How To Switch Off Your Worried Mind

If you feel burdened by worried thoughts, join Andrea as she guides you in a gentle pep talk for your mind. Using relatable imagery, this practice will give you alternative options to turn to when worry seems to be getting the best of you. This a longer version of Andrea’s track called Soothing a Worried Mind.

Music by Chris Collins

Transcript

Welcome.

If your mind has been burdened with worries,

This practice is intended to give that busy mind a compassionate pep talk.

It's kind of like your worried mind is a child in need of soothing guidance,

And your wise mind and compassionate heart are the parents that can offer that guidance.

You can feel free to keep your eyes closed or open.

And let's begin with a few slow,

Deep breaths.

Allow your forehead and your eyes to soften as you breathe.

See if you can soften and relax your jaw.

Encourage your shoulders to gently lower down as you exhale.

As you breathe slow,

Full breaths,

Give your entire body permission to be held by the surface underneath you.

I will be speaking directly to your worried mind.

You can listen to my words and try to absorb them,

Or you can imagine that your wise mind and compassionate heart are speaking to your worries.

Dear Worried Mind,

You have been so busy,

Working so hard.

You were designed to be on the lookout for danger,

But you've been working overtime because most of the time we are actually safe.

You just worry about the things you don't want to have happen,

And that keeps them on our radar and makes us feel unsafe.

I know that life sometimes gives you a lot of material to worry about,

But I also know that right now,

In this very moment,

Nothing is actually happening other than being here,

Listening to this recording.

If something serious needed our attention,

We'd be dealing with it,

But there's nothing in this very moment that we need to do other than breathe and do our best to focus on these words.

I want to tell you some things,

My dear Worried Mind.

I know you have good intentions.

You worry because you care.

You worry because you don't want hard things to happen,

And you want to know what's going to happen.

But worrying keeps our focus on what you fear,

And it makes our body feel stressed.

The reason you've been feeling worried is because you keep leaving the present moment and watching scary mind movies.

You're like a child who's gotten hold of the remote control,

And you keep switching the channel to old scary reruns and future scary movies.

I know that hard things have happened in the past,

And that we don't know what the future will bring.

It makes sense that you would want to know how things are going to turn out.

But the truth is,

We can't know how things are going to turn out,

And worrying doesn't help us figure anything out.

So,

My precious,

Overworked,

Busy Worried Mind,

I am gently taking the remote control from you now.

This is in our best interests.

I am your wise mind and compassionate heart,

And I am taking charge.

You've been dominating the remote and watching too many scary movies.

I know there's been plenty of scary movies to binge watch,

But if I keep letting you hold the remote,

And play and replay all those scary movies,

Nothing actually gets solved,

And this body just feels worse.

I also know that if the things you've been worried about got resolved,

Or we made peace with them,

Then you would latch onto new things to worry about.

I've seen you do it time and time again.

You get laser-focused on a situation or a sensation,

And you watch it like a hawk,

Convinced that it's not okay and will never be okay.

And then time goes by,

And either the situation passes,

Or you latch onto something else to worry about and add more things to your list.

Your burden is so heavy,

And I truly know that you're only trying to help,

But your way does not help.

If your way helped,

Then all your worrying would have resolved things,

And we'd feel better from all your worrying.

But we don't.

I know you worry because you care,

And you want good things,

And you want to avoid hard things,

But your method doesn't work.

If there are action steps we can take to help a situation,

That will become clear when you settle down.

That's when wisdom and intuition chime in.

So I'm holding the remote control now,

Dear worried mind,

And you can just rest.

You've been working so hard.

You can rest now.

I'm going to breathe nice and easy and send you some calm,

Soothing energy,

Like a gentle breeze coming through the window.

My breath is like a warm breeze for you.

Every breath signaling to you that you can let go.

You can let go.

You've done enough.

We can let the future unfold as it will.

Intuition will guide us if there's an action we need to take.

I've got the remote now,

And I'm changing the channel from scary movies to programs that feel better and are better for us.

We have so many stations to choose from.

Let's look at a few right now.

Let's click over to the presence program,

Where we can spend a few minutes focusing on the present moment.

Let's begin with the next few breaths.

Bring in your full attention to the next few breaths.

Notice the air as it moves in and out of your nostrils or your mouth.

You can breathe a little slower and deeper than usual if you'd like,

Or you can just breathe at your own natural pace.

We are simply following the breath.

Follow each breath as if it's the only thing that exists right now.

See if you can even hear your breath.

If your eyes are closed,

Notice the feeling of your eyelids on your eyes.

Or maybe you can see shape or shadow behind your eyes.

If your eyes are open,

Notice any shapes,

Colors,

Or textures that you can see right now.

And now let's shift our focus to your hands.

Notice if your hands are touching any surface or material,

Or perhaps you can feel sensation or energy in the palms of your hands.

