Did you know that we have over 50,000 thoughts per day? (That’s a whole lot of thinking!) Many of these thoughts come and go without even realising that we are having them.

Here’s another fun fact for you…Your thoughts directly impact your emotions. So when you have a thousand thoughts running through your mind you will quickly notice the physiological impacts of anxiety e.g. feeling overwhelmed, tight chest, sweaty, sick in the tummy etc.

As much as we would like to just switch our thoughts off at times, especially when we experience anxiety, unfortunately, that’s not how our minds work.

One thing we can do, is learn to place less importance on our thoughts. Recognising that thoughts are just thoughts, nothing more and nothing less and that they come and then they go can help.

Another important step to helping you deal with anxious thoughts in a mindful way is to try not to identify with any thoughts that cause worry and anxiety. This is called non-identification in mindfulness. It’s where we accept our thoughts for thoughts and don’t identify with them. For example, John tells himself “I am having thoughts that are making me feel anxious” rather than telling himself “I am anxious.”

Have you had times when it all feels a bit too much? Your mind feels like it is working in overdrive to process all of your thoughts? You are analysing and over thinking? Yes…This is when it’s time for a little dose of mindfulness to get you back on track in a calm and gentle way. Think of it as hitting the refresh icon on your web browser but this is for your mind instead.

To help you to better manage your thoughts and ultimately overcome some of the associated feelings, try the following mindfulness tips…

• Bring awareness to the thought that you are having

• Bring awareness to the corresponding feeling

• Accept the thought as just a thought and that the feeling you are experiencing is a normal response

• No identification - Place distance between you, the thought and the feeling. For example, “I am having a thought that...which is making me feel...”

• Assess the likelihood of your anxious thought happening and what positive could come out of the situation

• Choose to focus your attention on an anchor instead of the anxious thought (something in the present moment e.g. your breath, what you can see, what you can hear, what you can feel, what you can taste, what you can smell)

• let the thought pass and return through the steps as needed

Following these steps may feel different or unusual to start with, but stick with the process and in time mindfulness will help you feel more confident in dealing with your thoughts.