How to put your state of mind in order? What conditions are needed for this?
Each of us has moments in life when we are overwhelmed with various feelings and experiences. These can be, as positively colored experiences, and maybe, quite the opposite, such experiences, from which I would like to get rid of as soon as possible.
When the joyful moments of life come, we prefer to enjoy them, experience them in their entirety and, if possible, hold them for as long as possible. We try to get rid of negative experiences, such as anger, anxiety, and discontent.
There are many ways you can get rid of negative experiences, or at least change them so much that they don't harm us.
Let's imagine any negative experience as an imbalance in the system, a kind of breakdown. For example, in a state of spiritual harmony, nothing knocks us out of balance, everything seems to be in its place, we have positively emotionally colored experiences in which we are comfortable. When negative experiences arise, spiritual harmony disappears. How does it manifest?
First, we feel bad. Agree, it's not the most pleasant thing to feel irritation, anxiety, etc. Life becomes bleak and empty. Also, our negative experiences can poison the lives of the people around you.
Secondly, any strong feelings (especially negative ones) require a large amount of our vital energy. Remember how excitement is exhausting, although outwardly, with excitement, we just usually walk around the room, which in itself cannot cause fatigue (however, some run on the ceiling). There is less energy left for everything else.
It turns out that our body has all the necessary mechanisms that allow us to balance all emotional processes. The body itself brings us into balance, if we do not interfere with it. All that is needed is privacy, time and some conditions.
In the simplest case, it looks like this. Suppose we were slightly burned with hot tea (not so much painful, but unpleasant). Some negative experience arises, fortunately, in this case, mild and short-lived. We hold our hand under a stream of cold water, and after a while we forget about it. And now the most interesting thing - where did our negative experience go? After all, we did not make any effort to make it go away. And the fact is that our body itself took care of this experience to go away. This example shows how the body itself copes with our imbalances. But in life this usually does not work out, usually this imbalance is greater than our body can "process" and it only accumulates. And here we need some conditions, which we have already mentioned. Then this natural mechanism of "processing" of mental imbalance can be launched. We all use it to one degree or another, and here the point is, at least not to interfere with it, but as much as possible to help start working.
In order for you and me to come into balance, you just need to not interfere with the work of our natural healing mechanisms. Namely, you need to give yourself some time and allow yourself to feel, live, “process” all the “unnecessary” feelings and experiences that we have.
Do we feel irritated, or even angry? Wonderful. Allow this feeling to be, to develop its natural course, watch it, do not delay it, thereby you allow yourself to "process" it. The main thing is not to hide these feelings in yourself.
There are a huge number of simple and at the same time available ways with which you can put your condition in order.
1. Running or any exercise that suits you.
This should be any exercise that involves some muscle tension and movement. The fact is that, relatively speaking, your emotional tension during such exercises turns into muscle and thus is discharged.
In the process of bodily tension, you stop restraining your feelings and conditions arise when they begin to manifest, and when manifested, they allow the body to come to a more natural state.
Relatively speaking, when you start running, you may unexpectedly have negative experiences, such as irritation, anger, apathy, etc., you may recall any events that carry an emotional charge. This is what you need. This means that the process of liberation from them has begun.
You just need to live, feel, “work through” everything that you will feel.
There is no need to force anything here or remember something on purpose. Everything you need will pop up by itself. You have created the necessary conditions for your body to bring itself into harmony.
And, of course, the most important criterion is the feeling of pleasure and renewal after playing sports. The feeling of satisfaction just shows that the body has brought itself into a state of harmony.
Everyone needs their own time for such activities. Someone needs 10-15 minutes, for someone a real effect and satisfaction will bring 30-40 minutes. The only criterion for correctness is your condition.
2. Keeping a diary.
This is a very interesting way to clean yourself up.
You take a piece of paper or open a notebook and write whatever you want to write. This can be either the event that left you with this or that residue, or your current experiences, or maybe you want to say something that you could not say to another person for some reason.
If this is an event, then you just need to describe it as if you were telling a close friend, noting the feelings and sensations that it caused you.
If your experiences are not associated with any particular event, then simply describe what you are thinking and experiencing at the moment. Write down your current thoughts and experiences, no matter how incoherent or absurd they may seem at first glance. If these are groundless worries, then write them down as many times as they will occur to you. Each time they will lose their strength. However, this requires a few more conditions. First, you need to fully focus on your current experience, on what you feel "here and now" (so that no one pulls you, and so that it does not turn out that you write about one thing, but think that it would be faster to finish it and get busy). You need to take some time for yourself, relax. And second, it is necessary to strictly dose the time of such work, for example, no more than 10-15 minutes. Then your experiences will be weakened.
Of course, if you are describing a specific event, then there is no need to set a time frame. You work until you feel that you have “reworked” the experiences that you had. In the process of such work, for sure, your attitude to the events described will change, new thoughts will come, you will be able to rethink and revise something in your life.
And again, the most important criterion is improving your well-being and mood.
3. "Walking".
This method is somewhat similar to playing sports, but has a milder effect.
You just need to walk through the forest, park, street, not thinking about anything on purpose. The very rhythm of your steps will create a special state in which you calm down and there will be an opportunity for the body to regulate itself.
The most important thing is, naturally, to walk with pleasure. It can take much longer than other methods, from 30 minutes to several hours. Again, you can define it according to your feelings. Surely you will remember any events, situations or your current affairs, and the rhythm of your steps will help you think about it philosophically, and not hastily with excitement. It is in this mode that the easiest way is to calm down, rethink something and allow the body to regulate its condition.
4. "Observing your experiences."
This is a whole class of methods that are used to restore strength. These are various meditation techniques, and autogenic training and many other methods, the description of which is found in numerous literature.
In the simplest case, you just sit down, relax and start observing the thoughts that come to you, without dividing them into necessary or unnecessary, good or bad. You allow any thoughts and feelings to be, without banishing them. Then your mind calms down and after a while you come to a state of greater equilibrium.
By observing your experiences, you help yourself to cleanse yourself of all that is unnecessary.
Of course, for these methods (and others) to work well, some training and patience are required. It is necessary to test these methods, to select the ones that suit you in the best way.
Andrey Prokofiev, psychologist.
