There are many reasons why a person might have an anxious mind. These anxious states can make a person feel paranoid, uneasy, nauseous, and even dizzy. However, just because your mind takes on an anxious state doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. There are several techniques and tricks you can use to calm and ease your mind when it may feel like it’s running away from you. Here are three of our favorite ways to calm an anxious mind.
Admit You Are Anxious or Uneasy
The first step in trying to calm an anxious mind is to recognize that it is anxious in the first place. Delaying this acknowledgment only allows your mind to race deeper into unwanted territory where it can take over thoughts, actions, and feelings. When you begin to feel anxious, acknowledge that it’s happening. This puts you in control of the situation so that you can move towards a solution that helps. Once you’re in the driver’s seat, you have a variety of tools at your disposal to calm and discard the oncoming anxiety episode.
Be Present, Rather Than Focusing On The Past Or Hypothetical Futures
Many anxious episodes occur because of the uncertainty people feel regarding their future. This worry could stem from the insecurity of what’s next for the immediate future or long-term future. This can include navigating familial changes, professional changes, or other personal changes. Letting your mind enter into this worrisome state means letting it run away with ideas and hypotheticals that may never happen.
Anxiety over the future often comes from imagining the worst of scenarios. Many of them are very unlikely to ever come true. On the opposite end of the spectrum, many people can become anxiety-ridden with thoughts of the past. Everyone has had embarrassing moments, missed chances, or failures in their lives. However, going back to those moments in a negative light will only lead to anxiety and a lack of self-love.
Meditate
Sometimes, anxious feelings come about because of the number of tasks we have to finish in the day. Work, school, children, self-care, leisure time, and fitness routines are all things many people try to squeeze into the span of 24 hours. When we don’t get to all of them or fall behind early in the day, we begin to feel anxious that we will “fail” on that day.
When these feelings begin to creep in, take 20 minutes to completely reset your mentality. Acknowledge that you are beginning to feel stressed. Then, identify where the stress is bubbling. Oftentimes, our bodies will tell us what and where things are going wrong. Proceed to identify what is causing your stress exactly. It could be the number of things on the to-do list that’s causing anxiety, but it’s only the immediate next task that gets the ball rolling into everything else!
Once you have identified where the stress is and what is causing it, take time to break the next task down and focus only on this task. Take about ten minutes doing this, breathing and closing your eyes between intervals as you do so. Once you have finished, head into the next task with renewed resolve. Repeat this with the rest of the tasks for the day if necessary.
Our minds require constant care and attention. Feeling anxiety and stress is a normal part of life, but letting it get out of hand only damages our self-esteem and mental health. At Foothills Neurology, we strive to treat every single one of our patients with the utmost attention and care possible. We start by listening to you and always address your concerns with kindness and professionalism. If you feel you need help with neurology-related issues or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our professionals.