1. Focus On What You See When You Close Your Eyes
If asked to describe what we see when we close our eyes,
most of us would describe it as the colour black. However, the truth is
that our closed eyes are often telling us a much more interesting story.
Close your eyes right now, focus on what you see. Is it actually just
the solid colour black? Or is it more of a mixture of colours, some of
which are undoubtedly created by the lighting in the room in which you
are sitting?
No matter what you see, when you actually pay attention to
it, it’s definitely something that can draw quite a bit of your
attention, and I’ve often found it to be a great starting point to
quieting my mind. At the very least it helps to shift my mind away from
scattered thoughts, instead closing in on one focused thought – one that
often sparks the creative element of my brain, which starts looking for
images amongst the colourful display.
2. Scan Your Body
Our bodies are pretty damn intricate, and when you actually
break them down part by part they can be quite interesting to explore.
When it comes to quieting your mind, this same intricacy can also be
quite a powerful tool. One of my personal favourite ways to bring myself
into a quieter state of mind is to scan my body from top to bottom,
focusing on how each part feels as I pay attention to it.
Once you can move past the judgemental thoughts of how
stupid or silly this seems, you may actually find yourself pleasantly
surprised by how much energy you feel. I find that focusing on this
energetic flow not only quiets my mind but shifts my focus to the
internal elements of who I am, rather than the distractions of the
outside world.
3. Stay Connected To Nature
As someone who just moved from a nature-filled suburb into a
condo in the heart of downtown Toronto, the difficulty of finding ways
to regularly connect with nature has never been higher, but I intend to
make it work. I intend to make it work because I know how important it
is to my own well-being, and because I know that nature is the perfect
surrounding in which to find peace.
Nature is both colourful and happening like a city, but it
manages to capture these elements in a way that is much more calming and
connective, rather than rampant and distracting. The next time you are
looking to quiet your mind, spend some time outdoors. Focus on how
naturally a stream flows or how calmly a blade of grass sits and realize
that you too can flow and be calm just as naturally.
4. The Power Of Your Breath
There’s a reason why the majority of guided meditations
begin by instructing us to focus on our breath. It’s something that we
all do, all the time, yet it happens and adapts so naturally that we can
often go days without ever actually thinking about it. Giving some
attention to your breath can be an incredibly powerful way to quiet your
mind and relax your body in general.
A particular breathing pattern I’ll often practise when
aiming to quiet my mind is to do 3 cycles of breath where I breath in
through my nose for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 3, and then release
through my mouth for another 4 seconds. I’ll also ensure that the breath
inflates my stomach (rather than my chest), since this type of
breathing in particular seems most calming.
5. Go Through What You’re Grateful For
We love inundating our minds with negative thought patterns
and basking in reasons why people should feel sorry for us, but we
rarely take the time to go through what we are appreciative of in life.
This technique may not quiet your mind completely, but it certainly
helps to shut up the Negative Nancy we often let run as a part of our
auto-pilot.
I’ve found the best way to do this is to sit down with a
paper and pen, and jot down – without judgement – everything in life
that you are grateful for. It could be something as heartwarming as your
loving pet, or as seemingly silly as your easily accessible parking
spot at work. The bottom line is we all have things to be grateful for
in life, and can gain a lot from taking some time to focus on them
rather than on our seemingly insurmountable problems.
6. Drop The Label
So many of us admire people who can effectively meditate or
quiet their minds, yet we also love labelling ourselves as incapable of
being like them. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but just because
you tried meditating once and ended up just thinking about dinner
doesn’t mean you are incapable of experiencing a quiet mind.
Meditation, like everything else, is something that you
need to work on and be committed to practicing. They say it takes about
21 days to develop a new habit, so why not push yourself to regularly
practice something you’d like to experience rather than opt to take the
quitter’s mentality? You have a lot more control than you may think!
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