How to stop negative mind chatter
We know you are here because the little voices in your head won’t stop talking.
But whose these little voices are?
Who’s the one talking?
Well! These little voices are just us talking to us.
These voices are our forever companions because our brains never stop thinking.
Our brain has been evolved to inform us about the potential threats and hazards near us, which is why it stays on alert mode all the time.
It works day and night and is the storehouse of data and information.
And the data you feed your brain is what creates the chatter inside your head.
If you are constantly absorbing negative information, creating self-doubt and dripping your self-worth, there are high chances that your subconscious will convey those messages back to you in the form of these chatters.
And the same thing goes the other way.
If not managed timely, this may get out of hand and create a stir in your life.
But! worry not; we are here to tame the beast for you.
In this blog, we will talk about the 16 unique ways to control your monkey mind.
But first, let’s understand in detail about mind chatter and its threats to us.
What is self chatter?
Oh! We all know what that is.
Remember when you tried focusing on something, but that one song kept playing in your head.
That’s your brain doing the ding-dang.
According to Zen Buddhists, our minds are filled with drunken monkeys that keep hopping from one place to another and chattering without a stop.
Throughout the day, our brains keep playing dialogues that include:
- Talking to ourselves.
- Thinking about how to carry out an activity.
- Observing the environment around.
- Listening to new catchy songs or dialogues.
- Creating the imaginary ‘what if’ scenarios.
- Listing fears.
But is talking to yourself a bad thing?
Oh, not at all; it is typical for humans, and don’t worry, you do not have Schizophrenia.
Self-talk usually happens when your mind isn’t engaged in something.
That’s when it starts to hop around like a monkey picking up trivial things and blabbering things.
And that’s the reason it is also known as the monkey mind.
Usually, we call this mental activity ‘thinking,’ but this isn’t correct because thinking involves something over which we have conscious control.
But it is an entirely different story with mental chatter.
Even when you don’t want to remember some cringe situation or joke, your mind will keep dragging you there.
So it is random and involuntary.
But there are times when we feel burdened by our thoughts because we don’t know when to hold the horses, and the situation gets worse.
Excessive self-talk can harm our brain- It can make you anxious and mentally burned out, and all you want to do is shut your brain up.
And not just this, it has more profound implications.
Want to find out?
Let’s get into it.
What impact does negative thinking have on our minds?
Excessive brain chatter can cause a lot of trouble for you. (1)
- You feel like you have very minimal control over what you think.
- You feel drained all the time.
- Focusing on something feels like pushing a boulder uphill.
- Your brain starts to age at a fast pace.
- Can lead to gene damage.
- Amplifies auto-immune diseases.
- Causes emotional disorders like depression and other cognitive disorders.
- It can also cause damage to your digestive system and alter your appetite.
- Hampers your mood and behavior.
- Damages your ability to think positively or hold positive conversations with people.
Scary, right?
And if we don’t take timely actions, this makes it difficult for us to slow down and enjoy the present moment.
What now? Is it the end of the world?
Well, not yet!
You can stop negative chatter quickly with the help of some easy, biohacking ways.
Want to know how?
Keep reading ahead!
Ways to get rid of monkey mind
As you know, the monkey head, if not tamed timely, can make your life miserable.
But the good part is- there are ways to calm down this screeching monkey, and when you do it, you are left with nothing but better mental health and:
- Improved clarity of your mind.
- Elevated concentration.
- Enhanced sleep quality.
- Calm mind.
- Feeling of happiness.
This is all you need, right?
So without a wait, let’s dig into it!
Below you’ll find 16 fantastic mind tricks to tame your monkey mind.
Bid goodbye to your negative thought.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#1: Meditate
You knew this was going to show up, right?
Meditation is an excellent option for calming your clumsy mind, and it is highly recommended if you are someone who lives in their head a lot.
There are two primary forms of meditation: Focused attention (FA) and Open monitoring (OM).
In Focused attention, as the name suggests, you must focus on one thing, like your breathing pattern, take some deep breaths and focus on it. (2)
And as soon as your mind starts to wander, you bring it back to the breathing pattern.
The main objective of practicing this is to repeatedly bring your focus back to the activity.
On the other hand, in Open monitoring, you try to manage your thoughts by acknowledging them and letting them go rather than reacting to them. (3)
Practicing this can help slack down your negative thoughts and can silence your mind.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#2: Go for Cognitive behavior therapy
Cognitive-behavioral therapy or CBT teaches you to recognize your negative thoughts.
Whenever you feel that you are dwelling on that negative thought or can’t stop thinking, try replacing that thought with one close to reality.
It operates in two stages:
- The first stage is where you identify your thoughts, understand their impact on your mind and try to reframe them.
- The second stage is where you try to alter your behavior to match it with your newly framed thoughts.
This method is known as cognitive restructuring, where you identify these cognitive distortions and change them.
Many of us suffer from the “always/never” distortions where we say things like “You always fail in that particular subject” or “You never come on time” or the black-and-white thinking where you jump to conclusions.
