How do you clear your mind?

[NormannTheDoorman]

Completely and temporarily?

 

[Hadoblado]

I avoid whatever it is that's clouding my mind until I can sleep. When I awaken, my mind is usually much more clear on the issue.

 

[(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhl5K0mTSKY

 

[Lot]

Cannabis.

But in all reality, it doesn't clear my mind as in make it blank. It can help to cut back on the noise. A couple puffs, put on some good music for relaxing.

The dark places are easy to accept. The sad times have some sun shine. Your favorite things are even better, and things that you don't like aren't so bad. Most of the things that used to piss you off are now only annoying.

I also practice meditation and prayer while using cannabis. Listening to music, or sitting in silence. I can get into a nice state of peace and reflection while not under the influence, but I go a lot deeper with its help.

Sleep, and diet are also pretty big parts to a cloud free mind. Skipping meals or hours of sleep, can really take it's tole.

 

[Grayman]

Completely and temporarily?

Listen to violin or piano music. Maybe visit nature.

 

[TBerg]

Buddhists haven't perfected the art yet, but I would recommend isolated meditation as well as the above cannabis advice.

 

[deadpixel]

If push comes to shove, benzodiapans work pretty well.

 

[nexion]

Any slow music with little to no rhythmic element (such as drone) or any fast music with very prominent rhythmic elements (such as trance) do it for me, depending on my mindset. The first facilitates depersonalization through mental emptiness, while the second facilitates depersonalization through mental concentration.

Mental imagery corresponding to desired states helps a lot too. When there is too much noise for me to bear I find a quiet and peaceful place away from everything, put on some good drone, and imagine I am a disembodied, half-conscious entity floating in the void. It's a really tranquil state of mind, and offers some level of solace from the constant mental exhaustion and physical lethargy.

Also cannabis, though some strains supposedly invoke excessive nervous energies.

 

[StevenM]

Practicing meditation seems the most practical for me. I haven't been keeping on top of it though, my mind seems fine in the moment. But with daily practice, it can become very "clean" in the mind and organised and uncluttered. Which leads to calmness.

The last thing I would suggest is benzodiazepines. They can be the worst drug for physical dependence for some people.

 

[Pyropyro]

Exercise. You can't easily think if you're out of breath. Besides, I feel that I have a clearer mind once my blood is pumping.

If that's not possible then I just force myself to sleep.

 

[Cavallier]

Yoga. I have only been practicing for about 6 months but it has made a big difference in my mental serenity. I have been practicing on my own because finding a Yogi who fits well with your personality can be hard. Plus it is expensive to go to a studio.

Meditation works well for me though recently listening to the right kind of music and letting my mind wander works better. It can't have any words and its necessary that it invoke a sense of being outside in a natural setting. At the moment I prefer music that leads me toward feeling like I'm in the forest on a calm summer day. If I can manage to simulate that sort of mood then the stress of my day to day life becomes distant and unimportant for a while.

 

[Lot]

Meditation works well for me though recently listening to the right kind of music and letting my mind wander works better. It can't have any words and its necessary that it invoke a sense of being outside in a natural setting. At the moment I prefer music that leads me toward feeling like I'm in the forest on a calm summer day. If I can manage to simulate that sort of mood then the stress of my day to day life becomes distant and unimportant for a while.

Music is one of the best vehicles to take me to another world. I try to listen to stuff that is non organic. I try to go to a fractal dimension or shape the blackness behind my eyes. Let the imagery flood in from my imagination. I like when I get the feeling of weightlessness, as if I am a disembodied consciousness. That's when I'm the most relaxed.

I can totally see why someone would want to do nature as their happy place. I've used it before. It's even better when you can get a chance to actually use the sound of being in the middle of nowhere. There is something very grounding about it.

 

[(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

Music is one of the best vehicles to take me to another world. I try to listen to stuff that is non organic. I try to go to a fractal dimension or shape the blackness behind my eyes. Let the imagery flood in from my imagination. I like when I get the feeling of weightlessness, as if I am a disembodied consciousness. That's when I'm the most relaxed.

I can totally see why someone would want to do nature as their happy place. I've used it before. It's even better when you can get a chance to actually use the sound of being in the middle of nowhere. There is something very grounding about it.

I bet you like psytrance

 

[someoneshady]

I like cannabis to ease my mind. Although, as Lot said it just makes my mind go blank. My last resort is usually trying to just let the things that are bothering me go. Just completely stop caring. It's not a healthy habit but it works.

 

[Lot]

I like cannabis to ease my mind. Although, as Lot said it just makes my mind go blank. .

I actually said the opposite. But there are those moments when I find myself just staring at the wall. But that is usually a break between/during thought threads.

 

[Vrecknidj]

What I do depends upon what I need. About 25 years ago, when I was in my early 20s, I often found I had trouble sleeping because I would keep thinking about things. Often, unfortunately, I was thinking about things that required some kind of resolution but weren't things I could resolve by lying in bed dwelling on them.

I discovered, probably by accident, that if I worked some puzzles (at the time, I actually solved a few calculus problems to do the trick, I since moved on to crosswords, Sudoku, Scrabble, or any kind of puzzle) that required some mental work, I could trick myself into feeling a sensation of having solved something. In fact, of course, I did solve something, I just didn't solve whatever else my fevered brain might be stuck on.

So, the sensation of completing something, of solving a puzzle, was sufficient for me to get sleep.

For other circumstances, I've found other techniques. I find physical work (whether exercise, such as yoga mentioned above, or strenuous yard work) to do a good job. I also sometimes have used boring but long-duration tasks can do the trick. I currently own about 3 acres of land and I have a riding lawn mower. I can spend an hour or so mowing, which requires some concentration but not much, and while I'm mowing, I find myself working through all sorts of things (sometimes having mock conversations with others, whatever). I find that when I'm done mowing, I have both the satisfaction of having some chore done, but, also, somehow the time that I spent letting my mind work through something usually results in a clearing.

 

[grayskies]

- I always have a project going on, so I will do that.
- walk
- force myself to think about something else
- watch/listen to a movie

 

[QuickTwist]

By listening to two songs at once.

 

[WALKYRIA]

SPIRITUAL RETREAT

 

[BrainVessel]

Listening to my favorite music at the time/immersing myself in a brilliant story.
Usually wavers a lot though because I'm exceedingly fickle yet picky in my interests.

 

[TheScornedReflex]

I find pain is a good way to clear the mind. It cuts through my thoughts as my mind locks on to the feeling, forcing everything else away.

 

[pgibbons]

As INTP I need to be in control of my thinking. Most of the time I let my mind wonder. On rare occasions I feel that I'm thinking too much and I want it to be still. I try to control it to be still and it somewhat works. Thoughts come in and I don't engage them but let them go and try to be still. Another thought comes in and I repeat. Kind of like shaking your head (except not actually doing that).
The way I understand it, this is practicing to meditate. I may not actually be meditating yet but it's somewhere towards that and it does work for clearing the mind.

Why I like it: Sometimes my own thoughts may make me feel uncomfortable. So I try to have no thoughts and then there is nothing to make me feel uncomfortable. A few minutes later I will have forgotten all about it and I'm back to normal operation.