Have Your Ever Wished Your Thoughts Came With A Pause or A Stop Button?
There are around 50,000+ thoughts that we have every day and when you have anxiety or depression, these thoughts are very troubling as they stress you out and often happen so fast you almost feel dizzy or these thoughts can have you feeling sad or terrible about yourself. For some people, they can even be experiencing both anxiety and sadness.
But what can you do?
These thoughts are so hard to fight and your likely already exhausted from racing from one worry to another or have little energy to work on changing your thoughts due to your depression.
At it’s heart, these thoughts are a mindfulness problem. Being mindful relates to your ability to enjoy the present moment, which anxiety does not let you do as it has you living in the future and wondering “what if this happens and then if that happens, what will I do if this other thing happens . . .” Depression also does not let you enjoy the present moment as we focus on all the past things we regret, what’s happened to us, or why we have lost our hope.
True enjoyment though can only happen in the present.
I dare you, to try to really be happy and enjoy yourself in the past or future. Oh, you can reminisce about a great moment in the past or anticipate one in the future, but it is only a shadow of how good you can feel in the present. For example, imagine you plan to eat ice cream tonight, are you enjoying it more anticipating it or when you eat it later?
So how do I enjoy the present moment more?
Here’s some ideas you can try:
Notice the present moment experience, really sensing into the experience using your five senses to really enjoy what you see, hear, feel, taste, smell, can touch, how connected you feel to others, or how you enjoy a moment alone, etc.
Use mindfulness skills to slow or stop your thinking for awhile. There are so many mindfulness practices I could not possibly list them all, but some to look up and try might be mindful eating, walking, focusing on your breath or a part of your body, focusing on an object, etc. The key is to focus on the steps involved in the activity you choose or the details of it. For example, if you choose walking, notice lifting you leg, how you place each foot, does heel or toe happen first, pause, then notice you other leg. You are single mindedly focusing with all your mind on what you chose to focus on.
When you practice being mindful, its super important to Single Task! (Absolutely No Multitasking!) Multitasking keeps our thinking brain moving.
When you get distracted by your thoughts, and I guarantee you will if you are new to training your brain in this way, try your best not to judge yourself, but to gently and with self compassion bring your attention back to what you are focusing on. And if you do judge yourself, try your best to not to judge your judging.
Practice radical self acceptance and self compassion, viewing what shows up as helpful information for you, instead of valuing it as good or bad.
I hope these tips help you better manage your thoughts of anxiety and depression and allow you to better experience the beauty of the present moment. It is also true though that some people feel more able to practice mindfulness when it is guided so that may mean finding a therapist or person skilled in mindfulness that is a good fit for you in Eureka, CA. If you are still feeling stuck, please feel free to call me at (707) 954-7060 for a free 15 minute consultation. I’d be happy to hear about what is going on for you and to help direct you to the right person to help you. If you are looking for anxiety counseling, depression counseling, or trauma informed counseling, you can read more about how I help here.