Whether we as ADHD and anxiety sufferers are taking a vacation, staycation, or having a fairly “typical” day, we can become trapped by an idle routine, or simply put having too much time on our hands.  We can find ourselves procrastinating.  However, we can also find our thoughts racing and tangential.

Researchers state that we average of 50, 000 – 70,000 thoughts per day. We would like to share with you how to stop negative thinking, and make the most of your time, regardless of context.

Pick your preferred option to listen below:

Click here to listen on iTunes

Or

Click here if you want to listen in Google Play

Or


Click on the player below to listen via the SoundCloud Player

Tangential thoughts that can arise during the day. Tangential thoughts refers to when you are concentrating on one thing and then you have a thought about something that is unrelated.

Our video below provides some additional concrete steps you can take today to address either an idle mind or racing thoughts!

There are three problems with tangential thoughts:
1) They frequently grab your attention
2) They frequently engage your attention
3) They often involve worse case scenarios

What complicates things further is that these thoughts engage your mind and consume your attention and they may not even involve things that are really important in the moment.

These thoughts are often about subject matter that is not that pleasant and really cause you to think about the worst scenario.
So what can we do about this?

We are going to provide some suggestions that we at Panic Attack Recovery find quite helpful. If you recall, we only provide solutions that have been personally used and approved by sufferers of anxiety and ADHD.

1) You need to become mindful of how often and how pervasive these tangential thoughts are in your daily life.

2) You could get a counter that is used to count shots in golf or get an app for your phone or smart watch and then count the number of tangential thoughts you have each day. Objectively counting these thoughts can be very powerful.

3) Practice mindfulness each day. Mindfulness allow you to better pay attention to your thoughts in the present moment. We have a really helpful video about this, which you can feel free to check out.

4) Make more of a constant and regular effort to focus on your passions, e.g., hobbies, work, etc. In short, consciously focusing on your passions and interests frees you from an idle mind that can leave you more prone to tangential thoughts. For more information, we did a helpful podcast some time ago about the dangers of an idle mind.  You can play it right here if you wish.

5) For those really persistent or difficult thoughts, complete Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). We did a video about this topic in the past which outlines the CBT process in detail.