This NLP exercise is loosely comparable to a meditative mindfulness technique, since both approaches aim to give you mental clarity.
Step 1 – Writing To begin, you’ll need any piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Make yourself comfortable and begin writing down anything that comes into your mind. This could describe your anticipation for something yet to come, your worry for an unresolved problem, your happiness from a recent achievement, and so on. You don’t necessarily need to write an entire essay. Even random and unrelated words will do; as long as they reflect an inner thought.
Step 2 – Observation The next step involves observation and being ‘in-tune’ with your surroundings using sounds. Beginning from where you’re sitting right now, close your eyes and begin noticing every single sound that you hear. Focus on each sound one by one and try to identify which real world object produces them. It could be the rain pouring down, the sound of birds chirping, the sound of a passing car, and so on. For the next 30 seconds (or until you feel completely relaxed), do nothing but hear and identify the sounds around you. Breathe slowly, but do not listen to it.
Step 3 – Comparing After step two, go back to step one using a new piece of paper. Compare the words you’ve written on each paper. You should be able to see a clear distinction between your writing pattern and the emotion of the words. Usually, the second paper shows a calmer and more structured string of words. This exercise takes less than 3 minutes and can be done for as much as you like throughout the day.
