Spring Cleaning for the Mind: Ways to Reset

What do you do when your mind is consumed with negative thoughts? Do you let it ruminate over and over, distract yourself, or actively try and change this habit that keeps us down? Are you even aware when it’s happening?

You may wonder, “What’s the big deal?” The reality is that for every negative thought there’s an equally negative reaction to your body, contributing to greater physical decline every time.

So, what do we do?

The first step for improving any area of our lives is awareness. Once we’re aware of what we’re doing, we can then change it, and the impact of it.

The following are some tips to counter those unwanted sneaky, toxic negative thoughts:

• Pay attention to your thoughts. An easy way to do this is to notice to how your feeling, as negative thoughts result in feeling bad in some way. Once you’re aware of the negative mindset, do something to counter it, such as going for a walk, an act of kindness, doing a puzzle (crosswords, word finds or jigsaw puzzles force you to concentrate elsewhere), go for a bike ride, plant some vegetable or flower seeds indoors or out, and whatever else you can think of that takes you to a place where you can be in the moment in a state of peace and joy.
  
  
• Start a gratitude journal. You may have heard about this, as it’s a common tool used for the mind because it works. Imagine starting your day of in gratitude? It’s ritual you can do each morning that keeps your mind focused on what you have and things that make you happy (rather than the alternative of being consumed with what you don’t have and things that make you feel miserable).  And as you go through your day, you’ll notice things that you can add to your journal next time. This simple task can help keep you connected emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
  
  
• Write your own go-to list of things that make you feel happy, joyful, peaceful, grateful, and so on. Keep it in a place for easy access, so when you find yourself consumed with negativity you can counter it with something you feel like doing from your list. A few items you can include are music, gratitude prayer, a funny movie or television show, walking your dog (or someone else’s), dancing or any movement, reading poetry or inspirational material. And you can continue adding to your list to keep things interesting.

Our state of mind is connected to our emotional and physical health, and collectively is the hub of what makes anything possible for us to be able to do in this world.