10 Ways to Calm Your Mind

1. Eliminate Clutter and Get Organized

If your environment is messy it can be a distraction for your mind and cause anxiety. Take a day, or at least a few hours, and remove the clutter, organize it, and put away that which you actually use and need. You can give away some things to a local non-profit and throw away outdated and unusable things. If a day is too much, take an hour and focus on just one area – the kitchen countertops, the dining room table, your closets, or the overflowing shelves in a bedroom.

2. Turn Off the TV

Many people get in the habit of having the television on for white noise or background noise. What they don’t realize is that any information you are exposed to affects your subconscious. So, while you may say that you’re not a news junkie or that you don’t watch silly reality shows, your subconscious is fully aware of all the bad things happening in the world and the negative things people do to each other. If you must have white noise or background noise, play music.

3. Change What You Eat

Soda, sugar, and processed foods all contribute to increasing tension and stress in the body. Replace these foods with fruits, vegetables, water, and non-processed meats and you will quickly feel a difference in your body that will translate to reduced stress and anxiety and a calming of the mind.

4. Exercise on Purpose

A healthy body leads and supports a healthy mind. Physical activity keeps the body functioning correctly, gets the blood flowing, and contributes to a healthy brain. Adding physical activity to your daily routine will help you to relax by releasing stress and tension. The activity doesn’t need to be strenuous. Yoga, Pilates, walking, bicycling and others can do just as much for the body as intense workouts at a fitness center.

5. Entertainment and Recreation

Have some fun. Play games with friends. Go see a comedy at the movies. Attend a local school’s carnival or the town festival. Laughter is great medicine and it can be free.

6. Journal Every Evening

A great way to calm the mind is to journal about your day. Writing allows you to get rid of the clutter in your mind that is causing stress and anxiety. And, with practice, you’ll begin to see how you can journal your way to solutions about issues you’ve been worrying over. You get to stop the worry and feel calmer.

7. Get in Touch with Nature

Nature has a calming effect that helps you to relax. Go for a walk in the woods, near a lake, on the beach. If there are parks in your area, make use of them. This will help you to relax and to let go of things you’ve been worrying over.

8. One Thing at a Time

Multi-tasking is a myth. It’s much more stressful to stop and start tasks throughout the day than it is to simply finish a task and then move on to the next. Make the decision to do only one thing at a time, to not move on to the next until the task in front of you is finished. You’ll soon feel the results of a mind that is clear and focused and calm.

9. Meditate

There is evidence that meditation can help you get and stay calm and ultimately help you to achieve inner peace. Many types of meditation can be practiced anywhere, with some that enable you to meditate in a few spare moments, just enough time to calm the thoughts and clear the mind. No matter what type you choose to practice, you will discover the calming benefits. Here are some types of meditation that you can try:

Guided meditation. You listen as someone guides you through a visualization exercise. During the exercise, you will allow a mental image to form according to what the guide says. The purpose is to take you to a place of relaxation. You can find guided meditations on YouTube and various websites.

Mantra meditation is the act of silently repeating a calming word or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts. Mantra is a Sanskrit word derived from two roots: man (meaning “mind” or “to think”) and trai meaning to “protect”, to “free from”, or “instrument/tool”. Therefore, mantras are tools of the mind or tools to free the mind. The word you choose to use is meant to be the sole focus of your experience, which is what leads to preventing other thoughts from entering your mind.

Yoga is the practice of performing a series of posture while controlling your breathing. It promotes a flexible body and a calm mind. Done correctly, it encourages you to focus on the moment. While yoga can be learned via video tutorials, as with most of the movement focused meditation types it is best to find a local instructor so that you learn the proper movements and can achieve the maximum benefits.

Walking meditation is the combination of a slow-paced walk with meditation. Concentrating on your legs and feet, you visualize or say the action words as you do them such as moving, placing, lifting as you do each action. This is truly the easiest meditation to do as a beginner. You can do it in your home, in your own yard, or along a walking path.

10. Think Through Anxiety

Often the anxiety we experience is a result of not understanding what is actually happening. Worrying and fretting over things we have no control over isn’t helpful, and yet we do it. We do it because we don’t take the time to think things through. Ask yourself these questions to get started on thinking it through:

What can you do about the situation?
What is your part in the problem?
Where is the evidence that this is bad?
How important is it?
Is your involvement necessary?
Are more resources needed?

Your answers will determine your next actions. And action is a known cure for an overactive mind.

At the Arise Society, we help young adults that are struggling with anxiety, depression, gaming and other motivational issues. We provide personalized academic, therapeutic, and social support in a real-world setting, which gives our students the skills to reach their fullest potential.