Calming down the inner chatter

When the mind is busy, we feel restless. When we don’t feel calm, we don’t see things clearly and we may start to make erratic decisions, snap, feel anxious… and the list goes on!

Is there a way to make it stop? Well, one can only try! It is not like you can make it stop but what you can do is to pay attention to it and – in my experience – it will quieten down. Imagine a busy sky full of clouds, you are watching them pass over your head until they will eventually dissolve.

That analogy is one often used to describe meditation. I tend to sit and meditate when I feel restless. But what do we mean by meditation? People are often confused by the term meditation as it might sounds more than what it actually is. All you do when you meditate is to sit with the mind – meaning you sit in silence and observe your thoughts. Starting with the breath, you then move your attention to any thoughts that pop up and instead of engaging with the story, you notice them and you park them aside, coming back to the breath.

I tend to meditate every morning to set the tone of the day ahead – it really does help me – but there are days when by the evening I feel restless again with the mind jumping all over the place and anxiety levels arising. On those days, I try to sit again before bed, just to quieten the mind and be able to sleep.

What also helps me – especially when thoughts are leading to anxiety and worry – is to write down what I feel and scream. Yes, you read it right… I scream! I know this sounds weird and you can really only do it when no one else is around (or those around don’t mind it!) but it does work for me!

There are of course many other techniques to keep the mind healthy and under control but I found these easy to do and to keep up which means I can be consistent with them and in turn they become very helpful indeed.

What do you do to calm the mind, my friend? Please do share your thoughts!

Go well, N x