We all know how hard it can be to try and work or be productive in a cluttered environment, but few of us make the same association when it comes to our own minds. It can be hard to switch off when there are so many thoughts buzzing through your head at once. An overwhelming surge of mind boggling worries are constantly flying around my head at unimaginable and incomprehensible speeds, yet I struggled for so long to learn how to tame these and make my mind a tidy, organised and calm environment that I want to exist in.
Sometimes, to purge your mind you have to take a step back and try and look objectively at the bigger picture (something incredibly hard to do when you can only ever observe from your subjective mind driven view point). But once you understand what is important and logical and rid your mind of the illogical doubts life becomes so much more enjoyable.
When I was in a fairly dark point in my life, someone told me that we see things not as they are, but as we are. Meaning that when our own mind is stuck in a place of worry and anxiety and misery, we look for these traits in the world around us. No two things can occupy the same space at the same time; it is a scientific impossibility, therefore you will never achieve a calm and happy mind when that space is already occupied by negativity. It is one thing to say or think something, but another thing all together to believe something.
I was not brought up religious, but just because I lack a belief in God does not mean a lack belief all together. Belief is one of the strongest concepts conceivable, it is the complete, undoubted acceptance of something to be true even when proof is impossible. It was belief that got me to where I am now. Belief that despite the evidence of how I had felt in the past, I could and would get myself into a happier space. The belief that I would not fail made sure that that very premise came true. I believed in myself and by doing so placed a transcendental power on my own mind to get itself to the place where it needed to be. I had the realisation that I needed to stop letting people who did so little for me control so much of my mind, and by believing that I could I took back that control for myself.
Below are a few little tips to do the same yourself:
1. Start every day with a positive thought
2. Every time you look in the mirror, tell yourself something you like about your appearance
3. Don't let other peoples emotions change yours
4. You are in charge of your mind, don't let negativity rent a space there
5. At the end of each day write down something you have to be grateful for
6. Believe in yourself
'And God said "love your enemy" and I obeyed him and loved myself' - Khalil Gibran
