My Mind Keeps Racing - Techniques to Calm a Busy Mind !

 The perfect mind needs to think. When your mind is full and your thoughts are just stormy, it's hard to focus on anything. Or does this happen when you are trying to sleep, the thoughts will not leave you alone and you will review the day's events over and over again?

Whatever the reason for your busy mind, thinking has some way to help you slow down and calm down. The first place often brings focus to our breathing, without judgment, without trying to change the pattern of our breathing.

Let's take a look at a few situations and see if they apply to you.

I can't sleep - my mind is so full

This is a very common condition for many of us and we all have our own ways of dealing with it. Some of us may ‘start over’ with bedtime rituals, some of us can turn a book, or a hot drink. All of these are perfectly good approaches to that particular problem, but let's look at some of the ways of thinking we can use.

Restful sleep is a time when we can get used to focusing on breathing and body. Mental meditation often begins with a focus on breathing, in and out, without trying to change it, just to see the flow and the exit. This awareness of our breathing is a way to distract ourselves from the driving of thoughts. If we can focus on the feeling of breathing in and out of our bodies, the ups and downs of our ribs, the sensation of air passing through our nostrils or mouth, then we can distract ourselves from focusing on our thoughts. It is very possible that at first we may end up focusing on our breath and away from our thoughts, but the more you practice it, the easier it becomes.

Meditation that often helps to calm the mind before bed is a way of seeing. This means that we create an image in our mind of the scene. The image of this meditation is a stream of leaves floating on their faces. The stream flows so that the leaves can float past it uncontrollably. As we relax and focus on our breathing, we will feel the thoughts coming to our minds. As each thought emerges, we take it and put it in a leaf and let it float. The idea of ​​this meditation encourages us to see our thoughts as passing and allowing them to 'float'. Sometimes this kind of meditation uses other images, floating clouds in the past, floating balloons, but the idea is the same, see your thoughts as temporary and let it go. In this way we can clear our minds and, in a sense, sleep.

Can't focus - too many things on your mind

Often this condition occurs when we are anxious, and we may feel completely paralyzed. We may find it difficult to make decisions, or easy choices. We stand by our usual answers, we are suspended on time.

This very short practice provides a way out of the automatic driving mode into the current moment. What we do is create space to reconnect with your natural strength and intelligence. We simply fix what is happening right now, without expecting any particular result. Known as 'S.T.O.P.'

S - Stop and take stock, into the head, heart and body.

We bring ourselves to this present moment by deliberately asking - 'what is my experience right now?'

Thoughts - what we say to us, what images come to mind

Emotions - pleasure, neutrality, resentment, happiness, sadness, anger, etc.

Sensation - physical sensation, firmness, grip, lightness

We acknowledge and register our information, even if it does not apply to us.

T - "Take" the breath and direct our understanding to our breath.

Our breath can serve as an anchor for us in the modern world and help us to enter into a state of awareness and peace. Inhale and exhale. Then continue to breathe normally. We should gently turn our full attention to the breath, each breath and each soul as they follow, one after another.

O - Open and careful, expand our external awareness.

We expand our awareness sphere on our breath, to capture the feeling of our whole body, our posture, and our facial expressions, and then move on to the things around us: what we see, sounds, smells, and so on. It can help to count - 4 things we see, 3 things we hear, 2 things we can touch and 1 thing we smell.

To the best of our ability, bring this extended appreciation to our future.

P - Keep up the good work, and keep going.

Next, we allow our attention to penetrate the world around us, to see how things are now.

Instead of reacting normally or mechanically, we can be curious and open, responding naturally. We broke the driver's default response, without waiting for the result.

Try and apply these methods the next time you find yourself having a busy mind.

Through meditation and meditation, we can begin to fully understand how our feelings, thoughts, and emotions affect our lives. Taking one small step to support a happy, healthy, and calm life, thinking and meditating is a good place to start.