Clear that mind chatter

As I was enjoying a massage today it dawned on me that whilst my body was dutifully relaxing, my mind was busy chattering away.  It’s something that happens periodically and prompted me to write a short post to offer some suggestions for dealing with it.

I find that I wander off onto completely obscure topics or have a song lyric in my head.  I don’t know why or how – but in they pop and until I make a conscious effort to silence my mind there they go round and round.  So once I had acknowledged that I was busy holding a conversation with myself, I made an effort to focus on the music and let my mind follow the rhythm of that rather than conjuring up more snippets of chat. It was hard initially, I kept returning to the random thoughts but gradully found myself getting more absorbed in the music until soon I was so relaxed in body and mind that I started to doze.

On this occasion the music worked well for me but often I find it harder to switch off.  Imagining myself in a completely dark space can sometimes help to clear my mind (I get so absorbed in the visualisation that the chatter stops) but also picturing a word in your mind can shift the focus enough.  If you’re trying to get to sleep, visualise the word ‘sleep’ and spell each letter slowly over and over again until you start to feel relaxed.

If you’re not a fan of visualisations or have a lot on your mind that is churning round you could try a ‘mind dump’ each evening before you go to bed.  Keep a large notebook handy and take a few moments to write down everything that is going around in your head.  Everything – no matter how insignificant it seems, just transfer it from your mind onto paper and as you write tell yourself that all these thoughts are now on paper so your mind can release them safe in the knowledge that they are all there if and when you need them.

If you have any other techniques you’d like to share to help clear your mind please feel free to add them as a comment.