KEEPING THE MIND BUSY

When you have a lot of time to think, the mind wanders. When the mind wanders, it can come up with a lot of negativity, scenarios, worries and just plain old over thinking. We all have problems with a wandering mind, but when you're mentally ill, the wandering mind leads to deeper anxiety, stress and depression. The more a person is left to his or her thoughts, the worse the thoughts can become.

When your mind starts aimlessly wandering, it's important to find an activity to keep it busy. You need to focus on something other than the problems in your life and the sadness within you. It's not easy to try and just focus on the positive when you can see nothing, but negativity. When you can't stop your thoughts, you need to find something else to distract them. Hobbies and crafts are good ways to distract the mind.

When I was ill, I took up cross stitching. Focusing on each stitch blocked the unwanted thoughts. It also comforted me. The prospects of making my work into something beautiful brightened my spirit. It gave me a positive thing to look forward to. I also did woodburnings.

I started writing stories in school as a way to escape the pain of my life and to keep my mind busy. My writing was something I could control the outcome of. I could create new worlds and turn sad stories into happy ones.

Here are some ways you can keep your mind busy and distract those negative thoughts:

• Cross Stitching
• Woodburning
• Crocheting
• Singing
• Writing
• Knitting
• Going out with positive friends
• Talking to a friend
• Watching a humorous movie
• Exercising
• Putting a puzzle together
• Doing housework
• Reading

The point is to find something that you like to do that will keep the mind from wandering, but make sure it's something positive. Taking up drinking and drugs to clear the mind can give you temporary relief, but send you into a major downfall after wards. You need to find something which will help you climb out of the hole and to stay within the light.

Even though I am in recovery, when I find my mind wandering towards negativity and I get my cross stitching out or get busy working on writing my memoir. Going to work each day also keeps my thoughts from wandering. Keeping my mind busy helps me stay within the light.