And I had this thought today, the kind of thought that helps the other thoughts stand in an orderly row, to be satisfyingly knocked down like dominoes into something visually pleasing:
Ear worms.
I know how to deal with ear worms.
For those that dont know, or that use a different term for this thing, an ear worm is that song that gets stuck in your head. It's that tune that just plays over and over and over and over and over and over and...
yes, that. It's the thing that burrows its way into your mind and plays itself on repeat until it starts to make a living by eating its surroundings.
I've lost sleep to ear worms, I've lost concentration, until one day I figured out how to stop them.
(Point of order, as much as I did think this method up, there is little-to-no-chance I am the first to do so. I should also mention that as far as I know, I do not suffer from OCD or similar conditions that make thought spirals a legitimate health concern. But maybe, if you suffer from such things or not, this might help you, just as it helped me?)
Here's how it goes. You have this song in your head, stuck there, been there for days. It's so happy in your head that its started ordering matching curtains and throw pillows to brighten up the place.
How to get rid of it?
Imagine a room, and a few feet in front of you against the wall, is some manner of music box. It might be a cassete player, an ipod, or a radio. For me, I use a jukebox, the kind from the 50's, with the colourful curved top and the bright lights. (I dont know what that says about me, maybe that I'm old fashioned? Maybe I just like pretty lights.)
Walk up to the jukebox, the music gets louder as you close in. The music is coming from the jukebox itself. Now, change the channel. Put on another song, start flipping through the options, feel the press of the buttons and the shifting of whatever internal mechanims your box has. Make it as real in your mind as possible, and every time you press the 'next' button, think of a new song to overtake the old.
You may well get sick of that new song later, but you can always come back and keep mentally channel surfing until you find something you like.
It takes some practice, but I found it helped.
So with that in mind, here's the thought I had today.
Thought spirals are just earworms. They come from the same mind-speakers in the same imagined-jukebox in the same head as the songs. could they be dealt with the same way?
I wonder, if you're anxious about something, job, relationship, money, can you just...change the channel?
Can you just find another jukebox (or maybe its the same one?) and when you can't stop worrying about the rent thats due sometime in the future, or the deadline at work thats creeping ever closer, could you try instead pushing the button, and remembering that trip you took to that island a few years ago? Maybe the anxiety will come back later, but we could all do with a break once in a while.
It surely can't be that easy...
But...what if it is?
From the wrong time, the wrong place, but maybe the right hat,
-Alexander Hewitt
-Alexander Hewitt
