Notice more & worry less

When your worries seem overwhelming and mountainous, tuning into mindfulness and focusing on what you can hear, feel, and see can bring peace and calm.

You can make a conscious decision to bring thoughts about the past or future into the here and now - into the present moment. This helps the spiralling brain to slow down, the stressful feelings to ease and the fretting to relax.

But how do you stop your thoughts from spiralling into worry? It's not about stopping them as if you tell yourself not to think about a certain thing, you are highly likely to start thinking about that specific thing. It's about redirecting your attention to focus on the present moment, not trying to block out worrying thoughts. By refocusing attention, you are giving the brain a rest because you aren't focused on the worry.

Here is a simple mindfulness technique you can practise any time you find yourself going over and over a past event or worrying about something that hasn't happened yet.

Take a moment

Attention - bring your attention to your feet. Feel their pressure on the ground. Pay attention to each foot - how your weight is shared between them, how your feet feel and whether they are bare, in socks or shoes. That's all. You don't need to form an opinion, just notice your feet, one at a time, giving them your attention rather than your worries.

Feel - if you were deep in worry when you started this exercise you may find your mind being pulled back to previous thoughts, returning to those worries. When you notice this happening, simply bring your attention back to your feet, their weight, their existence. Don't get annoyed or frustrated. Just notice you've drifted to worrying thoughts and bring your attention back to this practice.

Hear - the next step is to move your attention from your feet to what you can hear. It might be conversation, traffic, birdsong, music, or television noise. Single out each noise and notice them in turn. You don't need to identify who is making the noise, just observe it. If you're in a quiet space, notice if your clothes make a sound as you breathe or listen to your inhalations and exhalations.

See - now you're going to notice what is visible to your eyes. Name what you can see one by one, either silently or out loud eg. a blue door, a green tree, a lampost, a wooden table etc. When your mind wanders off to the worry again, bring your attention back to what you can see around you.

You can move through the different feelings, taking each one in turn for as many times as needed. Give your attention to something else you can feel, then one sound you hear, one item you can see then back to what you can feel again. Your mind will pull away many times. This is completely normal. When you notice your thoughts have moved away from your senses simply come back to what you can see, hear or feel.