7 ways to BREAKFREE from your own MIND

People often discuss the physical clutter that is present is their lives, but according to me that clutter is easier to get rid of. There is a more complex clutter which lies in our minds - the mental clutter, this one is invisible and often weighs us down. It will prevent you from reaching your goals and may also get you on stage where you start second guessing yourself and your decisions. 

So I want to share seven techniques that will help you declutter your mind and BREAKFREE

1. Heightened Awareness

The first thing is to be more aware of yourself. To understand this better think about a horse and a horseman. Generally you are the horseman of your life, you decide the direction, you decide where the horse will go, basically you are in control. But every now and again, certain triggers are being pushed inside of us. Someone's pressing those buttons knowingly or unknowingly and all of a sudden you become the horse. 

Guess what? 

You can't control your horse anymore, it might go left, it might go right, it might speed up, it might throw you off. You are no longer in charge. Usually this happens when emotions go wild. Someone said something and you got angry. Someone said something and you felt jealous. So ask yourself - are you the horse or the horseman? 

And if those triggers, those buttons are being pushed, What are they? Why do you feel the way that you do? And how can you next control yourself? And as you realize you are becoming the horse, take action to become the horsemen again. 

There is a technique I use which is called box breathing, in this technique I take a deep breath, I hold it for six seconds, then I release for six seconds, I hold it for six seconds, and then I repeat the process. This helps in regaining control and getting more clarity and this will help you become the horseman again. 

2. Open your mind

Let me give you an example from my childhood, when I was a child I used to love ice cream, still do but at that time ice cream was my world. We used to go to the supermarket for ice cream and the options were limited to three flavors. But all that changed when Haagen Dazs opened up in my city. When I entered that ice cream parlor, I was in heaven, there were so many flavors you could choose from, that I literally tried all the flavors until I picked the one I loved the most. 

If I would have been rigid and stayed in my comfort zone I wouldn't have discovered the possibility of experiencing something better. That's why we have to open up our minds to better opportunities and possibilities. Imagine that you have walked without shoes your whole life and someone gives you the most comfortable shoes. You wouldn't walk barefoot ever again! So, you should be ready to step out of your comfort zone and find better options and opportunities and that will only be possible if you open up your mind at first. 

3. Acceptance of self

So many times in life I wanted to be better than who I was. I wished I was a little bit taller. I wished my ears weren't so small. I wished that my calf muscles are bigger so that I wouldn't be referred to as having chicken legs. I wished that my nose would be different. I wish that my muscles would be bigger, the list goes on and on. When does it stop? Look at this world where people are so obsessed with how they look that they have forgotten about how they feel. 

Today, I can change my ears. I can change my nose. I can get more muscles. But when does it stop really?  When you finish one list, the next one comes along? 

Even I didn't realize that I wasn't accepting myself for who I was and it all happened one day when I was at the barber’s shop, because the barber said hey, you know, you got all these grey hair but you can look a bit younger by colouring some of these, not on the whole head. It shouldn’t look like you obviously did it, but just you know, a few here and there, by fifty percent and that way you're going to look a lot younger. So I did that and I felt good and thought yeah, this is pretty amazing. 

But after the third time I realized - I'm talking to other people about accepting themselves, and I haven't even accepted myself. Not only did I spend more money, spend more time sitting on that chair, but I was changing my appearance in a way, right? I wasn't being honest to myself and from that day onwards I said enough. I accept me for who I am. I don't need to have bigger muscles. I don't care if someone calls and says my ears are small. I have chicken legs. I'm okay with that.

Not only am I okay with that, I tell myself I am plenty and more. When was the last time that you looked in the mirror and you said - I am plenty and more and just accept yourself for the beautiful, beautiful human being that you are...the beautiful soul that you are. I think it's time to forget about all the judgment, and time to focus on the self and say, ‘I am plenty and more’ because you are a beautiful, amazing human being and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

4. Why Worry?

Have you felt worried about something or someone? You would say ‘who doesn’t?’. Now, what if I told you, there is no need to worry. You would think that I’m kidding and it is not possible. Let’s break it down step by step. 

