From Chaos to Calm: Strategies for Managing Mind Chatter

Mind chatter consists of automatic thoughts shaped by our history, beliefs, societal conditioning, identities, fears, and desires. While some thoughts are helpful, many are repetitive, unproductive, and self-critical. Neuroscience identifies this phenomenon as the default mode network (DMN), which activates when we rest and are not focused on tasks. Ironically, rest is also when we often feel most mentally overwhelmed.

Why We Struggle to Quiet the Mind

Our brains are designed to think—to scan for threats, solve problems, and make sense of the world. Telling your brain to stop thinking is like telling your heart to stop beating. 

Introducing the BREATHE Framework

I designed a method called the BREATHE framework, which is both science-informed and soul-nourishing.  

• Breathe 
• Recognize 
• Express 
• Anchor 
• Take Action 
• Hold Compassion 
• Embrace the Process 

Creating a Mindful Routine

During times of external chaos, I committed to 10 minutes of mindfulness each day for 10 days. This simple practice, "Peace in Motion," reconnected me with my values and slowed the mental chaos. It also led to the creation of a 10-day audio journey, offering daily mindfulness insights and prompts. This practice is timeless, helping us show up as we truly wish in the world.

Invitation to Join and Discover Peace in Motion

I invite you to embark on this journey with me. You can join the "Peace in Motion" program, which includes a 10-day audio journey and an optional coaching session. Visit https://www.coachingwithjuli.com/peace to learn more and sign up today! 

Conclusion: Understanding and Transforming Mind Chatter

Remember, the ultimate goal is not to silence the chatter but to understand, work with it, and transform it into a powerful tool for healing and growth. Share this journey with others, leave a review, and always remember to embrace your extraordinary self.

RESOURCES: 

• Therapeutic Journaling: UW Integrative Health
• https://fastlifehacks.com/huberman-pennebaker-method/

