Do you want to clear your mind and get out of a mental dead end? Here are some good ways to get rid of the chaos in your head.
Keep a personal diary
There are many advantages of keeping a daily diary. One of them is that it’s a great way to clear your mind.
Keeping a dairy makes us think about what we write carefully enough to make our thoughts clear. So keeping a diary helps to clear them up.
A personal diary will help if you have problems and need to solve them. Or when you need to understand yourself, use your creativity, heal relationships, and develop intuition.
The number of aspects of life that you can write about in a diary is truly endless, as are the number of different kinds of diaries. You can write about your goals, dreams, plans, family, commitments, achievements, observations, emotions, dreams, and ideas – about anything.
Relax
Today it’s customary consider attention and concentration essential. However, studies show that relaxation and defocusing are equally important for normal brain function.
By relaxing and letting your thoughts wander freely, you can experience a sudden burst of inspiration, come up with a non-standard solution to a problem, discover unexpected relationships between different phenomena and recognize shades where only black and white were distinguished before.
So from time to time, let your brain switch to energy-saving mode. When you clear your mind it not only helps your brain to start working according to its full potential, but it will also save you from mental fatigue.
The best solution is to take 10-minute rest breaks every hour. Make your schedule based on these breaks.
During the break, do something relaxing. Listen to music, draw, etc. You can just go for a walk and dream. The main thing is that you do not feel stressed and do not think about a task that requires concentration.
Be sure to take longer breaks – free evenings, weekends, annual holidays.
Clean up the mess
Lift your head up and look around you. What do you see? A heap of documents? Shelves and cupboards full of unnecessary things? A whole box of projects to participate in; instructions to be studied; requests to be answered? And what is on your monitor? An “Inbox” with unseen messages?
The physical environment also affects the ability to think clearly. It is very difficult to concentrate and prioritize In chaos. So take some time to clean up – on your desktop and other horizontal surfaces, in cabinets and drawers, on your computer and on your phone.
Delete unnecessary contacts and photos, throw away everything you don’t need, put things in their places, sort documents, reply to letters. By creating order around you, you’ll be relieved at once.
Delete all the tasks and Clear your mind
When you don’t clear your mind, you couldn’t sleep because of obsessive thoughts? Perhaps you suddenly remembered unfulfilled tasks or promises several times a day?
The fact is that our brain naturally remembers and holds on to all interrupted and unfinished actions. They are called unfinished cycles.
If not dealt with, they accumulate and cause an overload that leads to stress and anxiety. To gain control, you have to make one very important change in your behavior: learn to keep nothing in your head.
To do that, you will need:
1. Calendar.
It should include a simple template that shows the months and days of the week. It’s a framework where you can put information about what to do at a particular time and what will happen on particular days.
2. List of the tasks.
This will include specific little steps that you need to take soon. The decision where you want to write the task (in a calendar or list) depends on whether you can assign a specific time or date for it.
Keep in mind: If an action takes less than two minutes, it should be done immediately. Get rid of it, close the loop, and get rid of it!
3. List of projects.
A project is any result that requires more than one action or session to achieve.
At least once a week, you should look at this list and define the following actions for each of your projects.
4. “Someday/could be” list.
These are all tasks that you can accomplish later, but not now; things you would like to try under favorable conditions.
These include films you would like to watch; books you would like to read; trips you dream about; wish lists.
5. Checklist
A checklist is a list of actions or items for certain situations, a description of repeated procedures (for example, “How to pack a suitcase for a trip”, “List of things for a tourist trip”, “Possible holiday gifts”).
Creating a checklist allows you to save time and simplify your life in the future. You will not have to waste energy on making the same decisions again.
6. The postponed.
This will include anything that does not involve action and may need to be taken later. These are travel plans, recipes, warranties, driver licenses, site passwords, contacts, useful articles, and so on. One day they may come in handy, and if you don’t have them, you will have to spend time looking for them.
By creating such a system, you will give your brain the freedom to be more productive and creative.
In order not to lose control, arrange a periodic review of all lists, check the content of the system and keep it up to date and working.
Remove everything that’s not important and clear your mind
Have you ever suffered from exhaustion? Have you ever felt that you pay a lot of attention to the little things? Are you busy all the time? Most likely, you have accumulated too much unnecessary, distracting, unnecessary or unpleasant things in your life.
Ask yourself: “What do I really want to achieve? What do I aspire to most? What’s really important to me?” Once you’ve set priorities, try to focus on them and get rid of the rest. The chaos in your life – and your head – will be less.
You have to be able to give up not only the things you don’t like, but also the things you like. For example, it is better to choose one hobby and give it maximum attention, than ten different hobbies.
Distance yourself from your thoughts
Are you troubled by past mistakes and conflicts for which you cannot forgive yourself? Is your head full of worrying thoughts about the future? Or maybe you constantly hear the voice of inner criticism? Try the following exercises to clear your mind.
Sit up straight and relax. Concentrate on body and breathing. Now focus on your hearing. Accept all the sounds that surround you. Feel how they arise and how some displace others.
In five minutes, switch to your thoughts. Watch them arise and disappear by themselves, just like sounds.
Watch them remotely – as if you were watching a movie or looking at clouds floating through the sky. They come and go. Notice the emotions you’re feeling, but don’t try to change anything.
Make a digital detox
Modern gadgets provide us with continuous access to information and entertainment. Google knows everything. You can find video lessons on YouTube about anything. We chat around the clock on social networks, watch soap operas, and spend time playing online games. Everybody is used to looking into the phone. But there’s nothing good about it.
According to Adrianna Ott, one of Silicon Valley’s most authoritative business strategies, an Internet user watches over 34 billion bits of information every day. It’s like reading two books in one day! A huge amount of data creates an “attention blockage.
It is foolish to reject technology, but as in any other area, moderation and thoughtfulness are important. Try to use electronic devices less during the day and have a digital detox at least once a week.
You can start next weekend. Spend them offline. Take a break from the network, gadgets, screens. Maybe two days is too long. How about three hours?
Pick a time that’s convenient for you. Warn your friends and family that you will be offline, especially if they are used to contacting you there. Turn off notifications and other distractions and hide your gadgets away. And go ahead, take a sip of freedom!