.jpg)
gwunspoken
We know that now more than ever, there is a growing disconnection between parents and their teens, corporates and their employees, and human interactions in general.
This can cause stress, frustration and many arguments within families and the work environment.
gwunspoken looks at the challenges people of all ages have in their relationships with one another and provides experience and advice, allowing all parties to have a voice.... and feel heard.
Join us to hear corporates, parents, educators, teens and the latest advice of how we can in fact live the life we love, in making authentic interactions, because we know... authentic connection is everything.
gwunspoken
“Your Mind is Not a Mess – It’s Just Overstimulated”
Ever feel like your brain has 47 tabs open at all times? You're not alone, and more importantly, you're not broken. In this thought-provoking exploration of modern mindfulness, we dive deep into the real reason behind our collective struggle to stay present in today's world.
The startling reality? Your brain is processing more information in a single day than our ancestors did in their entire lifetimes. According to research from the University of California, the average person consumes 34 gigabytes of information daily—equivalent to reading 100,000 words. No wonder your mind feels chaotic! This isn't a personal failing; it's a predictable response to unprecedented mental noise pollution.
We challenge the common misconception that mindfulness means having a blank mind. Thinking is what your brain is designed to do. True mindfulness is about developing a healthier relationship with those thoughts—noticing them, naming them, and gently guiding your attention back without judgment. It's like patiently redirecting a curious toddler rather than scolding them for exploring.
This episode offers practical approaches for overstimulated minds, from "micro hits" of mindfulness (30-second moments of presence throughout your day) to labelling mental activity to create space between you and your thoughts. We share three powerful journaling prompts to help you identify what's currently overwhelming your mind, recall moments of genuine presence, and discover daily opportunities for mindfulness practices that actually fit into your busy life.
Ready to take back your attention in a world designed to steal it? Listen now and discover how small, consistent mindfulness practices can help you navigate our information-saturated world with greater ease and presence. Your overstimulated mind will thank you.
www.in8code.com
Welcome to an edition of GW Unspoken where we discuss stuff we don't typically talk about but probably should. And well, we're here with season 10, episode 2, and we're talking about mindfulness. And is your mind well? Is it a mess or is it just overstimulated? If your thoughts are racing and if you're distracted 24-7, if you feel like your brain is a browser with 47 tabs open, well, congratulations, you're not broken. You're actually human and you're living in an age of mental noise pollution. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 1:This is a problem. You've been led to believe that mindfulness is the end date to a faulty mind. That will solve everything. And you know that if we can't focus or if we overthink or we forget what we walked in the room for, we must be lazy, unfocused or emotionally unwell or got ADHD or OCD or some kind of condition. But here's the real issue your mind isn't malfunctioning. It's overfed. It's actually under-rested and from the moment you wake up, your nervous system is absolutely bombarded. You think about it when you wake up Notifications, you're multitasking, there's always background noise. You've probably got decision fatigue already and it's your brain. It isn't failing, it's doing exactly what it's wired to do respond to inputs. And the issue is you're living in a world of inputs with no off switch, and our brain wasn't meant for that. Our brain wasn't meant to be overstimulated the way it is.
Speaker 1:There's so many people out there now who say technology has made us do so many more things and be more efficient, but the problem is that the workforce now expects us that we should be doing more, and we actually are doing more because we're more efficient, and that actually leads to more stress. And so let's get a little bit nerdy here. I'm going to read this out word for word, because I've got a study here I looked at from 2019, from the University of California. They found that the average person consumes the equivalent this is word for word of 34 gigabytes of information a day, and that's the same as reading 100,000 words. So our brains, which evolved in quiet, survival-focused environments, are now processing more data in one day than our ancestors did in a lifetime. So I'll say it again we are now processing more data in one day than our ancestors did in a long lifetime, their whole lifetime. There's another study that was published in the Nature Communications that found that attention spans are actually shrinking, and it's in direct correlation to the increased digital media exposure we just talked about. So it's no surprise, right? It's no surprise.
Speaker 1:This overstimulation activates your sympathetic nervous system, the fight, flight or freeze response, and it makes sustained presence nearly impossible. You know you talk to someone. I'll challenge you next time you go and talk to somebody. How many times they look away. How many times they look away and I know some of it's a cultural thing but how many times they get distracted. How easy it is to distract them with their iWatch going off, whether it's their phone vibrating in their pocket, whether it's someone just walking past, and they can't just actually focus on you and your conversation. Well, here's the good news Mindfulness doesn't need to shut down your mind. It just helps you take that volume down so you can focus. And so here's what might surprise you Mindfulness doesn't mean having a blank mind.
