My mind moves fast.

Too fast.

It loops.

It leaps.

It invents stories

faster than truth can catch up.

Faster than I can catch up.

Some of those stories are useful.

Most are premature.

I don’t need to stop thinking.

I need to stop thinking my first thought

is the final word.

That’s why I use constraint.

Not to limit my mind.

To protect it.

From me.

Constraint is the suggestion that

I don’t have to believe everything I think.

Especially the first version.

Especially when it fits too neatly.

Especially when it tells me

exactly what I wanted.

Or what I what I am afraid of.

Constraint is what keeps the story from setting

before the truth can speak.

Like:

“I won’t decide what it means

until I’ve named the frame.”

Or:

“I’ll hold this story lightly,

even if it feels heavy.”

Constraint gives my thought boundaries.

It requires better questions like,

What else could be true?

What else is outside the frame?

What’s missing from this version?

What has saved me from myself

wasn’t a better idea.

It was a boundary

on how far the wrong idea

was allowed to go.