. Bed by about 21:30 and asleep by about 10ish. I watch TV on my iPad with the color turned to the night setting and the brightness all the way down, so you can just about see the screen. I ONLY watch cartoons. You might be thinking, “Oh dear, what on earth does a grown man watch cartoons for?” Well, first of all, I watch the ones with adult humor, and my reason for watching them is not because I’m uneducated (I am actually uneducated), but because they offer the same as my bike ride offers. For me, cartoons have no particular theme and nothing that I feel obliged to watch to the end. Cartoons have a general air of non-commitment about them. I watch them, and they amuse me a little and distract me just enough that my mind quiets down and does not get involved with the storyline. I switch off the second that I feel my eyes closing, and that’s it till the morning. Contrary to that, if I watch ANYTHING that engages me in any way, I end up needing to finish watching it, and then I might need to watch more, etc., and then I don’t sleep. If I don’t watch anything at all, there is definitely a tiny gravitation towards thinking about anything that needs to be resolved, as the quietness of the moment allows for that type of contemplation. This is a pointless sleep-depriving waste of time, so cartoons it is.

My skill of brain clearance has been further enhanced by years of practice. For the past 20-odd years, I have been a personal trainer, and my daily schedule has been the thing of some people’s nightmares. I might have some work in the morning and then a bit in the middle of the day and then nothing till the evening. From what I understand, most people have a hard time switching off, knowing that work is on the horizon. This usually comes about by them having a specific part of the day for work and a specific part of the day for play. I, on the other hand, have had quite the opposite for as long as I can remember. I guess, without consciously trying, I have been forced over many years to be able to just switch from work mode to play mode in an instant without considering that I will have to switch back in a few hours. This skill I think transfers easily to the general concept of disengaging from things and just being for a bit. Now, I’m not saying that you should become a personal trainer in order to one day find a way to clear your mind, but I think the practice of something like this is important.

Meditation apps are readily available, and I’ll be honest; I have no idea about them as I simply don’t need them, given my previously stated empty brain. If they work, then great. My only question is, are they applicable to all of your day? Can you use them to turn that noise off whenever you like? The answer to that is I don’t know, but for argument’s sake, let’s say no, they don’t, and all they do is give you another job to do and occasionally help you sleep if the voices were hassling you in bed.

 

Here is my vague attempt at helping.

Leigh’s top ten tips for emptying your brain 

 

• Go for a walk, ride a bike, go to the gym—literally do anything that gets your heart rate up and refocuses your mind. Studies show that exercise works better than any medication with regards to depression or anxiety.

 

• Stop thinking that whatever it is that’s bothering you actually matters. Look at the bigger picture; you’re alive in quite possibly the smallest window of time compared to how long the universe has existed and will exist. You are statistically luckier than your tiny little mind could ever possibly comprehend to be here right now and to be conscious enough to have an awareness of it. So does that thing really need to be dwelled on over and over again? Perhaps look around you and start to practice to see how great things are.

 

• Stop eating rubbish. Eat food that makes your body function properly, and trust me, your body and mind will thank you.

 

• Go to bed early.

 

• Get pets, preferably dogs or cats. They are great for distracting you from the nonsense.

 

• Obsess over something that isn’t work. Get a hobby, spend money on it. Be that person that goes on about the thing that you do and what you just bought. Watch all the YouTube videos about it, learn how to do it better. Sneak off and do it when you’re supposed to be doing work stuff.

 

• Practice using those small moments to look at stuff other than your phone. Wander around the train station if you have 10 minutes to use; go down some alleyways you haven’t been down before. Explore all places and then tell people that aren’t really listening that you found this cool little place down a street near the station.

 

• Don’t read rubbish about things you have no control over. I don’t watch the news. I don’t read the internet news. I don’t have Facebook. I don’t use Instagram. I have no avenue available to me that can shove any annoying information at me. The news is simply there to trigger you. Remove this and concentrate on your actual life.

 

• Be outside. Go to the woods and have those moments where you look at stuff and think, wow, that’s beautiful.

 

• Get lost? Go out on your bike or on foot and just move in one direction; try to remove any form of attachment to where it is you’re going, and definitely don’t worry about being lost (If you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t get lost). I know this sounds silly, but so many things are planned, time-constrained, and organized. It’s very rare that you just go anywhere or do anything without any purpose or plan; it’s on these moments that the practice of detachment is made. I love just riding; I always find a new cool place, and I always make it home.”

 

Click the below links for further stuff

Bobs Burgers This is my favourite cartoon. It’s happy and inspiring.

The Subtle art of not giving a fuck A website, a book and a tv show all inspiring you to switch off a bit more.

 

 

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anybodygym

Private Personal Training Studio Peterborough

#PersonalTrainerPeterboough

07704319430