October 2026 — Note 2 Self

Theme of the Month

Assess & Release

Quote for the Month

“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.”
— Rumi

Overwhelm/Overload

One thing at a time. You don't have to carry everything at once.

Focus

ONE Choose one action. Write it down. Decide to focus only on that action.

When You Feel Stuck

Get up. Go for a walk. Come back with a fresh mind.

Motivation Affirmation

I have the energy, ambition and focus to move forward.

A Little Reminder

You don't have to do everything today.

Energy

Protect your energy for the things that matter.

For the Workday

Work with purpose. Take your breaks. Finish what you can.

Focus and Your Thoughts

What to do with your thoughts?

Learn to manage, redirect and contain your thoughts so you can focus on what matters now.

Our thoughts can influence where we direct our attention and how we use our energy. Sometimes, we get caught up in the past, worry about the future, or find ourselves going over the same thoughts again and again.

How can we manage our thoughts so they don't take up more of our attention than they deserve? How can we redirect our focus to what matters?

This series is a collection of familiar techniques and approaches for managing your thoughts and directing your attention. Use it as a reference to explore different approaches, remind yourself of techniques you already know, and return to them whenever you need them.

Different approaches may be helpful in different situations. Explore what works for you and keep the techniques you find useful at hand.

Part 1. Redirect - SRS 

October Post

Re-direct your attention.

Schedule. Recenter. Switch.

Part 2. Work It Out - Different Techniques

November Post. Coming soon.

Different ways to work through your thoughts

More techniques and approaches to explore in future posts.

About These Techniques

The techniques in this series are gathered from reading and other sources for personal exploration. They are not intended as psychological treatment or a substitute for professional advice. Different approaches work for different people and situations. Take what is useful to you to help deal with everyday challenges. Seek qualified support when dealing with serious or persistent concerns.

October 2026 - A Spritual Recentering. Past to Present.

 A Prayer to Recenter Your Thoughts and Focus on God and the Life Ahead

This continues the idea from the Explore section about repetitive thoughts and how easily they can pull our attention away from the present. See Past vs Present.

This time, let's look at it from a spiritual perspective.

What if, instead of continuing to go over the same thoughts, questions, hurts, or things we cannot change, we bring them to God and ask Him to help us let go, recenter, and return our attention to what is in front of us?

This prayer is about bringing the past to God without allowing it to take over the present, and turning our thoughts back toward Him and the life that is still ahead.

 

Dear God,

You know what I have lost, what has hurt me, what I cannot explain, and what still feels unfair. I don't need to explain it all to You.

You know the thoughts that return when I am alone. You know how my mind searches for answers that I may never receive.

Today, I ask You to help me stop living inside those questions.

Remind me that I don't have to solve what I cannot solve.
I don't have to understand everything to move forward.
Help me trust You with the things I do not understand and cannot control.
I don't have to keep reliving what has hurt me.

God, take what I cannot carry anymore.

Give me peace where I have no answers.
Give me acceptance where I have no control.
Give me strength where I feel I have lost time.
And give me courage to believe that my life is still mine.

Help me stop measuring my life against those who have hurt me. Don't let their presence or the good life they appear to have determine how I see myself.

What they have or how their life looks do not define my worth, my future, or the life You have given me.

Help me keep my eyes on You, my own path, my goals, and the good that is still ahead of me. Bring my attention back to my life.

Back to my goals.
Back to my work.
Back to the things that make me happy.
Back to the things I still want to discover, create, experience, and accomplish.

Give me fresh energy for my life.

Help me turn toward something good. Give me moments of genuine happiness. Give me excitement about my future and motivation to work toward my goals.

Bring new opportunities, new experiences, new connections, and new reasons to smile into my life.

And God, if there are things I believe I have lost, help me grieve them without allowing them to become the definition of my life.

What happened is part of my story.
It is not the whole of my story.

I give You the questions I cannot answer.
I give You the things that weigh on my heart and mind.

Please take my mind out of the past and bring me back to my life.

Help me place my thoughts, my goals, and my future in Your hands.

Help me keep my mind fixed on You and the life You have given me.

Amen.

