Meditation can prove difficult for some people. While everyone can benefit from the practice, there are some obstacles certain individuals face when first starting out. For many, the issue comes along when you attempt clearing your mind of all thoughts. Though this is an integral step of most meditative practices, countless people all over the world find the idea of clearing the mind to be challenging, if not outright impossible. If you’re someone struggling with this, you might need a bit of help to get you on the right path.
The mind can easily fall prey to a million thoughts and distractions at any given time. Take a moment to look over these tips and find helpful ways for clearing your mind when you want to focus on meditation.
Write It Out
When you have a lot going on in your life, the idea of sitting down with a blank mind can be somewhat laughable. Keeping all of your fears, hopes, and obligations locked away in your head can cause you to feel a bit overwhelmed. Instead of preparing to meditate and assuming you can easily brush all of your concerns aside, you need to take a more direct approach. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down all of the various thoughts swirling around inside you.
Writing out your thoughts is a wonderful way to bring them to the surface in a healthy way. You might be surprised to discover some of the things you note while engaged in this exercise. The idea here is to jostle your thoughts a bit so that you aren’t completely taken aback by them when you start to meditate. Give yourself a moment to pinpoint some problems, jot them down, and see how it improves your ability to clear your mind when you’re looking to engage in some healthy meditation.
Exert Yourself Physically
Your mind and body are connected in ways you cannot even begin to imagine. Physical and mental stress exist together and can create a world of problems for you down the line. For many, the solution to creating a clear mind involves a good amount of physical activity. Studies have shown that engaging in exercise and other physical routines can help to settle erratic thoughts. This means the perfect time to meditate could be right after returning home from a particularly intense session at the gym.
Whether you’re lifting weights or going for a long run, engaging with your body in a physical way has a habit of improving the way the mind functions. Feeling a little tired when you sit down to meditate can be ideal, as you will be less inclined to lose yourself in your thoughts when your body is slightly fatigued. Experiment with different levels of exercise before meditation to see how much exertion you need to go through before striking the right balance.
Unplug
In the age of the internet, there are more distractions than ever before. No matter how dedicated you are to improving your mental and spiritual health, you may find yourself totally immersed in your phone. To really take advantage of your ability to meditate, you need to unplug now and again. Turn off your phone, close your laptop, unplug the television and focus on the present moment. This can prove to be the most challenging task, so don’t be too hard on yourself if you struggle with powering down your phone the first few times.
Meditation is a fantastic way to get in touch with yourself and find some clarity. Learn the best tactics for clearing your mind and discover the path that makes the most sense for you.