Bipolar Disorder & Racing Thoughts: 10 Techniques That'll Help!

[Music] you're trying to go to sleep but there's a concert going on inside your head it's like your thoughts are being driven by an over caffeinated NASCAR driver who's blasting the car stereo around the racetrack if we try to ignore the driver they just drive faster or turn the music up louder it's almost like our mind giving us a giant middle finger when we tell it to shut up maybe we're watching a show and have to rewind it every five minutes because we missed something or reading a book and have to read the same damn page ten times in order to absorb the information yeah I've definitely been there racing thoughts and bipolar disorder are almost synonymous it's such a common symptom but one of the hardest for many of us to manage well first off I want to say this if you're even aware that you're having racing thoughts in the first place that's huge give yourself some serious credit for that so many people have no idea what's going on their mind is being assaulted and they've become so used to it or they just can't sleep or focus and have no idea why becoming aware of racing thoughts is like a double-edged sword though once you do become aware of it the noise almost gets worse before it gets better just know that that's a totally normal part of becoming mindful let's just call it growing pains today on polar warriors I'd like to offer 10 simple tips for coping with racing thoughts this video was requested by one of our patrons Heather Griswold so thank you so much Heather we're gonna spend more time on the first technique because it's probably the most effective one long-term there are so many ways to go about doing this so I'll probably have more videos in the future that expand on this topic retraining the mind is like teaching an old dog new tricks as they say we might have a lifetime of creating these neural pathways or shortcuts in our brain that don't serve us well racing thoughts are no exception becoming aware of our thoughts and working towards influencing them as a simple practice but it takes practice that being said be patient with yourself it's like training a puppy beating yourself up over having noisy thoughts just creates more of the very thing you don't want so the first technique might sound really cliche but it's probably one of the best and I have a different spin on it so stick with me here this of course would be meditation I'm sure there's many of you that have tried it and feel like it doesn't work for you when I was a kid I pictured meditation as someone sitting in a lotus position burning incense and chanting some cryptic foreign prayer or mantra until they magically feel at peace well I tried that and it sure didn't feel very peaceful for me in fact many of us who struggle with things like bipolar disorder fear being alone with our thoughts it's why so many of us have some kind of distraction like the TV or radio on all the time I'd go sit somewhere quiet in my specials in position and be bombarded with all the nasty thoughts I was distracted from by not sitting in silence I felt better when I was distracted by something but that was doing absolutely nothing to cultivate a more permanent peaceful state of mind it wasn't until years later that I realized a few key things that changed the game first was keeping it so simple there's endless techniques for meditation and some of them can get pretty far out there the single technique that's at the core of all meditation is focusing on the breath well I tried that too and it was really frustrating sure I'd be breathing and maybe even counting each breath but I wasn't any calmer my mind was still all over the place I'd get frustrated that it wasn't working which made it even harder to relax it's like someone's screaming relax relax why can't you relax not very relaxing right the thing is I was totally missing the point meditation isn't just about focusing on the breath or controlling your mind it's about being present I'm sure you've heard that too but what does that mean for those of us with mental illness let's say you try to sing a song out loud and at the same time you also try to recite the alphabet in your mind silently can you do it what about singing two songs in your head at the same time our minds aren't built for that kind of multitasking we're either focus on one of two things were either present and focused on something that's happening to us at that moment or were lost in thought they can't coexist it's one or the other let's say you're worrying about a bill that needs paid when you get on a rollercoaster ride do you think when you hit that first drop on the roller coaster that you'll still be thinking about that bill or anything else for that matter when the present moment is intense enough to demand all of our attention the mind just stops that's why strong distractions like intense gaming or sex drugs or buying new things are so common for those of us with bipolar disorder with how strong the discomfort of our mental noise is compared to most people we tend to gravitate towards things that are intense enough to distract us from them the average person who doesn't suffer from mental illness might be satisfied fishing at the lake while we might need to go buy a new car to get the same kind of escape all of that being said I'd like to share some extremely simple meditation techniques that have helped me navigate through my mental lightning storms these are so incredibly simple and that will help build a foundation for much more advanced practices the first