How much space is in your head? Not much if it’s crammed with the same old thoughts delivering the same old results.

It’s the main cause of insomnia around the world. People are kept awake by the same old scary thoughts, night after night. The minute you begin to argue with those thoughts, you have insured them squatter’s rights in your mind. They’re not moving out any too quickly.

One of my favorite quotes that I first heard from NLP pioneer, John Grinder, capsulizes the plight of having the same old thoughts. He said, “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

Being stuck with the same old thoughts delivers the same old behavior, which is a result of a crammed cranium.

There’s no room at the inn.

Anytime someone says, “I’m bored,” you are listening to someone whose thoughts are stuck in place.

The main difficulty in rectifying this situation is that conscious awareness is a finite space. That means there is only room for a certain amount of data in awareness at any one moment in time. The working number is roughly 7 bits.

The objective is to keep an infinite amount of bits flowing in and out of our awareness, so we don’t get stuck with the same 7. This takes reconditioning.

We have been conditioned to work things out in our head. It’s probably the worst piece of advice we’ve ever gotten. This means we go over the same data and come up with the same results. In order for new vistas to open, we need to create space.

The easiest way to do this is to notice the thoughts that are in your mind. This is a process of observation, not a process of engagement. The minute you engage your thoughts, a debate ensues - a mental filibuster where everything comes to a grinding, boring halt.

The simple noticing of a thought, while it is happening, creates space in your mind. When you begin to observe your mind at work, you create flow. The more often you do it, the more flow you create.

This is a practice that truly needs to be practiced to get results. It’s easy to slip back into the stuck pattern of your thoughts digging in and standing their ground. The unclogging method is always the same - notice your thoughts.

If you are “Bored,” notice the thoughts that are in your head. Don’t condemn them or try and coax them to go away. Pretend you are a listening to a wiretap. You are just observing, not engaging.

Observing how your mind works is the quickest way to create space and allow new thoughts to flow through. The flowing of thoughts is the essence of creativity.

There is always room at the inn if you know how to create space.

All the best,

John