Grab Your Hamster

Have you ever found yourself laying in bed with your mind racing out of control? Maybe even during the day when you are trying to focus, and you felt like the proverbial hamster wheel in your head was spinning out of control? I know I have. As a result, this visualization and meditation idea came to me one evening. In addition to that, I’ve learned and observed a few other things that help with this. I call it the Grab Your Hamster Technique. And no, I’m not talking about THAT hamster (get your mind out of the gutter)

Are You Thinking Your Thoughts Or Are Your Thoughts Thinking You?

By and large, for the most part, our thoughts are thinking us. However, the more aware of our thought stream we are and how those thoughts are making us feel, the more we can use the feedback productively. In other words, awareness allows observation, observation yields information, information gives us a reference point. Furthermore, we can use the reference point to see where we are, how and what is affecting us, and then change our actions. Hence, empowering us to make changes.

Picture you’re active mind from a distance. As an illustration, your mind is like a hamster running on a wheel. It just runs and runs spinning and spinning the wheel. Indeed, this spinning serves us by design, it is part of our creative mechanism. Moreover, when functioning optimally and spinning at the right speed, we are maximally effective.

This ideal spin rate is analogous to, flow state. In other words, you at your best. On the other hand, when overstimulated, stressed or malnourished, the hamster gets crazy and the wheel spins out of control. As such, this is your mind racing aimlessly. Ideally, we want the spin rate to match and be optimized for the activity in which we are engaged in the present moment.

Mind Games

So, I came up with this cool way of envisioning and addressing my unobserved mind. First, picture your spinning mind like a hamster on a wheel running a little to fast. Second, see yourself gently and purposely grabbing your hamster out of the wheel. Furthermore, imagine holding it in both hands firmly and calmly in front of your face about a foot from your nose. Now, look the hamster in the eye calmly. As you do this, just be, feel it as you look into the hamster’s dark black eyes feel the stillness feel the presence of you and the hamster’s eyes locked. Feel a direct connection with that hamster as an embodiment of your unobserved mind now being observed. Imagine soothing and calming that small animal until it and you feel at peace.

After you grab your hamster and reconnect it with the moment, just go on about your day, or go back to sleep or whatever it is you’re doing. If your mind starts wandering or racing again repeat the process.

What If My Hamster Just Keeps Running all Crazy?

Despite your greatest efforts to grab your hamster and calm it down, you will inevitably find that sometimes it just wants to run. As a result, you may get frustrated that you can’t focus or get back to sleep. Therefore, you may want to try again but focus in on more detail. How you and the hamster are breathing together, the details of its face, the darkness of its Beady eyes, etc. Focusing on specific details brings you into presence and connection with your mind.

Your Hamster Needs Exercise

Like you, your hamster needs exercise. Meaning your brain and mind need you to exercise. At least I sure find I do. Thus, if I haven’t gotten enough exercise in a given day my hamster (my racing mind) will inevitably trouble me. On the other hand, on days in which I’ve done hard physical work or exercise, I have no trouble with the racing mind. Consequently, if I don’t use my energy up in the day it turns against me at night. In fact, this what I identify as anxiety and its cause as well as its solution.

Feed Your Hamster Right

Recently I attended a talk by Dr. Bill Code. It was kind of by fluke, he happened to be giving a talk before my daughter’s performance at the local “Got Talent” show. Subsequently, he spoke about the mind-gut connection and how the bacterial biome of the gut is directly connected to that of the mind. Furthermore, this resonated with me as I have noticed a definite correlation to what I eat and how it affects my thinking. As an example, If I eat smokies followed by sugary refined snacks my thoughts tend to run more negative and chaotic in the following hours and day. On the other hand, If I eat properly prepared organic meat and vegetables and avoid sugar and refined foods, my thought stream is more positive and smooth. In other words, you are what you eat.

If we pay attention and seek sound advice, we can directly affect our stream of thoughts by carefully choosing our diet. As such, I have found that seeking the advice of a natural path or functional medicine doctor to be highly beneficial. However, it’s up to each of us individually to be mindful of the signals our bodies giving us and disciplined enough to follow through with good eating habits.

The Ride You Can’t Get Off

You’re running hamster, if it won’t calm down, is like a ride you can’t get off. Therefore, just accept it and ride it out. Furthermore, observe what you’re feeling, recall what you’ve been consuming, both in terms of thoughts, emotions, food and drink. Then, contemplate how they made you feel. Make notes and be sure to learn from the experience. Basically, don’t do, eat drink, think that stuff again and you won’t have to suffer. For example, If I drink 4 coffee’s, eat junk food and talk to people that stress me out all day and get zero exercise I’m likely going to have a tuff time being at peace or sleeping well. Even If I do the “grab your hamster” visualization odds are, I’m in for an anxious ride. Weird right?

In Conclusion

Our unobserved mind is like a hamster on a wheel. That Hamster acts according to what it is fed In terms of thoughts, food, emotions, and exercise or lack there of. Therefore, if you use the grab your hamster technique, you are more likely to become aware of it as the embodiment of your now observed mind (because you’re observing it). Thus, allowing you to chill. Subsequently, if your mindful throughout your day of what you feed your mind (your hamster) you are far less likely to have it racing out of control on you at night or throughout your day when you want to be focused and at peace.