I haven’t been writing book recaps for months, but I continue to enjoy reading while nursing Ellie. I typically email what I highlight to myself via the Kindle app, but I realized my notes for The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer didn’t make it through before returning it to the virtual library. Here are some of my take-aways before too much time passes.
I didn’t exactly feel sucked into this book, but something drew me to it to forge on and keep reading. It wasn’t a light read and even seemed dark at times. In the end, the emerging messages were positive and made an impact on me.
Throughout the past year, I’ve made an effort to learn more about meditation and consciousness. I’ve picked up and put down a number of books in this realm. Until reading Singer’s book, I didn’t realize the effects of the seemingly constant stream of thoughts and chatter in my head. I am almost always thinking critically about something and believed it was a good thing. Singer pointed out this gets in the way of being present and therefore conscious.
Singer encourages us to acknowledge our thoughts and emotions as they come and then let them go – in essence carrying over the principles of meditation into daily life. I’ve made an effort to do just that and it’s had a profound effect on my listening skills and efficiency with tasks. It’s also greatly helped me manage anxiety.
By acknowledging and letting go of worrisome thoughts, I bounce back to the beauty of the present rather than go down a rabbit hole of negative and unhelpful thinking. As is often said, we may not be in charge of our thoughts or emotions, but we can control how we respond to them.
Singer provides many great examples to illustrate his points. One that really resonated with me was that of a thorn. He asserted that we often adjust our lifestyle in order to avoid that which we fear. He likens this to going to great lengths to protect a thorn that is stuck in one’s skin from being rubbed up against rather than removing the actual thorn.
Since having Ellie, I’ve had a few “thorns.” I’ve struggled with driving on the highway and walking in parking lots. Never have I had such precious cargo in my life. I would avoid highways at the expense of added driving time and insist on pushing a cart in parking lots to buffer an unsuspecting person backing up (I wore Ellie in a carrier so she wasn’t in the cart). I would have to give myself pep talks if a cart wasn’t available and once I even left, not completing my errand.
This book, in addition to a few other lifestyle modifications, has had a significant positive impact on my mental health. Making a conscious effort not to entertain overthinking and overanalyzing everyday situations is yet another form of paring down that is benefiting my life.
While it’s easy to participate in “stinking thinking,” it’s never helpful. Whether it’s a negative thought that enters my head or a negative comment from a stranger (such as a lady at Trader Joe’s yesterday that informed me my daughter’s feet were probably cold 🙂 to which I smiled and moved on); letting those thoughts float right on out of my head seems to be working for me.