I carry around a leather bound journal and a pen everywhere I go. It actually has a permanent home in the front pocket of my backpack and my backpack goes with me almost everywhere but you get the idea. This is my journal; this is my pen. As you can see it’s nothing special. I have tried a lot of journals and a lot of pens, these are my favorites for very distinct reasons.

I settled on this type of journal because the fake leather makes me feel fancy and it opens up nicely to lie flat on a table. Since I am a weirdo this is the only way I am able to write on both sides of the page. It also has an elastic bit that binds the book closed that doubles as a little pen sheath on the top side. Your pen always has a home, clipped into place and held snuggly.

I chose this type of pen because it is small enough to fit in the pen sheath on top of my journal. And it’s metal. That means I could use it as a self defense tool if necessary and stab somebody with it.

All i’m saying is you never know. I’d rather have a metal pen in my hand than a wooden pencil when it comes time to throw down with some creep. But, I digress.

I chose these exact items for a specific functional reason. I also chose to carry around a notebook and pen to scribble all day for an exact reason.

To get the thoughts out of my head.

When the thoughts are in my head it’s ok sometimes. But a lot of times thoughts cultivate more thoughts. You end up thinking so hard that you forgot what the first thought was. And that was the good one; It was the one that got this whole thought orgy in motion.

Sometimes thoughts are intense and give me headaches. Like a thousand little men arguing in my head. I like to imagine they are bald. Point being, it gets loud in there. So what do I do? For a long time I didn’t do anything. I didn’t realize that anything needed to be done. You never really know what’s wrong with you until you feel what it’s like to be free of some sort of discomfort. I learned how to be free of the unstoppable thought trains when I learned about stream of consciousness journaling.

Stream of consciousness journaling is a technique you can use to give all the thoughts a temporary voice, which gets them out of your head and on paper.

Here’s how it works.

Just start writing. This isn’t an essay, you don’t need an intro. Single in on a thought and write down every word exactly as you hear it in your head until there are no more words for that thought, then move on.

Write down any rebuttal thoughts. The arguing men will continue to argue, you have to follow the rebuttable thought train as well.

Even if you have a feeling of “that’s not right” don’t erase anything. It was in your head, so give it room on the paper. I can’t tell you how many times I began to write something and realized how ridiculous it was.

Your head isn’t organized. Neither is the page. Write all over that thing, draw pictures, scratch and scramble, use different colors. Make that page a photocopy of your consciousness.

That’s it. This is actually considered to be one form of meditation. A self awareness practice. By getting all of that crazy out of your head you are creating room to pick and choose which of those thoughts deserve to stay. The rest can leave because they have life on the page, they aren’t being killed, just transferred. Now you’ve rallied the troops.

Do this anytime you need to flush out your thoughts so make room for new and better ones.

T