 

If you need something shorter to return to and recenter your thoughts, here is a prayer:

God, You know what I cannot explain and what I cannot change.
I give You the questions I have no answers for.
Please take my mind out of the past and bring me back to my life.
Give me peace, energy, joy, and excitement for what is still ahead of me.
Help me focus on my goals, my work, and the good You have placed in front of me.
Help me keep my mind fixed on You and the life You have given me today.
Amen.

October 2026 - Focus and your thoughts: Redirect from Past to Present - SRS

What to do with your thoughts.

When the Past Takes Energy From the Present

There are days when we’re simply trying to focus — trying to work, create, organize, or move life forward — and yet energy gets pulled away by thoughts from the past.

Even after you have come through struggles such as a disappointment, a loss, an unfair situation or a failure, and let’s say you are now in a relatively good place and life has given you space to move forward, the mind doesn’t always move on at the same pace as life. How do you bring your energy back to what you want to focus on? How do you stop unhelpful thoughts from taking energy away from your growth?

The difficult situation is over, yet the echoes of it still interrupt focus. These thoughts don’t always arrive by choice. But when they repeatedly take  attention, they drain the energy needed for the present moment. They slow progress, scatter focus, and make simple tasks feel heavier than they should.

When this happens, especially while trying to concentrate, here are three ways to bring attention back:

Schedule. Recenter. Switch.

Re-direct your attention.

·        Schedule = give the thought a future place.

·        Recenter = remember what deserves your energy.

·        Switch = return to the immediate task.

Use the acronym SRS to remember the method. 

Approach 1: When an unwanted thought comes up

1] Schedule the thought: give it a place, then return to the present

When an old memory or feeling shows up in the middle of the day, frustration often follows. But fighting the thought can sometimes make it louder. Instead of focusing on the task, the mind ends up wrestling with the thought itself, searching for answers or closure that may not be available. The moment a memory appears cannot always be controlled, but it doesn’t have to be dealt with right now.

Just pause. Then schedule it. Give the thought a time slot. Instead of forcing yourself to “let it go,” imagine placing the thought somewhere:

- If it’s something that genuinely needs processing, schedule time for it later in the day or during the week.

- If it’s something unhelpful that doesn’t need revisiting often, schedule it for a particular day of the month. For example, at the end of the month, on a particular day and at a particular time.

This isn’t denial. It’s simply telling the brain: This will be handled, just not at this moment.

When that scheduled time arrives, your mood may be different. The thought may no longer feel as important.

If you have gone through something serious and need to work through it as part of your healing process, then give it the attention it needs. If it no longer feels important or you don't need to address it, you can simply move on.

2. Recenter yourself

Pause.
To see things differently, bring your attention back to what matters.
Decide what is worth your energy.

Bring forward the thoughts that anchor you and that actually matter in your life. Remind yourself of the things that deserve your energy. Let them take up mental space. Let your attention be grounded in what matters.

Take a few minutes to ask:

What deserves attention today?
What moves life forward?
What feels meaningful?
What brings excitement?
What brings clarity or calm?
What gives your life meaning?

 

Remind yourself of:

What you’re building or creating
Who you’re becoming
The goals that excite you
The routines that support you
The relationships that strengthen you
The future you’re moving toward

Bringing your attention back to what matters can mean:

- organizing life
- pursuing goals
- creating things
- improving routines
- managing focus
- becoming more energized
- strengthening relationships

A situation can be seen differently. Energy can be reclaimed. Attention can return to what matters.

3. Switch back to the task at hand

Once the thought is scheduled and your attention is recentered, switch back to what you were doing.

Use grounding questions:

• What is happening right now?
  
• What matters today?
• Where should my energy go?
• What is the goal of this moment?
• What is the smallest next step I can take?

These questions anchor the mind in the present, the only place where life happens.

Approach 2: When You Know Something Is Bothering You

Schedule Ahead

Sometimes, you know that a particular issue may weigh on your mind during the day. You may be having a difficult day, or you may anticipate that thoughts about something unresolved will keep returning and upsetting you.

Instead of waiting for those thoughts to interrupt your day, you can take a more deliberate approach.