When you notice these distortions, you simply challenge them by thinking:
- Nothing is always or never, things change.
- Black and whites are two extreme poles and don’t get along well with us humans, so look for greys.
- Most conclusions are based on personal biases, so look for facts.
In this way, you can rewire your brain and change your behavioral patterns.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#3: Exercise
You know how great physical activities are for your body.
But do you know, it can also be beneficial for your brain.
Any physical activity, be it a short walk in the neighborhood, kickboxing, playing football, weightlifting, or dance, be it anything, physical activity is the swiss army knife for your body.
It helps in improving your focus and whatnot!
Stop negative mind chatter trick#4: Practice mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness is different from meditation.
When you cannot stop the mind chatter, it’s when you need mindfulness to hold the fire of their minds.
Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment intentionally and non-judgementally.
When you do this, you pull your attention back to what you’re doing at present- be it washing the dishes, or enjoying your meal.
This way, you can not only enjoy the present moment but also wire your brain to pay attention to the things around you.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#5: Dig into those childhood stuffs again
Coloring or sketching can have a significant impact on your brain.
Studies have found a link between sketching and stress reduction. (4)
Also, other things help a lot in restoring your focus, like counting your steps while walking.
This way, you will pay attention to every step you are taking.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#6: Talk to a friend or family or any person
Believe it or not, there s a massive difference between talking in your mind and talking to a person.
Because when talking in your head, you barely come up with a helpful solution, as you dwell on what is already floating on your head.
On the contrary, when you talk to a person, you might gain a different perspective.
Verbalizing your thoughts not only clears your perspective but also helps in improving your storytelling skills.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#7: Try helping others
Want to come out of your head? Try helping others.
Helping others is a great way to silence your inner speech and devote some time to the outside world.
Your monkey mind is very self-centered, so when you focus your brain on something unrelated to you, you break the chain of your thoughts.
So benefit other people for the greater good and focus on them for some time.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#8: Starve the monster
When you indulge in negative self-talk, your emotional responses are triggered.
This trigger releases the stress hormones like:
- Adrenaline: It is produced by the medulla in the adrenaline glands and the neurons in the central nervous system. It is the fight or flight hormone which fuels your prompt reaction. It increases your heart rate and rushes the blood flow to the muscles and brain.
- Norepinephrine: Norepinephrine is quite similar to adrenaline, and it amplifies adrenaline arousal. It increases your heart rate, elevates blood pressure, shoots your sugar levels and produces more energy to make you hyperactive. So when you have excessive norepinephrine in your body, your hands start shaking, and all you want is to run away.
- Cortisol: It is your body’s in-built alarm system. It is the steroid hormone of your body and manages multiple functions like metabolism, controlling sugar levels, helping with memory functions and regulating the immune system. So when your body starts to produce this hormone in excessive amounts, it creates an imbalance in the other functions.
Remember how your brain makes you count on your failures right before your job interviews. It’s 50% your monkey mind’s work and 50% of these hormones.
Do things that make you happy and starve your monkey mind of these hormones.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#9: Embrace the distractions
Distractions have always been considered a bad thing, right?
We treat distractions as a bad or a distorted habit.
But but but… it can turn out to be very productive if you can regulate the time limit of your distractions. (5)
The hack here is- distract your mind chatter by thinking something positive and valuable, or if you’re working on something, distract yourself by taking a 5 minutes break.
This short break will:
- Provide your brain some rest.
- Elevate your productivity.
- Calm your monkey mind.
Researchers found that patients suffering from illness and pain when playing video games were less likely to feel pain ass their brain was distracted off the negative thoughts. (6)
So try playing video games or chatting with your friends, or just going out for a walk.
This little break is sure to improve your mood and brain functions up to a great extent.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#10: Stop honing the negative thoughts
When your focus is stuck on the negative aspects, it blurs your vision towards the positive things.
So how do we break free of this loop?
To develop a habit of looking at the positive sides of anything and everything.
Challenge yourself to look for at least one good thing in every problematic situation you go through.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#11: Self-labeling is a big NO
Don’t ever put a label on yourself, even if you’re doing it as a joke.
Labels hold you back, and even though you don’t realize, what you speak is what you’re feeding your brain.
Also, if you constantly label yourself, it takes a toll on your resilience towards it.
If you ever find your dark thoughts putting a label on you, try saying positive things about yourself like “I’m all good, and I’m not a failure.”
Stop negative mind chatter trick#12: Live in the present
Do you ever feel that everything will turn out wrong in the future, even though it’s completely skeptical?
This type of thought strikes us without any reason and starts to jump around our minds making us feel terrible about ourselves.
So the best way to deal with it is by counter questioning yourself.
Ask yourself why things will turn bad?
Try reasoning it with facts and dwell on the positive side more.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#13: Practice the A-B-C technique
There are situations that don’t go as planned, or your thoughts disagree with your surroundings.
