“Your vision will only become clear only when you can look in to your own heart.  Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes”.  Carl Jung.

Many of us perhaps don’t realise it, but in today’s fast paced, ‘always on’ and ever connected world, our minds can be busier than ever.

There’s nothing wrong of course with being focused and working towards our goals or doing whatever it is we need to do. However, an always active mind and never taking time out to mentally rest and rejuvenate could lead to anxiety, depression, fatigue, burn out and missed opportunities.

For some, the idea of a silent mind can be daunting.  Yet, if you can achieve a state of blissful mental quiet, for even just a few moments, you’ll reap the rewards.

Achieving a quiet mind is for many a challenging state to achieve, so the aim of this blog is to share a few ideas to help you achieve a quiet mind and enjoy the benefits it delivers.

To get into a nice, relaxed state of calm, I always suggest by starting with a focus on your breathing. More specifically, using a circular breathing motion.

Firstly, close your eyes, sit comfortably, with your feet on the floor and your hands resting in your lap. Now breathe in slowly and deeply through the nose, hold for a couple of seconds and then breathe out through the mouth very slowly, for a count of five, emptying the lungs. You can repeat this process for a few minutes (so long as it feels safe and comfortable for you).

To help you relax even further, as you inhale, imagine you’re breathing in some calming, relaxing feelings, perhaps your favourite colour in a cloud of pure fresh air.

Then breathe out your least favourite colour, this represents all your apprehension, tension, negative feelings, emotions and all your problems. As you exhale, you’ll be breathing these negative feelings away.

Now you’ll be feeling nice and calm and relaxed and in the perfect state to quieten your mind. At this point don’t try to force anything, let what will be, be. If you ‘try’ to banish thoughts, you’ll be putting effort and conscious thought into the process, and you want to achieve the opposite.

If you can, realise that there will be passing moments in life when your mind has been quieter and use these to lean in to now. It may be that past quiet moments were followed by ‘aha’ moments, or great ideas.

As you do this, it’s good to focus on something if it helps, maybe a ticking clock where you can notice and feel the quiet empty space between each tick. Or anything else that works for you. As you do this, focus on the darkness and space behind your eyes, feeling yourself becoming more and more relaxed.

You might need to be patient, it’s a natural process and your mind may or may not

Settle straight into a quiet peaceful state. If it doesn’t straight away, don’t worry about it and just keep relaxing.

If distracting thoughts float into and out of your mind, simply acknowledge them and let them go.  It’s likely that you will only experience short moments – if any – of quietness to begin with, and it may take persistent practice to achieve a quiet mind – this is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Few people can achieve a quiet mind straightaway, even for just short periods.  Remember, don’t try to force anything, if it feels uncomfortable for you in any way, you should stop.

If you would like to know more or feel you would benefit from some help or guidance, please feel free to get in touch.  I’d be happy to share a free relaxing hypnotherapy recording for you to listen to.

Best wishes,

Matt