3 Ways To Clean Up Your Sloppy Brain

Let’s face it, sloppy brain happens to all of us. Do you live in sloppy brain mode? Are you distracted much of the time? Welcome to the club! Take a deep breath and get excited, because you’re going to discover how to clean up your mental mess. Join body-mind teacher Cara Bradley for this short-form podcast and learn three ways to slow down to avoid potential incidents and accidents.

Transcript

Hey everyone,

I was inspired last night by a Facebook Live I did for a book group that I'm running online.

I was talking about the traits of the busy mind and I focused on the sloppy brain.

And I thought I would just kind of plug in my mic and get going this morning on sloppy brain because I find it not only funny but really helpful to remind myself about how easily I can slip into sloppy brain.

You see,

Accidents happen when we're not paying attention.

We drop stuff,

We bump into things,

We stub our toes.

I am the queen of sloppy brain and have been,

Actually I should say I have been for most of my life.

In fact,

My childhood nickname was Kara or Carolyn as I was known back then.

Carolyn the Clutz.

I had perpetual bruised knees,

Scabs on my knees and elbows.

I spilled my drink just about every single night at dinner.

I think it was because I didn't like milk so I just spilled it.

But seriously,

I take it for one who knows.

I was a clutz and I still am but I've gotten much better.

And so this is what I want to talk to you about today is how do we clean up our sloppy brain?

How many times have you dropped things?

How many times are you moving from your car to your house carrying way too many bags?

Only to drop half of them before you even get into the house.

This sloppy brain,

It's one of the five traits of our busy mind that I talk about in my book On the Verge.

And I'd love to address three ways that we can stop or slow down the inconvenience,

The annoyance,

And actually the expense of having a sloppy brain.

So what is it?

What happens when our brain goes soft?

What's going on during this time when we just become sort of gooey and unsharp?

Let's just put it out there.

We just become unsharp.

Well,

Oftentimes I think the simplest reason why my brain becomes sloppy is when I'm trying to do too many things at one time.

It's that multitasking thing.

When we're trying to squeeze life into or compress life into a moment and push through things too quickly.

We all know we can't multitask.

Research shows we cannot multitask.

We may think we can,

But we're really just trying to do lots of things really,

Really fast.

Not at the same time,

One at a time,

But really,

Really quickly.

And so what happens is we get into this state of stress and anxiety,

Trying to get too many things done at one time,

Even though that's not possible,

And we make mistakes.

Accidents happen when we're not paying attention to what we're doing,

When we're trying to do too many things at one time,

Which is not possible,

But we think it's possible.

We take shortcuts.

You know,

Shortcuts don't work.

We know that.

How many times have you tried to carry too many things or do too many things and you mess up?

I think,

You know,

I remember specifically one time trying to carry too many things from one place in my kitchen to the other.

And I dropped the bottle of olive oil and it crashed on my tile floor.

And oh,

My gosh,

What a mess.

And it took weeks to scrub that olive oil off of corners of my floor.

And things were slippery.

So totally not worth it.

Think about it.

The accidents,

The expense and the annoyance of having sloppy brain.

Now,

These examples that I've been giving you and that you may that may come to mind quickly could be of little expense or little consequence.

But really,

The bigger picture is that having sloppy brain could have great consequence.

Dropping a bottle of oil is a pain in the ass,

But it is,

You know,

Of little consequence in the long run.

Not paying attention on the road,

Trying to reach for your phone or trying to change the Spotify channel when you're driving could have a great consequence.

So I use these little silly examples as just to kind of paint a picture.

But let's let's think about the big picture and the in the greater issue here.

Sloppy brain can cause great consequence.

So let's look at the little stuff that we're doing and become more aware.

I use the this idea of sloppy brain a lot when I'm working with athletes.

So I recall many,

Many times talking to the football players,

Basketball players at Villanova about those little slip ups that we do during game time and how oftentimes missed balls,

Stupid plays,

Fouls and really consequences that you can't backtrack that really will set a game in a new direction happen because we're not paying attention.

Happen because we get sloppy for a moment,

That one sloppy moment can really change the game.

So we want to stay alert and aware of what we're doing all the time.

And we can train ourselves to do that.

