When I feel overwhelmed, I do these three things

You’re overwhelmed.

There’s a lot on your plate. So many projects on the go, children are screaming; attention pulling you this way and that.

‘I’m so overwhelmed by it all,’ you say.

But what is overwhelm?

It’s a word you hold in your head.

It is just a thought.

Overwhelm isn’t a thing. It’s not any one thing. It can’t be, because all we have is the thing right in front of us.

The thought of being overwhelmed takes up a lot of energy — energy that can be directed at the task at hand.

“Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.”

~ Eckhart Tolle

Understanding this is the first step to diminishing your sense of overwhelm.

We don’t need to do what our thoughts tell us. They are just suggestions, and most are assumptions.

Those thoughts that say that we need to do several things at once.

We don’t need to do what they say.

See unhelpful thoughts as reminders to return to consciousness.