Speaker 1:So many people give up on mindfulness because they think oh, I just still can't stop thinking. I'm trying this practice, but I still can't stop thinking. Here's a new flash. Neither can I, neither can anyone. Thinking is what your brain does. That's its actual job. It's supposed to look for things. It's supposed to take you away from fear or put you towards good things. So it's always on alert. It's always on. Mindfulness is not about stopping your thoughts. It's about not getting dragged behind like a rough or a rogue shopping trolley. It's about noticing, naming and gently returning.
Speaker 1:If you're someone who's been told you're too intense or too analytical or too sensitive, guess what You're probably made for mindfulness. You just haven't been given a version that maybe respects how your mind works. And, let's be honest, your mind is chaotic. Mine is too. It's like a toddler with a permanent marker running around a white wall. You know, creative, chaotic, dramatic, extremely committed. And you don't punish a toddler for being curious. You guide them right, you direct them, you redirect them, and that's what mindfulness is. It's gently guiding your mind back to the moment, over and over and over again, with the patience you would actually show a curious child. It's exactly the same. So here's how we can work with overstimulation, not against it.
Speaker 1:Here's a couple of ideas for people out there who might have an overstimulated brain. Number one micro hits of mindfulness. Don't wait for 20 minutes on a blog. Don't wait for something or say I'll do mindfulness here, there and everywhere. Just practice in 30-second sips while waiting in line, while washing your hands, before checking your phone. Do it for 30 seconds. Number two label the noise. You know, sometimes when we name it, we tame it. So if your mind is racing, try this. Say, hey, that's a planning thought. Or man, that's an anxious story I'm telling myself in my brain. Or why am I getting so distracted like that? That's just a distraction I'm doing right now. So when you name it, it gives you space from it. All right.
Speaker 1:And the other thing is you can use your senses. So when your mind is loud and you know, drop into the body and say what can I see, what can I smell, what can I hear? Right now, just just little prompts to yourself. And I know it's going to be weird for people and they'll easily fob this off. I'm telling you now, if you're overstimulated, nothing's going to change unless you change. So test yourself. Try not to think it's fluff. Just challenge yourself. What if this is right? What if you're an overstressed human being and things aren't working for you right now? What have you got to lose? All right, there's plenty of apps out there that can actually show you some guided meditation if you can't do it yourself or you're worried about doing it yourself. So your senses are your anchor. You know about doing it yourself. So your senses are your anchor. Your breath is a rope. Use them to pull yourself back.
Speaker 1:So look, here's again with our journal prompts. I know people are probably seeing me saying this, but, again, what gets measured improves. So it's a good idea just to write these things down and not just do it in your head. So three prompts for this week. Number one what's currently overstimulating your mind? You know, how is it impacting how you actually show up, like, be specific, is it your phone? Is it people? Is it deadlines? Is it procrastination? What is it that's actually overstimulating your mind and how is it impacting you? So write them down.
Speaker 1:Number two when was the last time that you felt truly present? You know what was different in that moment. What made you present? Was it because it was purpose? Was it a certain connection with one of your passions? What was it? When were you truly present? And identify what helped that moment happen. What was it? Can you translate that to other parts of your world, other parts of your day?
Speaker 1:And talking about that, here's number three what is one moment in your day routine that you can reclaim as like a micro mindfulness pause? So was it? You know I get up in the morning early and start doing some work before the kids are awake. So I get down here and do the same routine of boiling the jug and getting some grinding coffee in there and making probably a loud noise, waking people up and the dogs up and just smelling that coffee. It's 20 or 30 seconds. The beans getting ground up is a mindfulness moment for me. When I think about that now, it's like, yeah, it is routine, but it actually does ground me. Get it, ground coffee. It does actually ground me to think I'm present, I'm up early, I feel like I'm winning the day because I'm starting how I want to start the day and it just gives me that pause.
Speaker 1:So what is it for you? You know, what is it Before you start unlocking your phone and getting distracted and getting overstimulated before all these inputs that we talked about, what is it something you can do? Just focus for 30 seconds and actually pray to yourself, talk yourself up to actually beat the day, own your day and get set, because everyone's going to have crap happen to them throughout the day. But you started off with a winning formula by actually focusing on yourself. And look, that's it. It's episode two of GW Unspoken and you're not broken. You're not too much. You're just human in a hyper-stimulated world. And mindfulness isn't a luxury for the enlightened, it's actually a life roughly overloaded. Start small and then try again tomorrow. And I'm Gary and I want to thank you for joining us for GW Unspoken. I will come to you in Episode 3 very shortly, thank you.