Sometimes my head gets clouded with too many worries, and I can’t seem to shake them. I’m normally a very positive person, so I don’t like feeling powerless over negative thoughts. So I’ve tried adopting simple meditation strategies, mindfulness practice, and positive self-affirmations.

The key for me is to do short meditations. When you’re new to it, it can feel silly to just sit on the ground by yourself for ten minutes. What do you even do for that long? I remember thinking to myself right before I started. But I really enjoyed the feeling of setting aside time to specifically observe my thoughts in action. Meditation and mindfulness is not about having control over your thoughts, it’s more about being aware of them and noticing them as they are, undisturbed. Once you are aware of how your mind wants to naturally move, then you can start to do something about any patterns you may find that are negative.

Today I did a meditation about grounding and peacefulness to clear my mind of pressures and worries. I’m not sure what it is about meditating, but I think it’s working really well for me. I felt my mind unfold and open up to become extremely large and aware. I felt myself connect down to the roots of the earth and knew with a conviction that I deserve to be here. I am grounded to this earth like a mountain and it will take more than petty trouble to shake me over. I felt extremely large, like a cloud spread over a huge expanse of land. Nothing could touch me or interrupt my path. And in this way I saw that how I feel is up to me. No one is doing this to me, no matter how much it feels like it. I have to absorb the actions of others and decide how I will let them affect me. By allowing my mind to roam over great distances without being weighed down by negativity, I know I have the power to see all of my interactions in a more peaceful light.

And not surprisingly, the rest of my day was great. My mind did not visit the foul places it sometimes does that are associated with jealousy, anger, and bitterness. Instead of thinking about bad things that happened in the past, I thought about how those things were necessary to get me here today. Without the specific combination of events in my life, I would be a totally different person.

I think meditation, or some form of it, can be wonderful for many types of people. Right now I am using an app called Breathe. It provides many different guided meditations, and most of them are freeeee! Someday I hope to be able to guide myself through it, but right now I am benefitting from this app a lot. And it’s good about keeping me accountable!

What techniques do you use to clear your mind or focus your thoughts?