How to Clear Your Head

Stress can often result from the high demands that work, families and friends place on your life. Daily activities like office meetings, soccer practices and dinner parties can easily get in the way of maintaining a sound mental balance. Clearing your head, however, shouldn't be seen as yet another monumental task that you have to add to your routine. In fact, there are several easy methods that can be incorporated into your daily schedule. Of course, if you find yourself suffering from depression as a result of anxiety, visit a mental health practitioner.

Instructions

• 1

  Write down what you have to do. Often, mental stress can come about due to random thoughts hitting the brain all at once. You might find yourself at your office desk and suddenly remember all of the errands you have to run after work. This can cause a great deal of worry. If you write the tasks down and order them in importance, however, you might find that getting all of them done before dinner is not such a formidable challenge. Carrying a notepad with you or emailing yourself a to-do list can free space in your mind to focus on what is important.

• 2

  Learn to say "no." Remember that you are the best manager of your time. Only you know what tasks you have to accomplish on a daily basis and only you can determine if you're able to add another assignment to that list. If your friend asks you to help plan an engagement party, seriously consider if you have the time and mental capacity to do it. If accepting the request means that you won't have an opportunity for down time, you might have to say "no" to your friend. This doesn't make you a selfish person. It simply means that you are taking care of yourself and allowing time to clear you head.

• 3

  Stay on task and avoid interruptions. If you're in the middle of a project and periodically stop to answer the phone or check your email, you'll probably get farther and farther from finishing. Set aside a certain amount of time to accomplish each goal and then keep focused until the task is completed. This will cause your productivity to increase and remove some of the clutter in your mind.

• 4

  Meditate. Taking 10 minutes a day to focus on the positive aspects of your life can go a long way toward mental tranquility. To meditate, find a space in your home, office or surrounding area that you feel comfortable in and that will not provide you with distractions. Focus on your breathing and try to eliminate any extraneous thoughts. Don't think about chores that you have to accomplish. Rather, zero in on the things in your life that bring you peace.

• 5

  Exercise. Regularly engaging your body in physical activity will increase your brain power and thus clear your head of stress and negativity. Joining a gym or fitness class is a sure-fire way to become motivated, but even a 10-minute walk around the park or up and down a set of stairs will help.