Transcript

Juli Reynolds: 0:59

welcome to another extraordinary week, and I don't think it's just me, but I have been dealing with a lot of mind chatter lately, so I wanted to talk about that because really our minds never stop talking. From the moment we open our eyes to the final thoughts that chase us to sleep, we are. Inundated, bombarded with internal commentary. We have lists, worries, we replays ideas, doubts, dreams, what so and so said today, what it meant, what I need to do tomorrow. All of those, the things, it's called mind chatter and it's one of the most universally human experiences. and we talk about it like it's just normal and it's not going away. And we don't really talk about strategies on how to handle it and and we're not taught that. We just are taught to accept it as part of life, or there's something wrong with my brain or. Why can't I shut it down? I know that I have essential oils that are known to stop mental chatter, and so I'll put my cedar one on at night in hopes of slowing that mental chatter and just relaxing my nervous system and being able to get to sleep. But the goal isn't really to shut it off. The goal is really to understand it and to work with it. And that's what I wanna talk about today. Ultimately knowing how to work with it will transform it into a powerful tool for our healing and our growth. So first of all, what is mind chatter? Mind chatter is that stream of automatic thoughts that run in the background of your awareness. It's shaped by your history, your beliefs your conditioning, social conditioning, identity, fears, and even desires. Those dreams, those goals, those things you wanna make happen. Maybe it's your kids and the life that you have imagined for them, your marriage all of those things. So it's shaped by a lot of things. Now while some of it is neutral or helpful, like remembering to pick up groceries or remembering that there's something going on in the morning that you need to be up on time for A lot of those things are, like I said are helpful to us. a large portion of it though is repetitive and unproductive and even self-critical. And so this is where we get into problems with it and we start to think we need to shut it. Off or shut it down, or there's something deficient in us, something that we need to be able to get to the point where we don't have that mental chatter. Neuroscience refers to this as the default mode network, the DMN, we've talked about that before, but this is the part of the brain that lights up when we are at rest and not focused on a task. I think I did a whole episode on the ideas and what you do with them when they come to you in the shower. You've all been there probably wondering, why is it that I have my best ideas in the shower And by the time I get outta the shower in a way that I can write it down or activate that idea, it's part of it is gone. It's not so clear as it was in the shower. So this is the DM N at work, that part of your brain that lights up when we are at rest and not focused on a task. And ironically rest is when we often feel the most mentally overwhelmed. Think about the time that we build into our vacations to be able to shut that chatter down so that we can actually enjoy the time that we have. So why can't we just quiet the mind? That's because your brain is wired to think and you want it to keep thinking. Its job is to scan for threats, solve problems, and make sense of the world. and tell that coherent story. Trying to silence your thoughts is like saying to your heart to stop beating. And we wouldn't do that. So changing the quality and the direction and the volume of your mind noise is where we really want to get. So there's one powerful tool that I learned That I've been putting to work and I talk about doing mental downloads and it's the same, the same concept, doing a mental download of all the things that are on your mind to be able to just put them somewhere so your brain can stop worrying about not losing the thread or forgetting something that is important to you. this technique is actually grounded in decades of research. it's known as the Penny Baker method and psychologist James. Penny Baker did studies that show that writing about our thoughts and emotions can actually reduce anxiety and depression, improve immune function, enhance cognitive processing, and help regulate emotions. And this is where we wanna get with our mental chatter, right? So when you write. Without editing or censoring, your brain begins to organize and integrate the chaos and then the act of naming your thoughts disarms their intensity and helps the prefrontal cortex regain control over the emotional brain. and then what about writing for days? Because we all will do this one time. Maybe, but I get a lot of resistance when I suggest to do it several days in a row. So long form stream of consciousness journaling isn't new. Julia Cameron talks about the, in relation to morning pages, it gives your brain that safe, consistent outlet. And over time this daily ritual trains your brain to dump the static so that you can tune into the clarity and the creativity and the calm. It's a detox for your thoughts. Behavioral science also backs this up teaching us that when we make space for our inner dialogue instead of avoiding it, you've all heard what you resist persists. This is that same concept. We activate that brain salience network. That's a circuit that helps distinguish what's important and what's just background noise. I wanna share with you a framework that I'm calling Breathe, because I think it's really important. I think breath work is really important. Just taking three deep breaths can a lot of times stop that chatter or stop the urgency that is attached to that chatter. So this is a science informed, soul nourishing process that you can remember any time that your inner noise feels a little overwhelming, especially if it's. Maybe helping you or keeping you from sleeping. That would be a time that you could implement this strategy and just take those deep breaths. Remember, breathe as a framework, and that's first of all, the b. B is for breathe. You breathe first, so start with that conscious breath, that inhale slowly and exhale even slower. This will shift you out of a fight or flight. into presence. So inhale slowly. Exhale even slower. And doing that a couple times, you could do an inhale to the count of four, hold the count of four and exhale to six. So you might wanna try that right now. So inhale, hold. And exhale. And then you can just do that maybe five times, three to five times, I would say, to get this framework, get this strategy started. So breathe. Breathe first, and then recognize the noise. Acknowledge that it's there. Name it. That's anxiety. That's an old story. That's fear of failure. Awareness is disarming. And so if you start to say, this is anxiety, this is worry, if you're thinking about your kids, especially if they're adult kids and you have no control over what they're going to do next or what's going to happen in their lives, worrying about it is not helpful. So to say this is worry, or this is anxiety. You can transform that into something else. Something more helpful. So first, breathe, then recognize the noise for what it is, and then express it freely. Take the time to write it out. To speak it without filtering, maybe for laying in bed. You just wanna say it out loud. Don't fix it. Just flow. Let it be messy and honest and raw, and get it out of your head and onto the page. Sometimes just hearing it or seeing it will allow your brain to organize it in a different way. And be able to, you'd be able to let it go and deal with it at the time that you want to deal with it. So then, okay, so breathe, recognize express, and then anchor in truth. So