If you have ever tried to calm your mind and found that trying just made it easier,
You are not doing it wrong.
That's actually how the mind works.
The mind is not designed to be still.
It's designed to think,
To plan,
To process,
To solve,
To prepare.
That is its job and it's very,
Very good at it.
The problem is not that the mind thinks.
The problem is when the thinking becomes relentless,
Like the same worries looping on repeat,
The mental noise crowding out everything else,
Or you lie down to rest and your mind immediately hands you a to-do list.
This is what most people experience.
As a busy mind.
And it's really common.
Research suggests that the average person has tens of thousands of thoughts per day,
And that a significant proportion of them are repetitive.
It's the mind rehearsing conversations,
Replaying events,
And anticipating problems that have not happened yet.
So,
What actually helps?
Not forcing the mind to stop.
That never works and usually just adds frustration on top of the noise.
What works is giving the mind something else to do.
Something simpler,
More immediate and closer to the present moment.
So here are three ways to do that.
The first is breath anchoring.
When the mind is running wild,
The breath is always here,
In the present moment,
Reliable,
Real.
So simply directing your attention to the physical sensation of breathing,
The rise of the belly,
The feeling of the air at the nostrils,
Those give the mind a new focus.
The second.
Is sensory grounding.
Look around wherever you are right now and name in your mind five things you can see.
What do you see around you?
Can be anything.
Just focus on those five things for a moment.
Then,
Four things you can physically feel may be your clothes on your skin,
The surface of your desk,
Or the chair you sit on.
Or other things.
And then Three things you can hear,
A car passing by,
A bird singing,
The hum of the heating or cooling system in the room.
This is not a distraction technique.
It's a return to the present moment,
Which is the one place the busy mind tends to avoid.
The third is writing it out.
You know,
An overstimulated mind is often a full one.
Set a timer for 5 minutes and write,
Without editing,
Without judgment,
Whatever is in there.
Getting it out of the head and onto the page creates immediate relief.
The mind relaxes when it knows something has been captured and doesn't need to keep holding it.
Let's try the breath anchor right now together,
Shall we?
Wherever you are,
Let your eyes close or soften.
And bring your attention to your belly.
Notice it rising as you breathe in.
And falling as you breathe out.
Just that.
Just this breath.
And this one.
Notice even for a few seconds,
The mind had somewhere to land.
That landing is what a calming practice actually is.
Not silence,
A place to rest.
You can return to that place anytime the noise gets too loud.
