6 Simple Ways To Clear Your Mind Under 15 Minutes

Benefits Of A Cleared Mind

According to the ultra-endurance athlete Christopher Bergland, one of the most important skills that he has learnt and always has an effect on his performance has nothing to do with physical strength. It’s being able to rid his mind of any unwanted thought.

One thing about having thoughts piling up and endlessly running through your mind is that you lose focus. Your productivity and ability to accomplish any task and act properly depends on how clear your mind is.

Clearing mind distractions will also prevent you from overthinking, which are the source of psychological problems like depression, fear, and anxiety. This, in turn, affects your relations with people, physical health, and career. When you learn how to clear your mind completely, it will increase your creativity, and lead to growth in every part of your life.

6 Effective Ways On How To Clear Your Mind

So, how do you clear your mind? How do you achieve relaxation when your mind is running wild? Here are six effective solutions and tips that will answer your questions. But they will only work for you if you take action.

1. Meditation 

It may seem impossible to sit in silence and meditate when many things are running through your mind. But it is one of the best ways to clear your mind. It is a practical technique to first unburden your brain of every negative and distracting thought, and you can then fill it with the thoughts you want to give attention to.

In addition to clearing your mind, researchers suggest that meditation has a long term benefit of reducing stress and anxiety, improve attention and memory, and help promote positive behavior like self-regulation and empathy.

However, meditation is not a quick-fix solution to get rid of the things cluttering your mind. At first, your thoughts may get more distracting as you sit quietly and try to be in tune with yourself. Your mind will jump from one thought to another, restless and unproductive. But over time, you will learn to control your attention, unburden your mind, and choose the things that you want to run through your mind.

To get started, use these steps. Pick a time and place where you will be free from noise, chatter, stimulation, and interruptions. Set your body in a position that makes you relaxed and comfortable, and allow your mind to be blank. If your thoughts are all over the place, acknowledge them, and try to go back to being thoughtless.

Take a deep breath and repeat a mantra over and over in your head until your mind is free. You can also focus on a fixed object, the sounds of nature, or the sensations of your body until your thoughts are blocked out.

Repeat the exercise every day until you can empty your mind through meditation. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Experts say that twenty minutes of meditation equals two hours of deep sleep where your mind rests. Alternatively, when you feel your thoughts overwhelming you, consciously pay attention to your senses, such as your sense of touch, smell, or hear. It will relax your mind and let go of distracting thoughts.

2. Distraction

One beneficial fact about minds is that it can only think of one thing at a time. When you give one thing your attention, your mind automatically ignores other things. This is because brains can change the synchronization of brainwaves between different parts. The power of the brain to ignore was demonstrated by researchers from Brown University.

In reality, they informed the participants that they would feel a brief tap on the left middle finger or the big toe. In some cases, they were told to report the stimuli felt on the foot and ignore what they might feel on their hand. In others, they were told to only report the sensations felt on the hand and forget what they felt on the leg.

From the study, the researchers were able to identify important patterns of synchrony between various parts of the brain. This indicated that the mind could direct focus to either the hand or foot. But it could not direct attention to both the hand and the foot at the same time.

If your mind is taunting you, you can easily shift the synchronization and pathways of your brainwaves and release your worries by shifting your attention to something that will demand mental energy. Examples are working a crossword puzzle you can also try to organize your bookshelf or room in under 15 minutes, or try playing a musical instrument.

3. Mindfulness

Experts say that what you resist will persist. So when you try to force your mind to gain an understanding of calmness, you only make the situation worse and increase brain activity. The best you can do is to acknowledge your state of mind and surroundings in a non-judgmental way in what is known as mindfulness.

Studies have also shown that mindfulness can cause a decrease in rumination and reduced symptoms of depression. It can also remodel the physical structure of the brain.

Instead of ignoring or holding onto the things tormenting your brain, you need to be curious about how your brain is working and how your body feels. Try to do some breathing exercises as you relax, and observe your thoughts and emotions like a kind and warm bystander would. You might end up learning that they hold very little meaning.

By practicing mindfulness, you will notice that the voice in your head is providing nothing meaningful. It is using a list of your past experiences and failures to control present and future experiences. And this in turn leaves you feeling helpless, hopeless, and gives you a negative attitude. You need to observe your thoughts but the key is do not act on them. It will make your mind clear.

4. Exercise 

Exercising in another top method to achieve calmness. Your mind does not just rest when you go to bed, but moving your body gives it a rest from the thoughts overwhelming you.

Physical exercise is an effective form of therapy for your mind. Something as easy as a walk or morning run will give you an escape from the chatter on your mind. As you move your body, you need to focus on the movements, your heart rate, and breathing.

