To kick off this mindfulness series I wanted to share something that I am personally working on lately. Recently, it has felt like my mind is weighing SO heavy. Not because anything in particular is going on, but simply because I have more things than usual on my plate. All good and exciting things! However, nonetheless, “things” tend to gather in our headspace and if not handled, can feel overwhelming.
I believe that having gratitude for everything that you are experiencing is extremely important in order to maintain a healthy and balanced life. When we allow our thoughts to weigh heavy on us, practicing gratitude can become more of a challenge and sometimes we find ourselves reacting rather than responding.
So, how can we clear space in our minds to feel better mentally and physically so that we can step into our best selves?
Here are my top 5 tips on releasing that build up so that we can become more balanced and centered in our head and heart space.
Thought or feeling?
When you are seeking a clearer, calmer and more collected mind, it is important to distinguish between whether you are experiencing a thought or a feeling. Think of it like this, a thought is something that could perhaps not be reality. It would be a worry, anxiety, a consideration, a question. Sometimes, thoughts begin to play in loops in our brains, and when this happens, we create a dialogue in our minds that usually does not serve us. Now, a feeling is more of a connection to what you are actually experiencing.
It is up to you to determine between thought and feelings, but I have found that challenging myself to distinguishing between the two when things come up, helps calm my mind. When you feel like you need to clear space in your mind, determine, thinking as thinking and feeling as feeling. This creates space between the thoughts and the feelings so that we can gain control and not get so involved in it.
I learned this technique from Headspace and it truly has been a game changer for me!
Clean out
Get rid of things! Clear off your desk with all those sticky notes that have been piling up for two weeks, purge those items in your fridge that have got to go, do your laundry, toss clothes that you haven’t worn in a year. Clean out your bag! You might not even realize it, but usually the clutter around you is a direct reflection of what is going on in your mind. Tidy up. When you constantly see things like old to-do lists, that laundry pile, unsorted mail, a messy purse… you are actually just creating more subconscious clutter in your mind too. Pause for at least 5 minutes and clean something up. If you don’t know where to begin, pick up 15 things. Trust me this strategy works. Just count 15 things that need picking up and then done. You just organized 15 things that were taking up space in your mind.
Do less
For me, this used to be the HARDEST thing to do when I needed to create headspace. When my mind got busy and overwhelmed, my default was to do MORE. I used to have the mindset like, oh well I have SO much to do and so many things to get done and so many places to be and omg how am I going to do it all?? Must do more. Must keep going. Must almost die of starvation and no sleep. No, no do not do this. Learn from my painful mistakes and catch yourself now. When you find yourself with this heavy sense of overwhelm, for whatever reason it may be, let this be your invitation to simply do less. Cancel that thing on your calendar that you just felt obligated to go to, request a day off, go to bed an hour earlier, order food in instead of making dinner, get off your email and read a book, reschedule that meeting. If doing all of these things send you into a panic (trust me, if someone told me 6 months ago to do less, I would nearly have had a heart attack) then you should most likely give doing less a try. Start slow, don’t worry this does not mean you are dropping the ball on all your obligations! You are simply giving yourself permission to pick and choose what works for you in this moment and what does not.
What is in my control?
Sometimes, half of the things in our heads are totally out of our control! Yet, they might not seem out of our control until we take a step back and consider it. Write down everything that seems to be overwhelming you, causing anxiety, stress or uncertainty. Now, be honest with yourself… what is in your full control and what is not? Give the items on your list a check if they are in your control and cross out the things that are not. Practice breathing out all the things that you just crossed off. Breath them out and let them go.
Meditate
The power of meditation… where do I even begin? This might be the biggest way to clear space AND get clarity around the things in your head. My next blog post in this series will be all about meditating. How to, where to begin and what to expect. So stay tuned!
A few other things:
Go for a walk, freshen up the air in your brain with some clean and new air. Put your face towards the sky and release a gratitude into the world. Practice morning pages. I discussed the power of morning pages in this blog post here, so check that out! Call a friend, pet your animal, go to bed early, read a relaxing book, make some tea, plan your dream vacation just for fun, laugh out loud. When is the last time you truly cracked up?
You got this, you DESERVE to have space in your mind and to feel your best. Love you, xoxo