Schedule a time to revisit the issue.

When that time arrives, deliberately bring the issue to mind. Give yourself the opportunity to think it through. Explore what is bothering you, consider the situation from different perspectives, and decide whether there is anything you can do about it.

When you've given the issue the attention it needs for now, consciously set it aside. Remind yourself that you've made time for it and that you don't need to keep returning to it throughout the day.

Then, recenter yourself on what matters and switch back to the task at hand.

You can schedule these check-ins more than once during the day if you need to. A reminder can prompt you to revisit the issue deliberately, work through what you can, and set it aside again before it takes up more of your attention. Over time, you may also become more aware of when your thoughts are beginning to pull you away from the present.

If the thoughts return between check-ins, gently remind yourself that you've already made time for the issue. You can return to it at another scheduled time if necessary.

This isn't about ignoring a problem or forcing yourself not to think about it. It's about choosing when to engage with it, rather than allowing it to repeatedly take over your attention and emotions.

You can also explore the Box It method, which we'll look at in a future post. 

The techniques shared in this series are for personal exploration and are not intended as psychological treatment or a substitute for professional advice. Different approaches work for different people and situations.

In the next issue, we’ll continue exploring focus and your thoughts.

October 2026 - Reflection: Assess & Purge

The Last Three Months of This Year

Let's use the last three months of the year intentionally, giving each month a focus.

OCTOBER — ASSESS & RELEASE
Look at where you are and let go of what no longer needs to come with you.

NOVEMBER — CLEAR & PLAN
Create space, finish what matters, and begin thinking about what's ahead.

DECEMBER — CELEBRATE & APPRECIATE
Pause, recognize the year you've lived, and enjoy what is here.

OCTOBER — ASSESS & RELEASE

Each month will have its own focus. This month, we're starting with October and taking some time to assess where we are and purge what we no longer need to carry forward.

The first nine months of the year have already happened. This is a chance to pause and take stock of what has been going on, what is working, what isn't, and what may need your attention.

Assess
Look at the different areas of your life and ask yourself: How am I doing? What's going well? What needs attention? What do I want more of?
Release
Once you've taken stock, decide what you no longer need to carry forward. This could be habits, commitments, clutter, unfinished tasks, ways of thinking, or anything else that is taking up space without adding value.

The goal isn't to judge the year or fix everything at once. It's simply to see where you are, clear some space, and create a better starting point for the months ahead.

To help with the assessment, I put together a list of Life Areas you can use to check in with yourself.
Explore the Life Areas here.

Here are a few tasks you can carry out.

Task 1: Life Areas Assessment
Open a spreadsheet and start by listing your main Life Areas in the first column. In the next column, add a few subcategories for each one — things like the goals you had for that area, the routines you meant to keep, the habits you wanted to build, or even just how you feel about that part of your life right now. Then, in the columns beside them, give each area a rating from 0 to 5 based on how you currently feel about it.

Task 2: Take a Closer Look
Now go back through your Life Areas and look at each one more closely. Reflect on:

1. What worked?
2. What did not work?
3. Could I change, start, or stop anything in this area to improve or maintain it? (Yes, No, Maybe, No Need)
4. What can I or cannot I change in this area?

5. What is working well that I want to keep?

Task 3: My Purge List 
Looking back at your assessment, make a list of the things you have decided to let go of, release, reduce, stop, simplify, or clear from your life.

I will let go of:

I will stop:

I will start:

I will reduce:

I will simplify:

I will clear:

When doing this assessment, you can also use these questions to guide your thinking:
How do I feel about this?
What is my attitude or mindset around this?
What are the obstacles? Are they coming from me or from outside influences?

What else comes to mind?

What am I spending too much time or energy on?

What am I avoiding?

What keeps coming up that I need to pay attention to?

What would make this area feel better?

What do I wish were different?

What am I grateful for in this area?

What have I learned about myself?

What do I want to carry forward?

Next month: November — Clear & Plan

In November, we'll shift from assessing and releasing to creating space and thinking about what's ahead. We'll look at what needs to be cleared and organized, while also beginning to plan for the year ahead.