jimmyhow

I get to the point where I realise my mind is racing at a stupid pace and going over stuff that I should leave alone and that makes me angry or depressed. Before I know it I've wound myself up to boiling point and struggle to calm back down. I usually start off daydreaming about something and before I know it my brain is picking over some negative memory or problem.

I get it at night too and then can't sleep.

bluedog97

I can definitely relate. Im going through this right now. Thinking about things from the past that I regret and have cause a lot of grief. Ive drank many times over this. Better to take the sober route this time.

cardoon

When you become aware of the ruminating try saying, "stop" out loud. I've also found mindfulness meditation very helpful.

PhoenixJ

Meditation, mindfulness, distraction- all work sometimes.

Trees39

try and train yourself to always think about what you do want rather than what you don't want.

hellrzr

AA and working the steps. Truly did work for me. Part of why I couldn't sleep was my mind always racing but once I found a solution I found I could sleep and not worry about things in the past and that are out of my control. I really can relate and that's how my racing mind problem was solved. It was a miracle for me because my mind drove me crazy before becoming active in AA!

One tip my sponsor gave me was to simply say a small prayer, "God please take these thought from my head". Say it over a number of times and pretty soon you may find you aren't thinking about your original problem anymore.

I don't remember but are you going to AA now?

Doug39

I am into mindfulness also.

Today was a bad day though; just couldn't stop the bad thoughts.

It also helps to try to figure out what is bothering you - once I figure that out I usually calm down.

red3215

I used to have that problem bad, especially with anxious thoughts. I'd start off with one little thing and it would snowball until I was literally panicking. I did this everyday.
I think to some extent those thoughts were being allowed in and I needed to just stop allowing them. That's the simple advice my ex-boyfriend gave me that worked very well. I stopped letting it happen and thought about positive things instead when I realized where my train of thought was headed.
Eventually it became a habit and I don't panic like that anymore.

january161992

exercise

BrendaChenowyth

Try deep breathing. It sounds dumb, but it isn't.

FreedomHorse

My mind runs non-stop most all the time too. This has especially impacted my ability to fall asleep...and it's not necessarily negative things that I think about. It is just that my mind races with 10+ things at once...bouncing all over the place from the song my daughter practiced on the piano, to a note of something to do the next day to other random thoughts.

This has caused me to drink to fall asleep and that became a "need" every single day (quickly).

So like others have said, exercise and mindfulness have helped a lot. Just stopping my brain to make it think of 2 things I can hear in the room, 2 things I can see, touch, smell...and it just goes on. I also literally have my brain say "relax your toes" and so on all the way up to the top of my head until I'm really calm.

Last but not least, I have added and all natural sleep aid that I take about an hour before bed and it really helps me to fall asleep initially and fall back to sleep wake up during the night.

It can take some time to get there though...but those things have been life savers to me!

Good luck...I feel for you with the racing brain!!!

Red78

I used to take evryday passionflower extract, relaxes the mind & all the chatter.. Very good for relaxing the mind/body to be able to get to sleep.. Last year i had a lot of anxiety in my relationship & this plus valerian root did wonders to calm m mind down..

Dee74

I thought it was bad my mind raced. It's not. Now it races along useful lines and I get a lot of things done each day.

What I had to do was stop the negative spiraling and the snowballing 'catastrophisation'

these are some good links to start

Thought Stopping: A Technique to Quiet the Negative Voice in Your Head

Challenging negative thinking | ReachOut.com Australia

Negative Self-Talk: 9 Ways To Silence Your Inner Critic | The Huffington Post

D

SnazzyDresser

This happens all the time to me, racing mind. Brisk walking helps me a lot. I do that breathing thing too that soberwolf posted, the Andrew Weil breathing thing. Assuming you don't want your mind to race at that particular time.

MrPL

I'm with Dee on this one. My mind is always racing, but I learned how to give it enough good challenging things to keep it busy and get me to move forward.

I think a lot of us suddenly have this perception because alcohol took a massive place inside our heads, but now it's not there anymore the void will need to be filled with something else.

Reading people's posts here sometimes colouring books or sudoku work, others go back to school, others do meditation, others do gardening, others cook, others clean, others change careers, I am opening a business. I am sure there s something for you too jimmy!

P

aasharon90

Saying the Serenity Prayer over
and over till my mind is filled
with a loving, caring God, my HP-
Higher Power of my understanding.

He is there to override, cancel,
rid, erase, chase out, all evil
that enters my heart, mind and
soul, replacing them with health,
happy thoughts.

Practicing prayer daily works.

jimmyhow

Thanks for all the replies, I think keeping busy and keeping my mind on other things is the key. I often find myself just sitting and thinking about nothing in particular. That probably isn't a good thing.

whitehorses

This is happening to me at the moment..i am on day 4 and did not sleep a wink last night..but dont feel tired? had exercise yesterday too.

August252015

Prayer
Talk to my sponsor or boyfriend
Nap/go to bed early
I take ativan daily as needed (when is important, too- when I get the "amped up" feeling starting, I take it, for example); I take seroquel nightly for sleep
Read SR or blogs I like
Look for quotes on Pinterest- we have albums on our iClouds with different topics, so I find whatever strikes my mood and add to them
Exercise (not so disciplined about that but at least taking the dog for a walk is good)

entropy1964

I didn't read all the posts so I hope I'm not a broken record.

My mind used to race all the time. Still does at times. I have found that acceptance of my addiction and my powerless over it helps. I have also found that accepting my past, no matter what helps. I have found that keeping my thinking in the moment, in gratitude, keeps my thinking from beginning to spiral.

I was thinking about this last night. I will have little things happen throughout the day that can cause resentments and victim thinking. If I don't nip those immediately, let them go, they start to build. Its like a cumulative effect. Just a layering of irritation. That will start my mind ruminating on these resentments. Then my thinking starts to pull out old resentments...maybe things where I truly was a victim...and I'm off to the mind races. Its crazy. And not a good place for me to be because sometimes I don't actually catch whats happening until I'm really in a bad place.

Letting go, acceptance, forgiveness. And recognizing what I can and cannot control. It takes practice.