thing you need to do is to change your goal from quieting your mind to just recovering it a recovery is when you realize that your mind is racing and then bring it back to the present it's amazing how frustrated most people get having to recover themselves because they haven't been explained how important this part is they feel like the practice isn't working because they keep noticing every 10 seconds that their mind is racing again talk about not seeing the forest because the trees are in the way the fact that you're even able to notice that your mind is wandering again is the first and most important part of the process awareness you're literally making some of the most important progress in your practice here it's also important to not torture yourself and make your brain hurt by doing this for 30 minutes on your first try do it for just 5 to 10 minutes at a time or even less just once a day it it's if it isn't easy and simple what are the chances that you're gonna stick with it what you'll start to notice is how you'll start to recover your mind faster and faster you aren't regressing here this is crucial progress I started doing this in bed each night when I'm falling asleep because that's often when I'm bombarded with racing thoughts most of us lay down and sleep everyday so it's great to tie your practice into something that you do daily make it effortless and easy you don't have to sit in some specials in position to meditate you can literally do it anywhere at any time now that we've simplified and pinpointed the goal for our practice we need some equally simple techniques for how we quote recover our minds I mentioned coming back to the present moment which sounds like an overstated cliche right live in the now be present we hear that all the time but nobody tells us how to actually do it there really are endless ways to do this but here are a few that work really well for me when I'm laying in bed at night and realized that my mind is racing again I'll first give myself some props for noticing it and then I'll bring my mind back to the present this means focusing on any sensation or event that's happening in a real time right now this is why most practices use the breath we're always breathing at least I hope that so it's a good constant to go off of I'll pay very close attention to the feeling of the air rushing in and out of my nostrils sometimes I'll even scrunch my nose so the breathing sound is louder and focus on the sounds then I'll switch it up and I'll rest my hand on my stomach so I can focus on the rising and falling sensations then I'll slow my breathing drop down and count each breath and sets of three another exercise I'll do is to start at my toes and each time I breathe out I'll try to relax them even deeper and then I'll move to my feet and then ankles calves knees and so on until I reach the very top of my head when I'm doing all of this of course my mind is going to constantly go back to wandering sometimes every few seconds I just keep my goal of recovery in mind and don't stress about how often it happens when I manic and I try to meditate I have a lot more recoveries this used to frustrate me until I realized that it's a crucial part of making progress even if I'm distracted by a noise like a siren or someone talking it's just another opportunity to practice recovering my mind doing these practices at night is start to become the last thing I remember before falling asleep in the recent past I'd usually stay up for hours listening to the concert in my head but now it's getting so much easier to shut my mind off another time when my thoughts go wild is when I'm driving did you know that you can meditate while driving and not cause a pileup on the interstate remember that meditation is just being present you don't have to close your eyes and go all Zen mode to get there the next time you're out driving and find your mind bouncing between overplayed songs on the radio and what Bill you forgot to pay try turning the radio off and focus on the sensations of the bumps and vibrations in the road that's still something that's happening right now in the present moment similar to focusing on your breathing meditation on an action like driving will take your skills to a whole new level and you can do this with anything I also think a lot when I'm doing chores like washing dishes I'll practice paying attention to the temperature or sensation of the water the texture of the dish in my hand or even breathing in and out with the rhythm of my scrubbing you can literally meditate on any action which is amazing because you can incorporate this practice into all aspects of your life if you do the same exercise in the same place every time it's going to be harder to access these techniques when you're in town or need to calm your thoughts mix it up a little bit meditation experts might recommend setting aside a specific time sitting in a quiet place in a certain position and exclusively focusing on the breath now that's just one of the endless techniques out there there's no wrong way to meditate as long as you're getting the benefit of being present so don't be a to get a little creative bad thoughts simply can't exist in the present moment suffering only happens when our mind thinks about the future or accesses the past think about that there's something special that we've all lost along this journey in life when we were infants and would crawl through a flower garden there were no words in our heads like flower plant red insect good/bad it was all just pure perception of what was happening