I'm going to talk about those steps in a moment.

What what are some of the things that you're doing that are causing you to have or that make you aware of sloppy brain?

What are some of your habitual patterns?

Is it leaving glasses on your glasses,

Your reading glasses on the floor?

I mean,

I'm just pulling these things up as an example.

Is it leaving your keys in different places in your home all the time?

Is it not zipping up your purse or your computer bag and having things fall out of it constantly?

Is it not placing things where they belong only to have to look for them later when you're late getting out the door?

How does sloppy brain appear in your life?

Just be honest with it.

What are the consequences of your sloppy brain?

Given your pause there,

Just to think,

Start to notice yourself as you move throughout the day.

What are you trying to do?

Too much of too quickly.

Can you slow that down?

So let's talk about some action steps.

The action steps are like notes to self.

Notes to self all day long to trip yourself,

To shift yourself out of sloppy brain.

The first one is slow down.

Slow down.

No speed.

When we're able to slow ourselves down,

We struggle less,

We make less mistakes.

And by the way,

Slowing down will help us to really perform better in the long run.

So slow down and check your email before you send it.

One of the comments last night on our Facebook group during this book group was that somebody said their sloppy brain is sending out emails with typos.

Totally.

And I'm guilty of it.

And it drives me nuts when I reread an email and it has a typo in it.

Because I try to be very brief in my emails because I know that most people are not reading a full email.

We really scan through it so quickly.

And if there's a typo in my email,

It diminishes the intensity or the directness with which I'm trying to relay a point.

So I'm trying to be direct and simple and to keep my words to a minimum.

And if there is one typo in that email,

It's going to diminish the power behind my words.

So it drives me crazy when I have sloppy brain and I don't slow down enough to reread an email before sending.

That's me.

What are you doing?

Where can you slow down?

Where are you tripping up and making silly little mistakes?

Think about it.

When we start to fine tune these areas,

It will help us to fine tune the bigger,

The bigger things that have more consequence.

So as we do one thing,

We do all things.

I say this often in when teaching yoga.

As we do one thing,

As we come into our warrior to and pause in that warrior to and notice what's happening.

We do we pause and notice how we're greeting somebody on the street.

We pause to notice how we are approaching a new problem at work.

As we judge ourselves in that warrior to as we compare ourselves in that warrior to,

We're also doing it out there.

So the small stuff,

We could say,

Oh,

This is just small stuff,

But it's all small stuff.

It's starting to notice the small stuff is starting to notice the big stuff.

So slow down.

Step one to getting to know your sloppy brain and beginning the process of training yourself to be less sloppy.

Number two,

Go step by step.

Can I make the coffee step by step?

Can I fold the laundry step by step?

Can I make dinner step by step?

Can I drive home step by step,

Moment by moment,

Approaching light,

Stop sign,

Transition,

Make a right turn?

This is how we train our brain.

This is how we become more mindful.

It's especially important during those precious or precarious moments.

OK,

I'm moving from car to door with my Trader Joe's bags,

My computer bag from work,

My purse and my phone and my keys and my sunglasses.

How can I do this a little bit more gracefully today?

That's all step by step.

Slow down.

Move step by step.

Notice where can I avoid sloppy brain today?

In this moment.

And then lastly is to take pleasure in the process.

The Chokham Trompa Rinpoche,

Who is a great meditation Buddhist teacher.

He one of his famous lines is the path is the goal.

The process is the goal.

Instead of trying to get there quickly and looking to the to the end game,

Instead of noticing how we're going to or getting there,

Make the path the goal.

Can I recognize that multitasking is not doesn't exist?

Can I take it step by step?

This is really simple.

Can I move through life moment to moment,

Taking pleasure in the making of dinner,

Taking pleasure in taking the laundry from the washer to the dryer?

These simple,

Ordinary moments of our precious life.

So these are just simple three steps to clearing up your sloppy brain.

Slow down.

Go step by step and take pleasure in the process.

So coming back to this idea of,

Well,

Actually how I've come to learn this.

I was called Carolyn the Clutz.

I know this very well.

I have had so many examples of sloppy brain in my life that I have made it the focus of my life and my teaching.

So just a couple of examples.

