Thoughts. So many thoughts! Innumerable ideas, plans, uncountable worries, treasured moments of joy, unfinished todo lists.
Thoughts...they constantly play this tug-of-war inside the mind.
The same old replaying scenarios, this non-stop mental activity...mental chatter.
Getting into such a state is useless, but how to stop?
Does it sound like you? That’s me too.
When I get into such a state, it feels as if all these thoughts take a life of their own and wage a war inside me and I am just this helpless victim. But over the years, I have come to rely on a few methods to deal with these situations. I hope this can help you too.
Mindful Breathing
“Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.”
Bringing the focus to the breath is the easiest and the most effective method to calm down the mind. We have been breathing, literally, from the moment we were born. But we hardly ever notice its rhythm. Quick, tell me did you just breathe in or out? 😁 Made you notice your breath right?
And by doing this you stopped focussing on everything else, see? That’s what I do too.
Gently bring the focus to the breath. Breathe in deep and breathe out. Close your eyes, if possible, and feel the wholesomeness of the wondrous Oxygen enter your body. Breathe out and smile. Imagine all the miraculous ways in which the cells of your body just got cleaned up. This little miracle is yours. Treasure it.
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Imagine all the miraculous ways in which the cells of your body just got cleaned up. This little miracle is yours. Treasure it.
How mindful breathing helps:
It brings the focus to the present. As the concentration shifts to the breath, thoughts move to the background. This is something that can be done anywhere, so it becomes a tool that I can use at any point. Mindfulness is a wonderful method to put brakes on speeding thoughts that threaten to go off-trail. And focussing on breath is a wonderful mindfulness tool.
Living in the moment
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.”
This is another simple method that has helped me. I remind my mind to think of what I am doing at this present moment.
So, for example, if I am making tea. I focus on the act of taking water, the act of adding tea leaves, etc. I notice what my hand is doing, which hand is doing the work. What is the work being done?
How living in the moment helps:
Just like breathing, this simple act helps in bringing the focus to the present. The task at hand is all that matters. Just think about it now. Constantly dwelling on other matters will not bring you the solution, right? So let us break this pattern.
This method also helps if you feel you are facing a mountainous task. You don’t have to climb the mountain, at this point you just have to climb one step. One step after the other and in due time, the mountain has been climbed!
Constantly dwelling on other matters will not bring you the solution, right? So let us break this pattern.
Self Awareness
“Peace is your natural state. It is your mind that destroys it.”
I acknowledge that I am not my mind. I am not all these stories that my mind feeds me. I can actually observe my mind, my thoughts. I am the observer, not the mind. This act of disconnecting is my first step to accepting that I am above all the current drama that my mind is creating. And therein lies peace.
How Self Awareness helps:
This act helps me disconnect with my current problems and makes me more objective towards them. I feel calmer. And this disassociation with the body brings with it another kind of connection- a feeling of connectedness to the entirety of creation. Because it makes me understand that this body that I am, is a part of a bigger picture. I am connected through this vessel to something grander- the Universal Energy, or God, or Supreme Energy.
While the methods to stop incessant thoughts that I’ve mentioned sound easy in speech, they are not so easy to practice. The mind keeps feeding us stories and keeps crying for attention.
Yoga, mediation, journaling, affirmations, gratitude, music, dance, mandala, art, sitting with nature, walking, exercising, etc are some beneficial methods to help cultivate the said habits. But each of these is a vast ocean unto itself. Let’s tackle this later. For now, just breathe, focus on what you are doing, focus on the now... and let go, knowing that you are something way greater than this puny little body.
nāhaṃ deho na me deho bodho'hamiti niścayī |
kaivalyamiva saṃprāpto na smaratyakṛtaṃ kṛtam || 6 ||
Realising, “I am not the body, nor is the body mine. I am awareness”, one attains the supreme state and no longer remembers things done or undone.
English translation by John Richards (1994)
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