5 ways to clear your mind

Life can be chaotic, and it often feels like a lot of wires are tangled inside your head. Anyone can experience this brain fogginess, whether they're a student, entrepreneur, social media influencer, freelancer, or mother juggling between tens of responsibilities.

When it happens, it feels like hundreds of tabs are opened in the browser of your mind, and you just can't decide which one to look at first. In moments like these, you just want one thing: clarity of thoughts. Having clear thoughts allows you to make better decisions and positive changes, and it basically gives your mind relief.

There are many ways to untangle the wires inside your brains but let's take a look at the top five ways to clear your mind!

1. Keep a Journal

Journaling is the best method to clear out your mind and it’s backed by studies too. No wonder, top productivity gurus use and recommend it as an excellent method to declutter thoughts.

Let's take a look at this magical system called journaling. It's simply the act of writing down your thoughts on paper (or a digital note-taking app). It takes thoughts out of your mind and puts them on paper, offering you a more objective perspective. As a result, you get a better idea of what to think and what action to take.

Apart from decluttering, journaling relaxes your mind and lowers your depression and anxiety level. You’ll also experience some other much-welcomed benefits, including but not limited to:

• Reduced blood pressure

• Improved immune system

• Better functioning of lungs and liver

• Improvement of mood

• And many others

Now, let's return to our main topic: clearance of mind. You may have noticed that when our thoughts are cluttered, we tend to get more stressed and anxious. In situations like these, journaling is recommended.

You can either go for prompt-based journaling or let it be a stream of thoughts without intervention. You can use pen and paper or any digital device such as a laptop or tablet. The main focus is to write down those voices in your head.

2. Make a To-Do List

There are times when the reason behind our chaotic mindset is our habit of multi-tasking and not prioritizing tasks. As a result, we feel stuck with multiple thoughts racing in our brains, and we can't seem to catch up on any one of them. This can also happen when we have a big task to do.

In a situation like this, the best solution is to start making a to-do list and do it the right way. You wouldn’t like to be one of the people who put everything on their to-do list and can’t tick half of them by the end.

Making an actionable to-do list is very simple - you just have to be with your time and energy. For example, start your day by writing down a rough list of tasks that you need to perform. Then pick out one task that should be your ‘highlight of the day’ and must be completed.

The next step is to categorize your tasks using these options:

• High priority: highly important and must be completed on time,

• Medium priority: important, but if something comes up, you can cancel them,

• Least priority: least important.

After you schedule your day in this manner, you will easily complete most of the tasks. And even if you don’t complete the ‘least priority’ assignments by the end of the day, it shouldn’t bother you much.

3. Practice Mindfulness

If you have some knowledge of the self-help world, you'll know that the term "mindfulness" is used a lot these days. It means to be aware or conscious about what you do and being present at the moment.

However, the idea may appear deceptively simple because staying present at the moment can be a big issue for the younger generation nowadays. But all it requires, is little effort and conscious practice, and you’ll learn to keep your head clear. For instance, if you are present in the moment while listening to a lecture, you won’t have to worry a lot about studying the material later.

4. Take a Walk

People have different sorts of ways to cope with stress or overthinking, such as eating, sleeping, or going for a walk. We all know that walking is very beneficial to one's health. But taking a walk can also defog your brain.

Here’s a tip to maximize the benefits of using this method - it may seem counterproductive initially, but you have to trust the process. Don’t listen to an audiobook, music, or podcast while walking. Studies prove that walking is as helpful in generating new flows of ideas as showering is.

So, if you are listening to something while walking, it might act as a blockage to your thoughts. Therefore, it might be a better idea to simply walk and sort out your thoughts.

5. Get Help

We just shared some evidence-based and tested methods to declutter your mind, but don’t freak out if they don’t work out for you. Keeping all of your thoughts to yourself can be harmful. It is a good idea to seek help so that you do not prolong the period of your struggles.

You can start by opening up to your friends or family. Sharing your feelings with someone who makes you feel heard can often make you feel better.

For a professional or school-related problem, you can ask your boss/teacher to give an opinion on it. But if the matter is too personal and you can’t share it with anyone, you should seek help from a professional who can understand you and give you good advice.

Final Verdict

To sum it up, you can choose one or more ways to clear your mind. Be patient and consistent with them if you’re eyeing long-term results.

That said, our brains cannot be cleaned like a dirty dish. It's a complicated part of our body, so you need to figure out what works best to keep it clear of too many unorganized thoughts. You can alternate between different methods, record the results, and compare them to find a method that works for you.