once you've emptied the noise, reflect on it what is actually true. What matters most? What is your next best thought? What is the outcome that I want? There are all sorts of questions that you can ask. We do this process in coaching all of the time, just really being able to identify what you think versus what is true. So you are gonna breathe, recognize the noise, express it freely, anchor in truth, and now take a new action. This is when you shift. your energy. So walk or move or drink some water, make a phone call, Some tiny actions that are tied together with your insights to your body and to your life. So whatever that is, it's a little bit of a pattern interrupt. Alright? So you're gonna breathe, recognize the noise, express freely, anchor it to truth. Take a new action and hold compassion. Now, sometimes this is soft, easy, compassion kind, nice. Sometimes this is fierce compassion where you're gonna have to get really truthful with yourself and really honest with yourself. So speak to the truth to yourself like a friend, like a real friend. Mind shutter often comes from pain. It not from truth. It might come from somewhere in the past or some bias or some something that is informing you or telling you a story about events and sometimes they're about events that have not even happened yet. But be gentle with the parts of you that are trying to cope with some of those things, but be honest, so that's compassion. And then embrace the process. So you're gonna breathe. Recognize the noise. Express it freely, anchor it in truth. Take new action. Hold compassion and embrace the process. Know that peace isn't a one-time achievement. It's an action. it's in motion all the time. It's a rhythm, a practice. It's a relationship with your own mind. I love that, that the idea that peace is a relationship with your own mind. in light of all of that, I wanna share with you an opportunity that I've created because I kinda created it for myself first. When this year for first started there were a lot of political climate changes, a lot of chaos, and there were a lot of things that I was learning about that. I really wasn't sure, wasn't really able to know how I felt about it because I didn't know anything about the topic. So I had to sort through my anxiety some of my biases and some of those things and acknowledge that I'm not an expert on all of this, so I don't really need to have an opinion about all of it. I could go back to my own values, but it took a process and it became chaotic and there's a lot of noise in my head about it. I was getting. I was seeing social posts or watching the news and feeling feelings like anger or panic or despair. All of those things were coming in because I didn't know how to process it, and it was coming so fast I didn't have time to process it or even learn. What I needed to learn. So I had to shut down and take a little bit of that noise and designed a strategy for myself. And so I committed to 10 minutes of mindfulness every day. So for 10 days, I was gonna do 10 minutes of mindfulness before I took in any new information, just so that I could reconnect with my own values, what was important to me, and really just clear that space to. Give my brain a chance to process and to be okay with not being able to process when I couldn't. So I created this 10 minutes for 10 days and it made all the difference in how I was processing all of the things, and gave me a way to just slow the emotion down a little bit, take it one day at a time, be compassionate with myself and and really just. Tell myself the truth. And so I shared this with a friend and then I shared it with a client who both responded, I need something like that. And so I thought I could design that because I like designing things and creating is fun and thinking through that is fun. So I did. Now, when I did it, I didn't record my own audio guide. I used other guides and other practices that I was already familiar with. I didn't have a workbook, but I did have, every day I had a theme. I had an intention, and so I took that and I did create an audio guide. So now I have a 10 day audio journey that helps you just really, it's called Peace in Motion and. I just wanted to make it available to anyone else who's needing to shut down the noise. Now, it's not all about political. It doesn't really matter where you are politically or where you are in season, and I think it's a timeless practice because it helps, takes us through different ways to show up in the world in the way we really want to. And you can tailor this. So I so I created this piece in motion, a 10 day audio journal to help you embrace your thoughts and return to your breath. Use this breathe framework and finally. just find that daily piece through simple practices that fit into anyone's days Each day you receive, I send out a short audio about five or 10 minutes with science-based mindset reset a breath work or mindfulness technique. For you to try a journal prompt to help you process some of those thoughts. And just a little bit of the neuroscience behind what you're doing for your brain during this 10 days, because what I love about mindfulness is it's not just about that feeling better and thinking better, and having that better capacity today. It's extending the health. Span of our brain, the brain span into our later years so that we can have a healthier brain for longer. And I love that about this. And actually just by, yeah, actually just by signing up if you're a, you're really, you have a consistent mindfulness practice. This also is a way to introduce some novelty and just to hear a different way to do that. And so that also enhances brain health. and community social support, we have that too. So I created the audio journey and then I couldn't stop there because I couldn't really help myself. So I created a course and a community site where you get some bonus information and almost a mini course in mindfulness and. Some additional resources. So because I really want this not just to be a practice that you do for 10 days and let it go and, oh, that was nice. I want us to be able to, invest ourselves in this 10 days, but to take it out to hope. Hopefully then you have the tools, all the tools that you need to extend that through the rest of your life and to be able to live that mindful life that peace and motion. So I'm gonna invite you then to join me there. I'll share, I put the link in the show notes, but if you're not someplace where you can click the links or you're someone who can't find the show notes easily you're driving, maybe it's. You have to put the www in there, but coaching with julie.com/peace. If you go to coaching with julie.com, you can get there also because there's a button on the first page of my website that takes you to peace in motion. So with that, you also get a coaching session with me. And that is more of a debriefing of your experience because I wanna hear your stories, I wanna hear how it goes for you, and I wanna connect with you personally in that way. Now it's optional, so if all you did do is get the 10 day audio journey and go on your way, that would be. That would be fabulous too. But I'd love to connect with you in the community. I'd love to be able to meet with you. It's a 20 minute coaching session, so it's not like big long coaching session and I'm not trying to sell you anything. Just wanna connect with you over peace in motion, I hope you will join me on this journey. If you're wanting to shut down that chatter, remember the, that you can implement that. Breathe framework, breathe, recognize, express, anchor, take action, hold compassion. Embrace the process. That's how you can shut down that mental chatter. And if you try the Penny Baker method, I'd love to hear more about it.