This unaligned situation irritates your monkey mind, and it begins to screech and howl.
How to control its tantrums?
Try the A-B-C technique.
What is it, and how it works?
Here is how:
- A is for ‘activating event.’ When something happens.
- B is for ‘beliefs.’ Your mind starts to decode what is happening based on your thought process.
- C is for ‘consequences. As a consequence of what you think, your emotions are formed.
So the trick here is to question the beliefs that your monkey mind is sticking onto and change them.
When you change your beliefs, you reach a different conclusion.
Once you reject the beliefs, your monkey mind is luring you into.
You snatch away all powers from it.
And your mind is automatically silenced.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#14: Clear out the clutter
Another way to achieve a calm mind is to clear the clutter in and around your space.
Your environment affects your mental state, and if it’s messy and dirty, you can’t help but feel irritated and annoyed.
So better get rid of the things that you no longer use, organize your shelf and cupboards, clean your room and see the changes in your mood.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#15: Practice journalizing things
If you have trouble explaining things to a person, just write it out.
Study shows that writing can have positive effects on both physical and psychological issues. (7)
Writing works as a therapy for your brain.
Do you know how?
It’s because when you create a narrative of what’s going on around your head, you seem to get away with that constant chatter.
Stop negative mind chatter trick#16: Get away from your phone
When our minds get clumsy, we tend to scroll our phones to find an escape.
There may be a variety of applications and sites that calm you and makes you feel good, but most of the time, social media can deepen our issues.
You might feel more puzzled and overwhelmed after scrolling through the feeds.
Also, our cell phones emit EMF radiations.
These radiations are also a potential contributor to worsening your mental chatter.
Apart from that, these radiations can lead to :
- Sleep disturbances.
- Brain fog.
- Stress.
So, if you are thinking of giving yourself a break, get away from your phone and spend some time in nature.
If you want to reduce the atrocities of these radiations in your home, we have an amazing device for you- Somavedic.
It is a round structured device made of glass and has elements like copper, silver, palladium and gold.
It neutralizes the EMF radiations from your cell phones and other electronic objects.
All you have to do is connect it to electricity.
Easy right?
BrainTap to biohack your stress
Following these tricks are a great way to get away from that non-stop mental chatter.
But… it should not be the only thing you should rely on.
These tricks will give you the benefits, but they are going to take some time.
What if you need instant results?
Well, instant results are possible when you let technology take over.
Here is what we suggest- BrainTap headset.
This headphone is a biohacking product that can be easily used anywhere, anytime- All thanks to its portable structure.
Imagine feeling detached from the bustling hustling stress of the world just with the help of a headset, all you need is 20 minutes off from your busy schedule.
But what it does?
Well, braintap is a tool that can help you meditate easily.
It is a Bluetooth-enabled headset that is fitted with headphones.
All you got to do is- plug the headphones, play calming music, and you are ready to roll.
Wanna know the results?
Here they are:
- Reduces mental chatter by reducing stress.
- Treats insomnia.
- Cures anxiety.
- Manages your pain.
To get the best of this biohacking tool, just dive into the audio experience and immerse in that deep meditative state.
FAQs
Here are some of the questions people generally ask.
How do I get rid of mind chatter?
You can stop negative mental chatter in the following ways:
- Practice meditation and mindfulness.
- Improve your concentration levels.
- Get over your fears.
- Live in the present.
- Practice gratitude.
- Try learning new things.
- Read a book.
- Make a habit of journalizing.
What is negative mind chatter?
Mind chatter is the tiny voice inside your head.
The negative or positive talks depend upon what you’re feeding your brain.
If your mind is constantly absorbing negative emotions, the chances are that these little voices will blabber negative things to you.
This is when these little voices will tell you that you don’t look good or your skills aren’t good enough.
It can also be the result of social self-deprecation that is a common thing for many people.
But it can hurt your brain.
Is it usual to have constant chatter in your head?
Yes, mental chatter or thought chatter is usual for us humans.
It usually happens when our mind is not occupied, and a spurt of thoughts runs through our minds.
Do you ever think why your mind keeps humming the song for hours you heard just for seconds?
It’s just your mind chattering.
How do you silence your brain?
You can silence your brain in the following ways:
- Hop onto some kind of physical activity, be it exercise or any kind of sport.
- Meditate.
- Journalize thoughts.
- Make a to-do list.
- Create or make something.
- Learn a new skill.
- Clear and declutter your room or space.
- Share your thoughts with a loved one.
- Read books.
- Watch movies and documentaries.
- Keep your phone away.
- Force yourself to focus.
Read posts related to brain health
- Biohacking brain– Biohack your brain!
- Improve your brain fitness– Take good care of your brain!
- Feed your brain some good foods– Foods to nourish your brain.
- Get away with brain fog– Don’t let your brain fog blur your life.
Sources:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5866730/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6088366/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6028418/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5797627/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4763375/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3391574/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6869814/