14 Ways to Restore Clarity and Focus to the Mind

This is so typical in our over-stimulated and over-worked lives:
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• We wake up to a loud and rude alarm tone.
• We gulp down scalding coffee, jump in the shower, rush to work in the car and find ourselves stuck on the interstate that has quickly become a parking lot.
• We think of the things we need to do for the day which involves tasks for both home and work.

Sensory overload and chronic stress have been known to weaken the immune system, disrupt sleep and cloud our judgment.  We become anxious, jittery, irritable and accident prone. And we wonder why we are miserable. We lead lives that are far too complicated and we wonder why we don’t even have time and space to think; and don't’ forget that all the anxiety, stress and the emotions that stem from that diminish our abilities to deal with life on a daily basis, causing more chaos, and more feelings of being overwhelmed.

Here are 14 ways to restore calm, focus, and clarity:

1.  Calming the mind is necessary for calming down, regaining focus and clarity.

2.  Breathe deeply to regulate the heartbeat and the blood flow.

3.  Stop and look up from our computer screen. Look out the window and gaze at the treetops and the sky.

4.  Drink some water slowly (don’t gulp it down) and close our eyes. 

5.  Turn down the blinds, turn off the lights, close the office door and enjoy some dark quiet.

6.  Breathe and breathe deeply.
 
7.  Electronic gadgets often set the pace of our lives.  It is time to turn off the TV, hibernate the computer and put the cell phone on silent mode. It is time to sit still and NOT think.

8.  Meditation works for many to calm the mind and create an inner peace needed to deal with busy lives. One can meditate for 10 minutes and restore balance to the mind that brings clarity and focus. Once again, the breathing and stillness that is part of meditation is essential to restoring clarity and alleviating stress. Guided imagery CDs can be a lifesaver and can be used during a lunch break to detach from the world and find solace in a beautiful place that is stress free, again, diverting the mind’s attention to a better place, which sorts chaos.

9.  If we feel that we need to walk to clear our mind, then we should walk around the block and leave “it all behind.” 
 
10. If we feel that scrubbing the kitchen floor is a metaphor for clearing out the emotional debris in our lives, then go ahead scrub the kitchen floor, we must.
 
11. Sleep! Sleep is essential to provide the proper rest for the mind and the body. Are you getting enough? 8 hours nightly is recommended by experts.

12. Vigorous physical exercise (like climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator) often de-clutters the mind.

13. When attempting to find solutions or make decisions or choose between conflicting ideas, we have to learn to label feelings and thoughts, list down priorities and sort through thoughts as one would sort out a sock drawer: we dump all the socks on the bed and arrange the socks in piles (whites and darks or sports socks and dress socks). Then attempt to find the pairs and bring them together. Those socks without pairs, we put in a garbage bag – we can use them to wax the car or make sock puppets for the kids. Much of the things we need to do can be mentally sorted out in this way. Looking at our thoughts and emotions as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle enable us to control the way we think and feel. 

14. We may not be able to control the volume of the boss’s yelling from across the room, but we can certainly control the way we feel and think about the boss without yelling back at him, throwing the phone book at him and losing our job. 

Those that think they may not have the time to take the action steps described above, think again because not taking action will only lead to burnout and affect your productivity in all parts of your life, including, work and personal.  You are worth it, take the time to make yourself whole, and bring clarity and focus back to your mind.