STOP spiraling

The voice in our head can often be hateful, critical, cruel, negative and relentless. Often times we’re worrying about things that likely won’t even happen, or we analyze things from the past instead of letting them go and focusing on the here and now. What if you caught yourself though? What if I told you, that you could stop yourself? That you can silence that voice and refocus your thoughts? I’m going to share two helpful tips, the first one is a visualization, the second is setting a time to over think, ponder and reflect.

Visualization
When your brain starts spinning out of control, I want you to stop. To help you do that, I want you to visualize a stop sign. Not just any stop sign though, a massive one directly in front of you. I want you to see yourself standing in front of it. I want you to focus your brain on as many specifics about it as possible: the red, the white, the material it’s made of, what it would feel like to your touch, walk around it, see behind it. Recognize that you need to stop your brain from spiraling, and focusing on the stop sign will help. Sometimes, I even imagine taking a one way sign and affixing it on the same post as the stop sign, indicating that I need to move forward, move on and let the thought go.

Time to Think
My other suggestion is setting aside time to think, reflect and spiral a bit, a set time, you control it. I shower before bed to help with my sleep routine but also so I can dedicate that time to thinking, mulling, unpacking my day, releasing whatever needs to go and reminding myself of what’s left to do or deal with. The shower is often preceded or followed by jotting a to-do list for the next day, or days ahead. I explain this process as “emptying my brain”, my key thoughts and concerns are either organized, washed down the drain, or written on the list.

Review
You can stop the spiraling thoughts. You can dictate when you let yourself think.