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How to clear your mind step by step: 5 tips

How to clear your mind step by step: 5 tips

March 28, 2024

In the day to day it is easy for things to happen that make us feel bad, that we inoculate a certain amount of anxiety or that remind us of stressful experiences that come again and again to our consciousness.

Faced with this type of experiences ... how to clear the mind? In this article we will see some tips that will facilitate this transition from a mental state agitated and marked by anxiety to another in which there is greater calm and, in general, a better disposition to act constructively without focusing attention on what we disturbs

  • Related article: "The 7 types of anxiety (causes and symptoms)"

Tips to know how to clear your mind

It is clear that the human mind is one of the most complex phenomena of nature. We are able to feel, think and imagine a great repertoire of psychological elements , and this has allowed us to survive for thousands of years, even when civilizations did not exist.


However, the fact that we are complex living beings with an amazing tendency to see ourselves psychologically influenced by our environment does not only have advantages. The price a for that facility for "soaking" of what happens around us makes some of those mental prints escape our voluntary control. Traumas are the classic example of this, but there are many other less serious cases. For example, if we have been stressful for a week or something has happened that has disturbed us , clearing our mind will not be something that will be solved in a matter of a second.

Keeping in mind that most mental processes escape immediate voluntary control, soothing the mind is not an easy task, nor is it something that can be done immediately, in a few seconds. However, we can do things so that, indirectly, our nervous system comes out of that state of excessive excitement. For this we must act both in the way in which we relate to the environment, and in certain physiological processes that can be influenced indirectly. Let's see how to do it.


1. If you can, go to the quietest place available

This first step is important, since it allows that the "noise" that is already in our head is not added more real noise coming from the outside. Undergoing many stimuli at the same time is not the best idea when it comes to calming the mind, given that hinders the voluntary control of the attentional focus .

So, go to a quiet room or an open natural space in which calm reigns, if it can be a wide meadow so as not to have near visual obstacles that can make you feel the existence of possible threats (something unrealistic but that, when we experience anxiety, we can come to think relatively easily).

2. Understand the cause of your discomfort

This is a first step that allows you to organize your thoughts so that your beliefs and opinions about them form a more or less coherent "everything". In the face of uncertainty we tend to assume that the most terrible and negative situations will occur, but express in a more rational and systematized way What we believe helps to rule out several of these fears, although usually not all of them.


So, this is a first step to locate those beliefs that may be affecting what we feel at that moment, the root of the fact that we need to calm the mind since there is something that makes us feel bad.

To make this step easier, you can write on a piece of paper what you think you feel. With a few lines it will suffice, but in some cases you will want to lengthen more spontaneously. If so, spend the time you think is necessary and keep in mind that nothing you are writing about has to adjust to what actually happens: simply it's a description of how you feel at that moment .

Then, assess whether there are aspects of that description that sound clearly unrealistic. Something that can help you is to imagine that what you read has happened to another person: would it make sense to you all that is explained?

On the other hand, if you think that the reason why you have entered into this state of anxiety is not based on specific experiences but it has to do with something more primary and intuitive (the fact of having seen a video in which there is a lot of violence , the appearance of intrusive thoughts that make you remember an image that you do not like, etc.) skip this section, since in this case the root of the problem is not easy to verbalize nor does it have to be based mainly on beliefs.

3. Use relaxation exercises

In this step, the target is in the physiological processes that contribute to keeping you in a state of alert even though there is no real immediate danger that is stalking you.For this, you can use aids such as Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation or various types of breathing exercises.

Keep in mind that this is one of the ways to clear your mind that requires a minimum of preparation, although having practiced a few times is usually enough to get results.

4. Look for stimulating tasks in which to channel your energy

Unlike the other tips to clear your mind, it does not focus so much on eliminating that activation surplus as, rather, on channel part of that psychological tension . Doing sport is a good way to achieve it, since in this type of activity it is easy to find a balance between your skill level and the level of difficulty of the challenges you propose.

By doing this, it is easier for attention to be fixed in the coordination of your muscles according to an immediate objective, so that the recurrent thoughts and mental images that come in your path will lose strength in favor of an activity that demands your five senses in the here and now.

5. Get help

There are cases in which the discomfort and the sensation of mental agitation are so pronounced that one can not manage the situation. In this type of situation it is good to seek the help of other people, be they friends or relatives, so together we can resignify what produces discomfort.

If this tamoco helps, it is best to go to psychological therapy provided by mental health professionals . Although in the latter case it obviously takes more than a few minutes to obtain results, it is highly advisable for situations in which the intensity of the phenomenon experienced is high.


5 tips to improve your critical thinking - Samantha Agoos (March 2024).


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