in the present moment that wide-eyed look of curiosity towards the world is replaced by words that name and define everything it's just our natural way of simplifying and navigating through the world of endless things we also go through traumatic events that scar our minds and can dominate our thoughts that's why so many of us don't like being alone with them we might have only had a year or two in our infant lives where we were living in the present and the rest of our lives practicing busy thinking and seeking distractions practicing meditation a few times isn't going to undo a lifetime of thought patterns and neural connections it takes time to build new ones and this comes down to how serious you are about doing something long-term to help with racing thoughts Wow so moving on I know I spent a lot of time on that last one but I can't overemphasize how beneficial it can be another technique you can try is slo-mo thinking when your thoughts are racing all over the place slow down your thoughts talk to yourself in your head like you're a movie in slow motion you can still think about what's for dinner but do it very slowly over enunciate each word in your head this is just a simple way to change the mental pace or slow down a little bit another cool technique you can practice anywhere is called progressive muscle relaxation and it helps activate your body's relaxation response I'm sure you can feel the stress of racing thoughts and your stiff neck you're tense shoulders and contorted facial expressions what you do here is at your feet and tents every muscle in them for a few seconds and then relax do this a couple of times and then move to your calves and legs and so on until you've tensed and relaxed every muscle you can even do it with one finger at a time to make it last longer to keep your mind from wandering while you do this add some breathing into the mix breathe in when you tense your muscle muscles and then breathe out when you relax them when you focus on both the body and breath it leaves very little room for other things to come into your mind this really is just another form of meditation in a lot of ways this next technique is something you might be familiar with if you're a fan of cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT this is called cognitive distancing when my thoughts are racing I'll often worry about the worst case scenario in a given situation I might believe these things to be true but most of the time they're totally exaggerated or not true at all it's like a survival mechanism to think about or prepare for the worst and it can cause our thoughts to spiral out of control really fast this usually starts with a trigger something happens and my mind just goes off thinking about it for example I might have seen my partner sending out a late-night email and because of past trauma my mind will become flooded with nasty thoughts like I'm being cheated on I know in my heart that that's ridiculous but that doesn't stop my mind from going there like I said it's a survival mechanism a crucial realization is that we are not our thoughts I have some thoughts that are so disturbing I couldn't even believe my mind could come up with this crap I even feel guilty for having them sometimes does that sound familiar we can't control bad thoughts from happening but we can definitely influence the direction they go and once we're aware of them when I catch myself dwelling on the worst outcome and again that's a mental recovery I use the techniques that I described in our video that talks about real problems or not I'll switch focus to what I know to be true and most and the most likely outcome My partner was probably working late and I she ate that kind of dedication I've never been give given a reason not to trust my partner so it's most likely nothing to worry about when we're symptomatic this can be a little harder to practice so be patient with yourself here's a really good quote to remember from the Dali Lama if you can do something about a situation why worry if you can't do something about a situation why worry okay so another common technique I use is called thought downloading and it helps to reduce the power of my racing thoughts I'll grab a notebook and just start writing them down as they come I don't use a computer for this because I've found that the act of writing alone can engage my mind and slow things down better than typing it helps organize them and you can always return to them later don't even worry about spelling or grammar here just get them out of your head and onto some paper if the thoughts are really nasty sometimes I'll visualize burning the paper when I'm done or literally set the paper on fire it's like a tiny ritual for letting go if you want to hang on to them and track your moods or progress that's fine too reading them at a later time can give you some good insight into your changing mental states so the next one would be to give your racing mind a silly name like Jenga brain or diarrhea mind basically something to help take those nasty thoughts a little less seriously giving something a name simplifies it like even the words racing thoughts it simplifies what's happening so we can do something about it instead of getting more and more upset with the mental noise we can say my darn Jenga brain is acting up again this also helps with cultivating awareness which is total key to all of this give it a try and see what happens if you already have a funny name for your mind share it with us in the comments I'd love to hear it just keep it pg-13 friendly okay