The Self Love Project

BRAIN DUMP EXERCISE

[PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND TILL THE END]

You know that feeling where your head is about to explode from the 10 million thoughts that are relentlessly swirling around in it? Thoughts about nearly every aspect of your life (career, home, relationships, school, finances, etc.) and you don’t even know where to start?

There’s something you can do to work through all the overwhelm. It’s called a “brain dump”.

A brain dump can be as simple as journaling all of your thoughts out onto paper, or you can try a more structured method to help you organize those thoughts. It really depends on your needs, and preference. No matter what you do though, a brain dump should serve the following purposes:

*Center and ground you
*Reduce feelings of overwhelm
*Provide some guidance for your day
*Reduce anxiety about the day ahead
*Clear your head
*Free up mental energy

*TYPE 1*
The most common brain dump exercise you’ve probably heard of are “morning pages” or “stream of consciousness journaling.” This is simply waking up, grabbing your journal, and writing down exactly what comes to your head without worrying about whether it makes sense or not. There’s not right or wrong way to do this. You simply write down whatever crosses your mind.

*TYPE 2*
If the idea of “morning pages” sounds sounds too open and unstructured for you, I have a few other ideas to help you get started with unpacking those crazy thoughts.

Four Square Brain Dump

Thoughts: This is the square to fill with all the thoughts that are swirling around. The basic part of the brain dump exercise. Don’t think too much about it, because nobody is going to read this but you! They’re your thoughts. So get them out of your cluttered mind and put them on the paper.

To do: I’m willing to bet that some of your thoughts were about things that you need to get done. Probably things that you’ve been putting off for a while, or things you’re anxious about doing for whatever reason. Re-write any thoughts that fall under this category into this box.

Gratitude: This box is here to add some positive vibes to your brain dump experience. Unfortunately, a lot of the thoughts that may pop into our heads in the morning aren’t the most positive thoughts in the world. They’re usually things we’re stressing over, anxious or nervous about, things we need to get done, etc. So take a minute here to write down 3-5 positive things that you’re grateful for

Top 3 Priorities: From the above “to do” box, choose the three things that you NEED to get done today. This will help give you a little more clarity and focus on how your day is going to go, as opposed to blindly trying to figure out what to do first.

*Type 3*
THE DE-STRESS BRAIN DUMP

We waste a lot of precious time and energy stressing over things that we can do absolutely nothing about. When instead, we should focus our energy on the things we actually have control over and can take action on. Sound a little better? This next brain dump is designed to help you in determining what those things really are.

*Start by doing a basic brain dump of your thoughts. If you want, you can focus specifically on writing out the things that you are stressed/worried/anxious about.
*Next, sort all of those things into the two boxes below; “control,” and “no control.” Be honest!
*Draw a big “x” through the “no control” box if it makes you feel better 😉
*In the bottom box, “action I can take over what I have control over” brainstorm your action steps. What can you do about the “control” items in order to help you feel less stressed?

I hope this will give you clarity and help you decide which one you need. Give each one a try for at least 3 days and decide.