Physical activity will not just distract your mind, but it can relieve stress, according to research. It reduces the levels of adrenaline and cortisol, which are stress hormones. And it stimulates the production of feel-good hormones, endorphins. When you feel better about yourself, your thoughts and feelings will be more positive.

Studies have also associated physical activity with improved cognitive abilities. It has also proven to counteract normal and pathological aging. If you can, go to the gym, lift weights, or practice yoga. There are also lots of YouTube videos you can use or download an app for workouts. Exercise will help your body achieve top fitness, improve your metabolism, increase your energy, and keep your mind unburdened.

5. Unplug

In this era of technology and globalization, unplugging may seem like a difficult thing. It could feel like the world will pass you by. However, it is one of the healthiest things you could do for yourself and an effective step to clear of mind distractions.

Periodically unplug from your devices for a while. Find a space away from your television, phone, computer, and any electronic items. You need to let go of the urge to check your inbox for work emails or open your favorite social media app. Forget that project or paper you are writing and just make an effort to stay away from your devices.

There is a long list of things you can do like attend an event in your neighborhood. During this time, reconnect with real people, have face to face conversations, cultivate meaningful relationships with those around you, and just rebuild life outside of technology.

This is also a good time to spend time in the park with nature. Nature has proven to promote mental health by reducing cognitive fatigue and reducing stress and anxiety. Find an idea that will get you involved in gardening, like planting some flowers in the front yard. Getting into contact with the earth calms your mind. While you are at it, fully focus on the smell of the earth, sounds of nature, and the feel of the soil.

Another way to calm your mind is to engage in manual activities. A task like knitting, journaling, writing, drawing, or doing puzzles can help support your mental health. Reading a book by your favorite author or finding a new hobby are also great activities in your everyday lives. They will calm your mind, alleviate stress, and make your thinking clearer.

6. Substitution

One way to stop thinking about something is by substituting another thought. . It involves replacing your unwanted thoughts with better and more desirable ones. This technique of clearing the mind makes use of the caudal and the midventrolateral prefrontal cortex parts of the brain. These two regions bring specific memories into awareness, which replace the unwanted thoughts and give you the peace you crave.

Note that this is not an ideal long-term method to deal with the mess in your head. But you will learn how to get clear mind until you are in a place where you are strong enough to retrain your thinking, and develop a more productive thought process.

Personal mantras are positive words and reminder that are a great way to work on replacing unwanted thoughts. Repeating a positive personal mantra silently to yourself will quiet your mind and reduce self-judgment. For example, say something like ‘I am someone worthy of love’ or ‘I am in control of the situations in my life’.

With continuous usage, these positive affirmations become an effective way to counter the negative things going through your mind and negative feelings and replace them with positivity.

Find time to practice gratefulness. It is an excellent way to substitute negative thoughts with positivity. There are a lot of things to be thankful for, something like having work or home is enough reason to being grateful. List down five things and focus your mind on them.

Conclusion

Stress from work, frustration from failing to meet your dreams and desires, a past trauma that causes anger suppression, or other negative events and challenges, can leave you feeling overwhelmed and have you lose perspective in life.

But you now have information and tips on how to clear mind distress, which is something most people struggle with. These strategies can help improve the quality of your life, achieve your dreams and happiness, and become more productive in the workplace.

Form the habit of meditating for at least twenty minutes every day in a place free from noise and interruptions. It can have positive effects like alleviate your mood, unburden your head, and promote positive emotions. You can also practice some breathing exercises at any time you feel overwhelmed.

Exercising will also work in calming your head. For example, take evening walks, when in the office, find an opportunity to stand from your desk every few hours and you can take a walk in the street.

Spend some time every day without any type of device and use the time to interact with people and cultivate new hobbies. Get into the habit of taking a break from the normal routine and doing something different. There are a lot of things you can do like writing, attending an event that does not involve work, taking a new course, making new friends, reading books, and listening to the sound of nature.

You can also journal, blog, practice breathing exercises, and if it gets difficult when the workload gets heavy, get a friend you can be accountable to. These moments you spend giving yourself a break will help you get the clarity you need.

Begin your day by writing a list of everything you are grateful for. There is always a reason to be thankful. Point out the many items, people, and things that make living better. Distraction, mindfulness, and substitution are three scientifically-proven techniques that carry benefits in clearing your head in order to achieve your goals and experience positive changes in your thinking.

Take these actions, and the level of calmness you will achieve will help you utilize your full potential and keep your energy high. It will help you resolve any problem fast, to undertake any task better, fight inattention, and achieve any goal you pursue.