If you have a problem you are worried about, think about it this way: 

• Can you do anything about the problem? 
• If your answer is no, then why worry about something which is not in your hands. 
• But if your answer is yes, then why are you worrying? 
• Put a plan of action in place, then why worry about it?

Now, maybe your problems are more complex. In that situation segregate the problems into things you can do something about and things you can't. For the thing you can't do anything about just push them aside and stop worrying about them. For the things you can get a solution just put a plan of action in place and move forward, this way you will have less to worry about. 

5. Morning Rituals

Most people check their phones first thing in the morning. I too was one of those people, but I realized that whatever news or message I read the first thing in the morning impacted my mood throughout the day. If the news was bad my energy levels went down and it took me the entire day to bring back my energy levels. 

I feel there are two things you should never do prior to the morning ritual. 

First, don't hit the snooze button because you don't want the first action of the day to be snooze which sets precedent for the rest of the day. 

Second, keep your phone away, don't check it first thing in the morning and risk reading something to pull you down.

Below is my morning ritual for your consideration: - 

1. get up and move around, I just do any form of exercise for just 15 minutes. 
2. Then I breathe, deep breathing for 15 minutes so that oxygen reaches all my cells.
3. The next thing I do is meditate for 20 minutes. I know many people who tell me that meditation didn't work for them, my suggestion is that you keep trying, don't just give up yet.
4. And finally, Journal. That's what I do for the last 10 minutes of the hour, and I'm writing down things that I'm grateful for, things that I'm excited about. I write a positive affirmation. The one I wrote this morning is, I have the power to change my life for the better to get it right and get the desired results. I am responsible for me. 

So, can you imagine after going through all of this, how I am feeling? After this even if you take me down with some bad news, I'm still going to be high on energy. And that's going to have a great impact on the rest of my day.

Let's not touch the newspaper/phone. Let's implement a morning routine, put something together that works for you doesn't have to be the same as mine, but just do something and take control over your mornings and your day alike.

6. Mental Health

People keep talking about physical well-being very often but very few people openly speak about mental health. Even if you try to talk to people they only say, think positive. This just keeps the negativity inside people. This energy just keeps churning inside and it affects your body as a whole. So how about we find the technique to stop this churning so that we can release the negativity from within?  

Find someone that you can speak to, open up to a friend, find that courage, to talk about it, but don't keep it within yourself. I read somewhere that, over 90% of the illnesses are based on lifestyle, and unfortunately, a lot of them are based on high levels of stress and anxiety, which are leading to serious issues, higher rates of cancer, higher rates of cardiac arrests, depression and so forth.

Do not hesitate to find an avenue for you to transfer that energy out of you and not keep it within, because by keeping it in, it's damaging and killing you slowly from inside. So if you care about yourself, which I know you do, find someone and share. Be vulnerable and watch the magic happen as all the negative energies leave your body.

7. Forgiveness

We all have heard this phrase that time heals and I can tell you with 100% certainty that is garbage. All that time does is, it suppresses, but that painful memory is still there. Something happened to me, back in 2009 which affected a very close friendship and I didn't realize I was carrying that experience with me.

That incident was just killing me from inside. Not everyday but every now and again, I would hear some music that would trigger the memory. I would hear a name that would trigger the memory. So when I came to this conclusion that I need to release this energy, I wondered how? 

The answer was simple - I needed to forgive. 

Now forgiving doesn't mean that I accept what happened to me. I just needed to release this negativity that's been churning inside of me. So I got a piece of paper and a pen and I started writing down a letter of Forgiveness. To release this negative energy that was inside of me hoping to become more free. As I'm writing down this letter of forgiveness, something amazing started to happen. It's like the energy was flowing through my arm onto the pen and transferred over onto that piece of paper, and then after that I took the piece of paper and actually ended up mailing into the individual I wanted to forgive. You may want to do the same and if you don't feel comfortable doing that, another technique is, you can actually in the safe environment burn that piece of paper. Because you want to transfer that energy from the paper, into the air and as you're burning it, set your intention of how you wish your life to be now that you've removed this negativity, because now you've created space to allow some amazing things to enter.  

And remember it's not about them. It's about you.  Release, so you create that much needed space for something beautiful to enter your life.

Try these techniques and start experiencing a shift in your very mindset to live a more aware, conscious, and mentally balanced life.