17:44

I am not an expert in that technique. I really was just learning it and picked up kind of the basics of it to really go deep. it's definitely more therapeutic than you would think normally about journaling, so I just wanted to say that because I'm also going to attach a. PDF document into the show notes. So if you want to learn more about that technique.'cause therapeutic journaling does differ a little more, more than traditional, like diary writing. Therapeutic journaling is an internal process of really using that journaling, the written word to express that full range of reactions and perceptions that we have. And a lot of times it's used to manage difficult, upsetting, or traumatic life events. So sometimes you can get in deep with this kind of journaling if you have some experiences that you're really processing in that way. So. Don't, I don't take this lightly and there are more instructions. You can definitely go to, James Penny Baker's website and get more instruction on that if you find that's a path you want to go. So this is maybe also my disclaimer that this also does not take the place of professional advice or guidance in some of these issues, especially where trauma is involved. So I wanna caution you there that this can be. A very unearthing experience, and so you might want to have some professional guidance if you already know that there are some traumatic, experiences that goes a whole lot deeper, than what you can go on your own. So put some resources below in the notes. Please reach out to me if you want, some guidance on how to find resources or whether you need them or not. But I'm not a licensed therapist, I'm a nurse. And so I don't wanna tread into areas that, are not my area of expertise, but I, but as a nurse, I can find resources and help you sort through the noise and the chatter about what maybe you need or don't need.

Juli Reynolds: 19:50

My coach says all the time that he does not believe that you can be truly successful without journaling And because journaling is one of the the things that I committed to to as far as being pushed by a coach, I have learned that he is right. And I love it when my clients journal because They're able to self-identify where their. Out of alignment and we can bring it back in a whole lot easier because that awareness, our brains are really good at keeping us safe and keeping us comfortable because that's their, that's its job. Its job is to keep us safe and change is not safe to the brain. Comfort is, and so that's where our brain's gonna go, prioritizing that comfort. So step, when I say step out of your comfort zone, I'm really not talking about go skydiving, although that might be your comfort zone too. But I'm talking about doing the things that are really going to move the needle and help you become the person that you want to be and continue to grow throughout your life, to have that healthy mind, body, and spirit, and. We do that through ways of either coaching or journaling and maybe sharing with a friend or an accountability partner, a consistent way to articulate our thoughts and really flush out what's there. I know that I'm amazed sometimes some of the things that will just flow out of my pen and I go, whoa, I didn't even know that I was thinking that. I know we started talking, we started this conversation talking about mental chatter because really our minds never do stop talking to us and if you're, especially if your mind is very critical or negative or focused on the things that could hurt you or hold you back, this is something really to get ahold of. So I hope you'll join me in Peace and Motion and on that experience. And please share this episode. If it's something that you are already talking with your friends, leave me a review. That would mean the world to me. Remember that the goal to managing mind chatter is not to shut it off. or sometimes even to quiet it. The goal is to understand it, to work with it, and to ultimately transform it into the power tool for your healing and growth as you go out every day and default to, yes, your extraordinary self.