“Why did you do that?”
“You aren’t good enough”
“You shouldn’t try for that, you won’t be able to keep up”
“That was a bad decision”
“Why did you do that?”
Did you read that and think, “man, that sounds like how I talk to myself sometimes”?
It leaves you feeling hopeless, stuck, and honestly downright sad, huh? How you speak to yourself has a profound outcome of how you live your life, so why do SO many of us speak to ourselves in such a negative way?
It’s debilitating and downplays all of our potential to achieve greatness.
I struggled with this way of thinking for SO long. Don’t get me wrong every now and then I have little thoughts that creep up because, well, simply because old habits die hard. Every now and then I still have thoughts of “this won’t work, you should just let it go”.
However, the difference now is I don’t allow these thoughts to stay. I accept that they come and then release them instead of trying to resist them, or believe them to be true, and feel shame and embarrassment for even thinking that way.
How do You Clear Your Mind?
I searched for ways that made me feel enlightened, empowered and that made me feel like I was succeeding in overcoming the negative self-talk, in overcoming my Inner Voice.
I found ways that allow myself to feel like I am immediately taking massive action, as well as keeping my body, more importantly, my mind, in a calm and peaceful state that doesn’t feel like it is stressed by the thoughts that come and go.
4 Simple Ways to Clear Your Mind and Change Your Life
If you too want to clear your mind and see how much it can change your life, this is what I do when I feel stressed and overwhelmed by my thoughts:
1. Breathe
It’s not only good for survival as we need Oxygen to survive, but it’s good for tricking your body into a more relaxed state of being and for slowing down your thoughts. I take 5 deep breaths, with my eyes closed, and focus on my heart rate. During that time, I also try to clear my mind of all thoughts.
2. Create your very own vision statement, your own mantra
I then came up with a vision statement that I repeated to myself over and over again, until I found comfort:
“I am strong, I am capable, I am unique. I am not defined by the negative thoughts, I am defined by my actions. I am honest, I am prompt, I am a leader, I am a positive light in this world. I am strong, capable and unique.”
This helped me get past the thought that would circulate, or rather the negative downward spiral of thoughts.
3. Move more
I added movement with things I enjoyed (hiking, swimming, etc), but most importantly I forced my body to be outside. Get yourself in the beauty of nature, with fresh air and sunlight — treat those 3 things (nature, fresh air, sunlight) as vitamins, they’re good for your soul and help bring a new sense of light and love to your body.
4. Surround yourself with positive vibes
Feed your body, mind, and soul with nothing but positive influences from people, to books and songs and activities.
5. Finally, once you do all of that to reset – follow it up with creating a list of your top 5 priorities, put them on your calendar, and do not cancel them – you will feel more empowered when you accomplish your personal goals and make time for yourself.
You cannot learn anything new or progress if you’re not in a positive state of mind and environment.
Just remember, the way you think has the greatest influence on how you live your life. Whatever you feed your mind, will grow. Instead of feeding it doubts, feed it encouragement. Instead of feeding it fear, feed it faith. Instead of feeding it hatred and shame, feed it, love. LOTS of love. One thought at a time, you can overcome the negativity.
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Veda Polk
Veda is the creator of Life by Design: Health and Life Coaching Health and fitness have always been a passion of hers particularly in helping people find their way to a healthy state of being, both physically and mentally. Her primary focus is nutrition and healing the body internally with food, with a secondary focus on the “Inner Voice”. She struggled with both of these in College, and found a way to overcome binge eating, negative self-talk, Anxiety, yo-yo dieting, etc. As she continues to grow in her profession, she hopes to continue spreading the awareness of optimal functionality (in this big, scary world) by helping people find their way and their identity. Keep up with Veda on Facebook and Instagram.
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