I have shared in the past, that the best approach to working with ourselves in regards to mind chatter is to allow our thoughts to come up and not seek to change, control, engage or repress them. This doesn’t mean there is not an action to be taken, it means that action and response are not our first criteria. Relaxing, releasing and observing are always the best responses to choose from the gap space of conscious awareness.

However, there are times when the mind is particularly over anxious and we find ourselves plagued with an almost constant stream of anxiety causing thoughts. Each successive thought seems to pull us in deeper and take us further into the black hole of these painful emotions. This is usually triggered by a situation or circumstance that really touches our fears and insecurities deeply. In situations like this it is helpful to use a mantra.

A mantra is helpful because it gives the mind a task to perform and serves to interrupt the cycle of anxiety causing thoughts. As much as we like to think we can multitask, the mind is really a single focused entity in many regards. If I say to you, picture your front door. All of you will have an image come into your mind of your front door. In that instant the image occupied the space and focus of your mind. You ceased thinking anything else momentarily and saw your front door.

When you use a mantra and repeat it, either silently or out loud, it serves the same purpose. The mind can’t be stuck in the vortex of anxious thinking and repeating the mantra. You may still feel anxious because the chemicals that cause all of the emotions and reactions in the body last beyond the cessation of the thoughts that caused them.

Stick with it, eventually you will start to feel the edge of the anxiety lessening and pulling away from you. It will not be experienced as something blanketing your entire being and you will feel a bit more spacious. The mantra can really be anything that works for you. In my experience, I can definitely speak to the multiple positive benefits of employing this approach in your day-to-day living.