There is something very therapeutic about power hosing. Last weekend I started to tidy the back garden for the winter and ended up cleaning everything in sight. And although I love gardening, and love the sight of a very tidy garden, there is nothing more satisfying than watching that layer of dirt and grime just disappear off the paving as you attack it with a power hose.
As I was falling into an almost meditative state just watching the light grey of the paving slabs come back again, I thought:
“God, wouldn’t it be great if we could have a power hose for the mind!”
Just to have something that can get in there and clear away, often years’ worth of crap. I just don’t think a hoover would do the same justice. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I never found hoovering gave me the same therapeutic feeling as blasting gallons of water at force at the crap in front of me.
Just image it, all that nonsense that runs around up in there, most of the time unchecked. Where does half of it come from? And like any area where crap is allowed to gather, it seems to take on a life of its own and just multiply like rabbits.
Now imagine getting in there with the power hose and not only removing the crap but completely washing it away, leaving the light grey brain matter to do what it was designed to do – ie THINK.
Most people don’t think, they allow their thoughts to run off on them without taking control. People only think they think, but of you think about it you only think when you have something to work out. So think about driving for a minute. When you were learning to drive you had to think through every part from checking the position of the mirror, to watching the road, to pulling up the hand brake when you arrived at your destination. But a few months after passing your test you stopped having to think about any of this – unless someone pulls out in front of you and you have to react and its only then that you engage the prefrontal cortex of your brain and break your mindless cycle of mind-chatter.
So do yourself a favour and every now and then waken up to what you are thinking about – or what is running around in your head. Take the power hose out if you have to and clear any thoughts that aren’t serving you. Clean out the grey matter and get it to work on ‘THINKING’ about something that you want to think about.
The best way I know of to get your mind cleared is to check in with yourself regularly and actually ask yourself: “What am I thinking?’ then change it if you don’t like it. It’s not the same magnitude as power hosing, more of a blast now and again, but with enough blasts the mind can become cleansed and free for thinking.