Let's click over now to the compassion channel.

Whatever emotions or sensations you're experiencing right now can be softened by your own compassion.

Take a moment now to tune into your body and offer yourself some compassion.

If you'd like,

You can label any emotions or sensations you're aware of right now and let them know they have a right to be here.

You can offer them your compassion and your soothing breath.

I'll give you a moment to do that.

And now let's spend a few minutes on the appreciation station.

Here we can focus on anything that we appreciate.

I'll share a few of my top favorites,

And then I'll give you a moment to think about some of yours.

I appreciate my home,

My clothes and shoes.

I appreciate pillows and blankets.

I appreciate nature.

I appreciate you for joining me here and all of the spiritual teachings and teachers all over the world.

I appreciate the internet that brings us so many resources.

I appreciate laughter and music and song lyrics that open my heart.

I appreciate like-minded,

Like-hearted people.

I appreciate kind people.

I appreciate running water and plumbing and electricity,

And all of the food I get to eat,

And all of the people that make my having food possible.

I appreciate how appreciation makes me feel,

And that I can always find something to appreciate.

Okay,

Now it's your turn if you're game.

I'll give you a moment to think or say some of the people,

Pets,

Places,

Or things that you appreciate,

And I'll be back in a minute.

I wonder how that felt to you.

It's important to remember that if you make the decision to switch off the worry channel,

And you're channel surfing and watching other networks,

If the worried mind grabs hold of the remote and tries to switch back to a scary mind movie,

You can empathize that it's just trying to help,

And remind it that it's not actually helping,

And that you're in charge.

Your wise mind and compassionate heart can lovingly and clearly take charge.

Then you can make the decision to switch to a different channel.

Of course,

There are lots of other channels available in addition to the ones we clicked on today.

We can turn on the nature channel and spend time in nature,

Or look at pictures or videos of nature,

Or even visualize and think about nature.

We can switch to music channels where we can listen to music or sing or dance.

We can watch the comedy network or spiritual stations where we can feed ourselves with spiritual principles and teachings.

We can turn on the gratitude channel or the love station where we can think about people,

Pets,

Places,

Or things that are easy for us to love and fill ourselves up with a feeling of love.

We can turn to a soothing station where we can soothe ourselves in any way that feels kind to us.

We can click on a creative channel where we can do a hobby,

A craft,

Or some type of creative project.

We can shift to a relaxation station where we do something relaxing and soothing.

Or we can turn off all networks and meditate with the intention of quieting our minds.

We only spent time on a few different channels today,

But hopefully you were able to notice the effects of switching off of the worry station.

This isn't about berating ourselves if our worried minds grab hold of the remote and switch the channel on us.

This is about being aware of what our minds are up to and remembering that we have the option to compassionately and consistently change our focus.

I hope this practice was helpful,

And I hope you will continue to soothe your worried mind whenever it needs soothing,

And then resume the channels that feel the most compassionate,

Calming,

Uplifting,

And inspiring to you.

Thanks for joining me.

Reviews

A soothing and powerful meditation. I have an upcoming international flight and have been struggling with anxiety because of it, and this was one of the only things that helped provide peace. Thank you.

Such wonderful ideas to practice and incorporate into shifting and my overthinking mind! Thank you! 🙏

This helped me SO much today. Thank you Andrea 🙏🏽

Wonderful and so very needed. Thank you more than words! 💖

I loved this teacher’s voice and this meditation practice.🙏

This talk was an incredible gift
Thank you
The best lesson.. talk .. I’ve had the privilege to be touched by in a very long time ✨🌸🌿

Thank you. This is exactly what my very worried mind needed, - gentle but firm talking to. Thank you thank you thank you.

Andrea, your common sense self-reassurance practices are always soothing and welcome. Thank you!
Donna

Wow! A calming and loving gentle voice! This was an amazing journey today for my worried mind. Channel surf along with Andrea. You will be grateful and appreciative that you did!
Appreciate you, Andrea. Blessings and love🙏🥰

Outstanding meditation and talk. Thank you for helping me refocus and assisting me in changing the channel.

Your words are always exactly what I need to hear. Thank you 🙏🏻

Perfectly chosen words and very calming. Thank you!

Wow! I anticipate revisiting this both for myself and my clients. Thank you.

Andrea Wachter’s work is my go-to in difficult times. I’m so grateful to her.

Dear Andrea, I truly appreciate your meditations because most of the time they help me deal with my worrying mind. I wasn't aware I had panic attacs until your voice helped me out of the unpleasant state in my body 🙏

Very helpful- thank you. ☺️

Very helpful. I intend to make an effort to put this into practice. Thank you.

Thank you for this grounding and soothing meditation! Very helpful!🙏

Exactly what I needed

Very relaxing and helpful.