so moving on it's it's amazing how stress can impact our vision but it can also be leveraged the other way around experimenting with your vision can actually help you relax when your mind is Racing try to close your eyes but not all the way do it to where you can just barely see out of them changing your visual perspective can help us detach from our racing mind if you shut them completely this can sometimes increase your attention to the racing thoughts sometimes I'll mix this exercise up with my breathing so I'll open them when I breathe in and then almost close them when I breathe out this might not cut through an anxiety attack but it works well for subtle anxiety and slowing down our thoughts so this next technique is a little different from the rest it involves actually listening to your racing thoughts the harder I try to stop my thoughts the more frustrating and intense they become what I'll do is I'll imagine myself sitting outside of my head looking in basically like I'm watching the scenes of a movie I'll tell my mind go ahead let's see what you've got and then I'll just sit back and let the thoughts flow without any judgment I won't give my mind the satisfaction of overreacting to them something strange happens when I do this a lot of the time they just stop it's almost like this sneaky thinking process that happens when I'm not paying attention but the moment I tell my mind okay bring it let's do this they tend to stop it's like a kid sticking their tongue out at you and you turn your back but the second you stare them down they're on their best behavior the mind is a lot like a wild child and sometimes it needs a little bit of attention to quiet down so give that one a try we are almost to the end here and the ninth technique involves scheduling your worry times when we have a final exam or a deadline at work or any important obligation the last thing we need to do is lose precious sleep worrying about it or maybe we can't even enjoy an amazing meal with our partner or special time with the kids because we're so distracted by our thoughts I'll give this one a try the next time it's midnight and you're still up worrying tell yourself I don't need to think about this or address this right now right now is sleep time or date night or playtime with the kids I can think more about this tomorrow during my scheduled worry time this frames things in a different light and it can help shut down our racing stream of thoughts if you're worried about a messy house and you're at the grocery store you can't do anything about it there you might miss something important on your shopping list once you're at home you can worry about a plan to get things done when it's right in front of you try scheduling those worry times so you can solve the problem when you're rested instead of feeding the fears surrounding it when you're tired I know that's easier said than done but it's a really good technique to practice ok so we have made it to number 10 and this one's really important if all else fails the techniques I've shared might help many of you but not all of you sometimes there's trauma grief or fears or other mental health conditions associated with our thoughts that aren't going to go away on their own they just get stronger or buried deeper inside of us or maybe we don't even know what's happening to us and why this might require additional techniques or treatment specifically catered to your unique issues that's where counseling comes in there's specialized forms of therapy like CBT that literally focus on how our unhealthy thoughts influence our behaviors and vice versa if our racing negative thoughts get beyond our ability to cope with them or if they start impacting our life in a very negative way we might need to consider a different approach like possibly medication there's several medications that can help take the edge off enough to where we can function again then we can come back to techniques like the ones I've mentioned and they might be a lot more effective now I know my videos can be quite lengthy on this channel but quality over quantity is so important to me I will never monetize this channel with annoying YouTube ads or split the videos up into ten parts to get more ad revenue this channel isn't about making a buck it's all about helping people like you if you need to come back and watch one of my videos again do take some notes and slowly digest everything apply a little bit at a time and come back for more when you're ready speaking of more if my videos are helping you and you want to get the most from your Polar Warrior experience check out our patreon community there's a link at the top of every video description you can contact me anytime you like via private messages have access to a lot of videos I don't post on YouTube and most importantly you can support the polar warrior community it's easy to assume the others are donating but I really need your help to keep a good thing going here I do all of this in my free time and for the price of a cup of coffee each month you can make a huge difference in my ability to make videos for all of you to enjoy please help me to help more people we'll see you guys next time for another polar warrior video [Music] you

Channel: Polar Warriors

Views: 138,152

Keywords: Bipolar Disorder, Racing Thoughts, Bipolar Disorder 10 Signs, Polar Warriors, Bipolar, Bipolar Techniques, Bipolar Help, Bipolar Racing Thoughts, Rapid Thoughts, Bipolar Mindfulness

Id: BXsfMst4Y0k

Length: 23min 38sec (1418 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 21 2019