I had scabs and bruises from the time I was probably nine months old when I started to walk until probably 30.

I mean,

Seriously,

When I stopped rollerblading as a profession because I had so much road rash on my body.

Oh,

My God.

I can't even tell you.

It was very painful.

I spilled stuff constantly.

I remember one time I think I was a teenager.

My mom asked me to put the turkey in the oven at one point.

I'm going out,

Put the turkey in the oven at three o'clock.

And I did.

But I didn't realize that I had left the plastic wrapping on the turkey.

Yep.

There you go.

Totally,

Totally flighty.

Right.

Totally ditzy.

Another time I put regular gas in my dad's diesel car.

Oh,

That wasn't good either.

I've dropped more phones,

Lost more keys,

Wallets than I can count on my fingers and my toes.

I remember one time I found the deli cheese like the American cheese when I used to eat American cheese in the knife drawer.

Like,

Where was I?

Now,

I can laugh about this stuff now because there were very little consequences except for my dad's car and maybe the turkey.

But I can laugh about it now.

But I know I've done other stuff that wasn't so funny,

You know,

And maybe near misses as well.

A lot of near misses there.

So think about it in your own life.

Where are you?

When do you live with sloppy brain?

Some of it you can laugh at.

Some of it maybe not so much.

But taking those simple steps of slowing down because you start to slow down now and you may be able to avoid a high consequence incident or accident.

Take things step by step.

Re-read your emails.

Re-read your presentations.

Take the time to put things away where they belong.

Take the time to listen,

To speak clearly,

Slow down,

Step by step and enjoy.

Take pleasure in the process of your day to day life.

This is all the process of becoming mindful,

Of training our brain to pay attention on purpose moment to moment.

Now,

What I'm speaking about today in the sloppy brain is just one of the traits of our busy mind that I talk about in On the Verge.

The other traits being crazy busy and on speed,

Living with information overload,

Being on autopilot.

Autopilot,

Sloppy brain,

Sort of the same but a little bit different.

And then just simply overthinking.

So I'll talk about those in future episodes but for today it's about the sloppy brain.

And you know,

Being klutzy,

It may be cute when you're five but it ain't so cute when you're 55.

So where are you?

What are you doing?

Let me know.

Let me know some of your funny stories because I love using your stories as well in my teachings.

So contact me.

Thank you so much once again for tuning in and go out there.

Be clear,

Be safe and enjoy.

Reviews

Hi. Excellent, light, most useful.
Thank you.
🌀

thank you this reminder & bringing light to my at times sloppy brain

That was interesting! I can and will take the teachings and think about what I’m doing! Slow down, go step by step and my favourite- take pleasure.
Thank you 🙏

I had to chuckle as I was listening to your pod cast whilst cleaning the bathroom :), after a month of so many accidents I am about to leave the house - list in hand and will mindfully organise myself to ensure I have everything and return home accident free. Thank you, I really enjoyed this valuable talk!

Really good advice...with relatable humor!! Thank you!! Namaste

Just what I needed to hear! Going to change my work - no more multitasking! Thank you!

Thanks I liked your messages - the process is the goal, enjoy the process. Namaste. 🕊

Reminds me of the old adage "haste makes waste" that I often heard while growing up. Thank you

Really good practice to become more aware. Thank you.

Great information to use everyday. I’ve seen an experienced sloppy brain many times, and you’re right, it can turn into a life altering situation. Thank you for the reminder to be present in each moment.

Put things into perspective

Thank you for the lesson and the gift of slowing down, taking one step at a time and realizing to enjoy the process!! My focus as been on the end goals with success but many bumps and bruises that showed up later with no recollection on how I got them! Proof I need to slow down!

Good advice. If I can keep doing it!

kind of a fun "show" to reflect on.

😮 Wow! Thank you so much. I thought that I was just me... that I was the only one.... that there was something wrong with me. Even after all of my Meditation I still get caught up in my own busyness

OMG! I’m going to put this on in the car with my fourteen year old on our 8 hour drive! 💕
This is sooooooo helpful to my family! Thank you 🙏🏽

So simple so true a great reminder for those of us w like messy minds. Cheers!

Every human being should listen to this. Life is not about the destination it's about enjoying the process.