Many people spend more time inside their minds…
Than they do inside their lives.
The problem is…
Life is happening out here.
One of the most interesting things about human beings is our ability to leave the moment without ever moving an inch.
We can be sitting in a room.
Driving a car.
Eating dinner.
Having a conversation.
And yet…
Be somewhere else entirely.
Inside our thoughts.
Inside our worries.
Inside our fears.
Inside our fantasies.
Inside our memories.
Inside our imagined futures.
The body remains present.
The mind has left the building.
Many people spend more time in their minds than they do in reality.
They replay old conversations.
Rehearse future arguments.
Revisit past mistakes.
Invent future disasters.
Analyze every possibility.
Then analyze the analysis.
The result?
Exhaustion.
Like a hamster running on a wheel.
Working very hard.
Going nowhere.
ARE YOU A LEGEND IN YOUR OWN MIND?
It is a fair question.
Because the mind can become a very comfortable place to hide.
The imagination is a wonderful gift.
But it was never intended to become your permanent address.
Visit your imagination.
Enjoy your imagination.
Create with your imagination.
Then come right back.
Reality is waiting.
Many people do not realize they are escaping.
They simply call it thinking.
But there is a difference between productive thinking and endless mental wandering.
One produces results.
The other produces fatigue.
When a problem suddenly appears, some people react with shock.
They never saw it coming.
Not because the warning signs were absent.
Because they were absent.
Lost in thought.
Lost in distraction.
Lost in their own internal movie.
Life was speaking.
They were not listening.
As I wrote in Pearls for the Soul:
“The moment is always speaking. Most people are simply too distracted to hear it.”
— Richie Naggar, Pearls for the Soul
Some people become so attached to their thoughts that reality begins to feel uncomfortable.
Silence feels uncomfortable.
Stillness feels uncomfortable.
The present moment feels uncomfortable.
Why?
Because there are no distractions there.
Only truth.
Only awareness.
Only what is.
And what is…
Can sometimes be challenging.
Reality asks something from us.
Participation.
Attention.
Presence.
Responsibility.
Growth.
Escape asks for none of those things.
Escape simply says:
“Come over here for a while.”
The trouble is that a while can become a lifetime.
There are many reasons people withdraw.
Pain.
Disappointment.
Trauma.
Fear.
Resentment.
Loneliness.
Confusion.
The mind creates alternate worlds to help protect itself.
At first it may serve a purpose.
But eventually the refuge becomes the prison.
You begin hiding from the very life you were meant to live.
PLAYING HIDE-AND-SEEK IN YOUR MIND MEANS YOU MAY NEVER BE FOUND.
One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was simple:
When you notice your mind wandering…
Come back.
That is all.
Come back.
Notice the sky.
Notice the room.
Notice the people around you.
Notice your breathing.
Notice the conversation.
Notice the task before you.
Return to reality.
Return to now.
The present moment is where life happens.
Not yesterday.
Not tomorrow.
Now.
Every meaningful experience occurs here.
Every opportunity lives here.
Every relationship exists here.
Every solution begins here.
I remember the old days before call waiting.
If someone’s phone line stayed busy all day, one of two things was happening.
Either the line was out of order.
Or someone was having a very long conversation.
Many people are like that internally.
Solutions are trying to get through.
Wisdom is trying to get through.
Growth is trying to get through.
Reality is trying to get through.
But the line is busy.
The conversation inside their head never ends.
Here is a thought.
What if everything unnecessary became silent for a moment?
What if all the noise stopped?
What if all the mental chatter disappeared?
What would remain?
I suspect we would discover something we once knew as children.
Life is not nearly as complicated as we have made it.
Children live in the moment.
They play.
They explore.
They notice.
They experience.
Perhaps that is why they seem so alive.
The next time you catch yourself running laps inside your own mind…
Pause.
Smile.
And come back.
Life is happening out here.
Do not miss it.
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you