Calm Brain Chatter in just 5-minutes a Day

This week, I want to share a technique that has helped my mental clarity and peace of mind and increased my creative output.

Brain chatter is a creativity killer.

It is estimated that we think between 2000–3000 thoughts per hour, but when you think too many jumbled thoughts or the same ideas repeatedly, this brain chatter makes it difficult to think clearly or creatively.

The solution is daily journaling.

The beauty of daily journaling is that you not only silence brain chatter; stream-of-consciousness writing allows you to access your subconscious mind and gives you a reliable way to access your profound wisdom and creativity every day.

When I started daily journaling, I struggled to write three A4 pages as recommended by Julia Cameron in her book The Artist's Way. My hand would cramp, and my mind would wander, but I stuck with her Morning Pages technique and now, I regularly empty my brain into three journal pages every morning.

Daily journaling is life-changing, but it doesn't always work.

I'm passionate about daily journaling, but I understand that full-blown Morning Pages can be a stretch for many, so I want to share a more straightforward method to calm your brain chatter and access your creative subconscious.

Most stream-of-consciousness journaling sessions are just brain-dumping; unfortunately, this process can be exhausting if you have a lot of mental clutter. So, when you are just starting, this can short-circuit the effectiveness of Morning Pages.

If you're new to daily journaling or have tried Morning Pages before and they didn't work, I suggest you write a letter instead.

I like to think of my creative subconscious as a wiser, more relaxed, more creative version of me, and I think of her as a big sister I can go to for advice whenever I need it. If you have a specific decision, you're struggling with or a problem that is nagging you, your subconscious already has the answer.

Writing a letter to your subconscious avoids the messy process of wading through years of unsorted mental clutter first.

Don't write Morning Pages. Write a letter instead.

Get out a piece of paper. Write today's date at the top and start the letter with Dear Subconscious. Then proceed to write about the thing that is troubling you, just like you were writing a letter to an intelligent friend, and ask your subconscious for their advice or an answer.

Sign your name and wait for your subconscious to answer you. Now, don't expect a letter in return. Instead, the answer will come to you when you're busy doing something else, such as driving, mowing the lawn, or taking a shower.

Writing down what you're struggling with, what advice you need, and asking for help frames the problem in a way your subconscious can deal with, even if your brain chatter is trying to get in the way.

Takeaways

1. Brain chatter kills creativity
2. Daily journaling will calm your brain chatter
3. Not everyone has the stamina to write Morning Pages
4. Write a letter to your subconscious instead.

Try writing a letter directly to your subconscious the next time your brain chatter gets too loud.

Here is a link to Julia Cameron's book if you want to try Morning Pages for yourself, but start by writing your subconscious a letter and build up your writing muscles from there.