Life is always filled with ups and downs. It’s rarely all smooth sailing and peaceful. With unending responsibilities and a million things to do in a day, our minds can get ahead of us.  Getting a few chill moments with your feet up, a cup of coffee, or a nap can calm you down. But if your mind won’t stop ticking, even these moments are not enough to ease your stress. 

A mind full of angry, stressful, or worrisome thoughts can be classified as a symptom of mild anxiety, something that affects as many as 40 million adults in the United States every year – that’s around 18% of the country’s population.

These statistics reveal that finding peace is a challenge for many. 

So, let’s find out how this can be fixed!

What To Do When You Can’t Stop Thinking 

If you find yourself stuck in stressful situations, try breaking free with the following steps: 

1. Allow Thoughts to Happen 

Have a mind? Will think! Simple!

If you are actively thinking, you are normal. So the next time thoughts race through your head, do not fight them. Not even the most evolved have been able to fight their thoughts. Allow yours to enter your mind, observe them and let them go right by.  

Acknowledge every thought that you are experiencing, distressing or otherwise, and work to perform activities that can combat the emotions you are feeling. For instance, you could choose to listen to your favorite artist, go for a walk, or bake a delicious sponge cake. This will distract you from your worries, and make you pay more attention to what is working in your life over what’s not.

Alternatively, you could try a personalized numerology video report that can show you how to better direct your thoughts and energies!   

2. Add Yoga and Meditation to your daily routine 

Performing a 10-minute yoga routine before you start your day, or even before you end it, can encourage an increase in self-compassion and mindfulness. This is a significant contributor to good moods.

A range of different stretching, physical movement, and controlled breathing exercises can work wonders to bring about significant benefits in your life. These include a reduction in muscle tension and cortisol levels, deeper and sounder sleep, increased flexibility and strength, and lower blood pressure and heart rates. 

Practicing mindful meditation in addition to regular yoga can facilitate increased awareness in present moments. They can also work to clear your mind of negative and uncomfortable thoughts. 

3) Keep Yourself Focused in the Present 

Instead of beating yourself up over losing focus on your task, you can first begin to realign yourself with the present by removing any distractions from your space. Find a quiet, safe and comfortable place to relax and focus on bringing your mind back on track. 

Then move on to taking slow and deliberate deep breaths. Your body’s first reaction to stress is physical, so to bring the focus back in, close your eyes and focus on diaphragmatic breathing. Grab a book next to jot down all your tasks and prioritize them in the urgency or importance of completion. This will be able to significantly de-clutter your mind, giving you much-needed focus. 

4) Take Frequent Breaks from the Routine and Judgements 

Humans are judgemental by nature but it is necessary to understand that judging is not a very useful activity. Many also go on to judge themselves for not being able to complete tasks or focus on a regular basis. 

You can try to change this routine narrative by first stopping yourself in your tracks the moment you sense judgment. Try observing your thoughts for a few days and recognizing when to put a full stop to a thought process. Next, go on to understand why it is that you thought about what you did. Try speaking to a professional about it or even journaling could help. 

A good start to nonjudgment is self-love. 

5) Get Up and Flow – Trust the Process 

Trusting the process is an activity that involves you believing that your end result will be worth all the efforts and struggles you have had to face to get there. It allows you to recognize and look past the mess that is your circumstances, leading to the realization that the end goal will be worth it. 

This is a satisfaction that is par no other when it comes to aligning yourself with the present. Engaging in a busy and highly active routine can create space for dissociations with the present. Understanding, however, that there is an outcome to the rigorous and fast-paced schedule can go a long way in finding peace amongst the chaos. 

6) Choose to be Stress-Free 

Choosing to be stress-free is an active task that you will have to undertake to reduce the noise in and around you. One of the first steps to doing this is not creating any unrealistic scenarios in your head. Follow this up with not shouldering more than you can at a certain point. Learn to say ‘No’ as and when you need to, keeping your interests and comfort in mind. 

Try to surround yourself with individuals who make you happy, and spend more of your time with inspirational and influential individuals. And lastly, if you reduce the number of complaints you make on a regular basis, there can be room to accept what is happening in the present for what it is. 

7) Practice gratitude 

Try gratitude journaling as a way of expressing what you feel when you are overwhelmed. Set aside a specific time for yourself in the day where you can associate gratitude with the people, personal attributions, and even regular events. 

Make a list of everything you are grateful for. It could be as simple as I’m grateful for the ability to breathe, walk, run or savor delicious food.  

To be able to understand and be grateful for your current situation, you can even try recalling the worse situations that you have been in. If anything, this might just help you appreciate your current circumstances more. You can even try learning different gratitude prayers to express gratitude for the situations you find yourself in. 

Guest Post By Rachel Torgerson

Rachel Torgerson is a Tarot reader, dream-worker, shamanic healer, and the author of tarostrology.net. With roots in Christian mysticism, she blends elements of the divine feminine, dream interpretation, and sacred imagery into her spiritual practice and healing work. For many years, she has shared the magic of manifestation with thousands of clients by tapping into the transformational energy of color and Tarot to promote self-empowerment and problem-solving through retreats, lectures, workshops, and one-on-one services.