The Cloud: the invisible cyber-entity holding portions of my life so if/when computers and/or phones crash, I don’t lose important items. Disclaimer: This of course, is my unofficial definition.
I recently purchased additional Cloud storage for photos, documents, old resumes, and graduate study papers I will never read again. I am grateful for this invention because as I declutter my laptop, it begins to move more quickly and efficiently. Visual tech-clutter distresses me, so keeping those things that “spark joy” on my computer, and sending the rest to the Cloud allows me or at least this piece of technology, to breathe.
Back-up systems prevent losing items we value and inadvertently save things we care less about. We don’t want to lose “everything” to either an act of God, a water puddle or toilet bowl, so we “back it up.” I often choose shifting items into cloud storage instead of hitting delete because frankly it is easier. (This can also be true of things in my closet or basement, but that is a story for another day…)
If there was a Cloud system for the 50,000-70,000 daily thoughts you think (some of which you value and others you don’t), how many of them would you offload? There is a difference between managing our tech storage and our thoughts. One shadow side to offloading/ignoring old memories, thoughts or stories is while they are “out of sight”, they are not “out of mind.” They continue to play in the background informing how we experience the world every minute of the day.
Yes, every minute.
Stress can often help us tune in to what is playing in our background. As we experience stress when faced with conflict, or worry when chores are left unfinished, or wonder if quality of the work isn’t good enough, or, or… each are stressors because they trigger thoughts running in the background of life, and often we are not even aware they are there until we do a bit of excavation.
This week, consider a stressor, just one. Choose one of the above listed or another from your life experience. Take a peek underneath and explore what story is playing in the background of your life, triggering the stress. Once we realize the story that is playing, it is as if we pull it from that unseen storage area of our body and bring it to our awareness. When we are aware of what is playing in the background, we will begin to navigate through our stress with more understanding and perhaps, self-compassion.
Wishing a restorative weekend for all,
Andrea
Andrea Tatley 