Calming the mind...

Train your mind to be calm in every situation.

- Unknown

This is high on my list of skills to cultivate and is of course easier said than done. Apparently one third of North America suffers from anxiety and/or depression.

9 Ways to Calm Your Anxious Mind (compliments of Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D., Psychology Today, June 28, 2015 issue)
Powerful research-based approaches to stop racing thoughts and move forward.
1. Attempt Cognitive Distancing
Try to see your anxious thoughts as guesses not facts. Just because something could happen, doesn’t mean it will.
2. Try Cognitive De-fusion
Stop being fused with your thoughts. Think of your thoughts as moving data passing through your mind rather than objective truth about a situation.
3. Practice Mindfulness
Practice observing your thoughts, rather than reacting automatically to them. Think of your thoughts as clouds floating by.
4. Focus on Direct Experience
Your mind makes up stories about who you are, and about your safety and lovability. Not all of these stories are accurate.
5. Label Things
Label the type of thought you are having, rather than paying attention to its content; judging, worrying, criticizing. Do you want to spend your time judging and worrying?Are there less judgmental or worried ways to see the situation.
6. Stay in the Present
Is your mind regurgitating the past? Just because something negative happened in the past doesn’t mean it has to happen today. Ask yourself if the circumstances, or your knowledge and coping abilities have changed since the last time.
7. Broaden Your View
Anxiety makes our minds contract and focus on the immediate threat without considering the broader context. Question whether this situation is really as important as your anxiety says it is?
8. Get up and get going
Do a different task or activity to get your mind stuck out of the loop.
9. Decide Whether a Thought is Helpful
Even if a thought is true doesn’t mean that it is helpful to focus on it, not all the time. Focus your attention on what is helpful and let the rest go!

Great tips!

Blessings,

Chatgirl