De-clutter Your Mind
Imagine trying to concentrate on what to write but instead you’re thinking about:
What to add to the grocery list?
What would be good to cook next week?
Maybe I should re-pot that plant?
The cats really need their claws trimmed?
The kids have been playing video games for a while now, they should stop.
I really need to start exercising more.
Ugh, I’m not doing enough social media posts. I really need to engage more.
I only have one chapter left of that book, I really need to just finish it.
That reminds me, that last episode of Schitt's Creek was hilarious…..oh wait I need to focus on this article.
Getting distracted is easy. We could be in a completely empty room and get distracted by a million different thoughts racing through our minds. So when someone says be mindful, many of us feel like that’s impossible. How can I be mindful when the dog is barking, the kids are screaming, I’ve got work, homeschool, dinner to make, etc? And why how is being “mindful” or present even going to make me feel better?
Numerous studies have shown that as we slowly begin to practice mindfulness we’re giving that racing mind a break. If you were running a marathon would you immediately start running another one as soon as you finished your last marathon? No! You would rest and take a break. But without resting our thoughts that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re running non-stop marathons and exhausting ourselves, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Mindfulness is the act of bringing awareness to our feelings, thoughts, and physical sensations, all without judgement. We become observers of ourselves and accept what we presently feel. Here are a few tips to become more mindful.
Focus on the Breath: This is probably the most common tip. When we focus on inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, we begin to calm the mind and activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which calms us down.
Tune into Your Body: Begin to do a mental body scan from your toes to your crown. What are you feeling? Is there any tension? Where is there ease? Remember, don’t add any judgments to these feelings, simply allow awareness of them.
Observe Your Thoughts : As you may have related to the cluttered mind at the beginning of this blog, those thoughts are going to continue to arise. In working on mindfulness, try to acknowledge the thought and then let it pass. So if a thought about what to make for dinner pops up, say dinner ideas and then let it go. Bring you focus back to the breath until the next thought pops into your head, because it will. Rinse and repeat until you feel a little calmer.
Know that no amount of guilt can change the past. No amount of anxiety will change the future. Be mindful of the present moment.
~ Namaste