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A busy, insecure mind can cause all kinds of problems in our lives: misunderstandings with friends or family, unnecessary worry and anxiety, a lack of clarity about decisions and much more.

A busy, insecure mind can also contribute to creating or maintaining an unwanted habit. In this podcast episode, I explore why that is and how to choose an alternative approach.

You can listen above, on your favorite podcast app, or watch on YouTube. Notes, links, resources and a full transcript are below. 

Transcript of episode

Hello, explorers, welcome to Q&A Episode 15 of Unbroken podcast. I’m your host, Alexandra Amor. 

I’m here today with the question:

How does a quiet mind relate to weight loss?

This was something I was thinking about a week or so ago, and came up with the metaphor of a clock and the gears inside a clock. If you found this episode via social media posts, you’ll see that in the sharing image, I use an image of those metal gears that are inside a mechanical clock. And here’s why I did that.

It seems to me that very often, our minds can innocently feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders.

We have these busy problem solving brains that are really smart, really adapted to our lives as human beings, and very often working super hard to make sure that our lives are organized and safe, primarily. And that we are more often in a situation where we know what’s going to happen. Our minds always like what they know versus what they don’t know. So there can just be a lot of really super busy activity going on in there.

And the way I saw it, and the reason I use the image of the gears in the clock is that our mind, our brains are really one of the tiny little gears that are inside a mechanical clock. And if you’ve ever seen inside a clock, it’s quite surprising actually, the first time I saw it, there’s so much going on. Gears of all different sizes. And so if you can imagine that our mind it feels like the burden of responsibility very often can feel like it’s on our mind, and that it has to do all the heavy lifting, or all the hard work of keeping the gears of life moving. And the gears of the world and the gears of the people around us and the universe and all that kind of stuff.

When we begin to see that our brain is just a tiny little gear in the greater picture of the greater landscape of that mechanical operation of the inside of the clock. And that actually, the gear, the small gear isn’t doing any of the moving of any of the other gears. It’s being turned because of the greater mechanical things that are going on, because the clock maker has wound up the clock, and therefore, our brains are actually responsible for so much less than we think they are.

That brings us to the topic of weight loss and an unwanted overeating habit.

Speaking for myself, personally, what I know is that when I felt like the burden of the world was entirely on me, and when my brain was assuming that it was the thing, keeping the universe running, keeping my life on track, that felt like a lot of pressure. It really felt like honestly too much pressure. And that kind of strain and stress can then be what leads to unwanted habits.

We very naturally reach for substances that are going to soothe and comfort us and give us some relief from all the busyness and the chatter and the noise and the weight pun intended of all that responsibility. Feeling like we’re responsible for keeping everything moving for keeping the clock in motion.

When we begin to explore this understanding and see that our lives and the experiences within them are flowing through us, rather than being controlled by us, then the strain a lot of the strain and stress and pressure that we’ve been feeling fall away. And when that happens, then naturally there’s less need for us to reach for our unwanted habit. So that’s how a quiet mind is related to weight loss.

I know in the beginning of my exploration of this understanding, I almost Well, I was going to say almost, but I added more thinking to what was going on in my head innocently. Thinking that learning about this understanding, I guess, trying to get my head around it my brain around it was, it was more complex than it actually is. And the longer I explore the Inside Out understanding, the more I see how simple it is, and the more I see how much I can relax into the wisdom of the universe, that’s already there.

So in other words, I can just carry on with my life, doing my little cog in the wheel things, and the greater mechanism of the clock is going to keep my life running. And, in fact, there’s very little that I need to do or to and to think about, in order to make that happen.

The more I can just let my mind naturally settle, then the more flowy my life becomes.

The more I rely on this idea that there’s a greater mechanism at play, that there’s something greater than myself that is flowing through and living my life, the more I can relax and settle down, and have less need for my previously unwanted habits.

I hope that’s not too clunky. I liked the metaphor when I thought of it. And I just hope it’s helpful for you to kind of visualize the gears in a clock, if you picture a big grandfather clock or something, and imagine that, yes, you are in there, you are working as a tiny little cog. But there’s something greater at play, and you can rely on the fact that that is happening, and maybe even begin to relax a little bit yourself about how you’re living your life.

I hope that’s been helpful. And as ever, if you have a question, please go to AlexandraAmor.com/question, and fill out the form there and I’ll be happy to answer. 

Take care and I will talk to you again next week.

Featured image photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash