13 Easy Strategies to Free Your Mind and Manage Your Emotions

Even though we don't tend to relate them, manual activities can be a big help when we need to clear our mind and bring order to our thoughts and emotions. Learn more in this article!
13 Easy Strategies to Free Your Mind and Manage Your Emotions
Valeria Sabater

Written and verified by psychologist Valeria Sabater.

Last update: 27 May, 2022

It’s not easy to free your mind. After all, your brain is not like a drawer that you can just empty and fill whenever you feel like it.

This is mainly because there are many emotions that take away your inner peace, balance and the ability to concentrate on what is important. More often than not, there are negative emotions.

Factors like anxiety and long periods of stress often cause us to feel frustrated, exhausted and even angry at the world.

This has happened to us all at some point. You get home and you can’t relax because your mind is constantly being filled with multiple persistent thoughts. A whirlwind of anxiety, headaches and a bad mood that just won’t go away.

If you go through phases of feeling like this and you don’t know how to deal with such a draining state, here are some simple pieces of advice you could try putting into practice in order to free your mind.

They really help!

Find out what emotions are tormenting you

An image of a woman's head.

Before starting these exercises, you need to identify which emotion or emotions are at the core of the way you’re feeling.

Sometimes, it’s a cocktail of lots of little things: a bit of anxiety, a bit of fear, a bit of sadness, a bit of disappointment and a bit of worry.

To unravel this ball, you need to concentrate and relax. To do this, there’s nothing better than starting to meditate. That said, although it may seem odd, learning to meditate is by no means easy. It takes some time and patience.
We can recommend a series of options to help you connect with yourself, to identify what is happening to you and what emotions are filling your mind.

Here they are:

  • Go for a walk. Many people find it easier to meditate while walking, running or doing gentle exercise.
  • Have a relaxing bath. It’s an ideal way to think about things and free your mind.
  • Take an hour for yourself, on your own and in silence. Grab a notebook or a piece of paper and draw two columns. In the first column write “what I feel” and in the second “what makes me feel like this.” Do the exercise in an relaxed way. Be honest with yourself.

How to free your mind according to the emotions you find within

A woman facing a picture of a bird.

1. You feel anger or rage

Take pieces of colored paper and tear it into strips. Do it slowly, focusing your attention on the task.

When you’ve ripped them up and turned them into strips, braid the strips. Little by little, you will find a solution to your anger.

2. You need to understand something

Paint mandalas. It will allow you to connect with your thoughts, calmly and without rushing, while you color in the shapes of the mandalas.

Little by little, you will find the answer.

3. You feel sad

Draw trees with long roots and high branches that reach the sun.

Discover more: 8 Tips to Naturally Overcome Sadness and Depression

4. You feel anxious

Make a rag doll.

As you create each part, you will find a certain peace in identifying yourself with this human form that you have created with your own hands.

5. You feel worried

If you feel worried, it will help you a lot to practice origami. This delicate art consists of folding paper without using scissors or glue, just with the hands.

6. You need to remember something

If you want to remember something, draw mazes.

7. You feel mentally exhausted

Draw flowers.

8. You need to find the solution to a problem

Draw an ocean with waves and then paint it with appropriate colors.

9. You feel trapped and you don’t know how to get out of the situation

If you’re going through a complicated phase in which you find yourself with a lot of inner tension, full of anxiety and very rarely finding a moment to free your mind, draw spirals to feel better. It’s very relaxing.

A drawing of a tree.

10. You need to know what you want in your life

If you find yourself at a personal crossroads without knowing what you want or what you really expect from yourself, make a collage.

Cut out images that you like. Put them together and think about them.

11. You need to organize your ideas

In this case, you’ll find it very useful to draw rectangles.

12. You’re feeling desperate

We’ve all had moments like this when everything overwhelms us and when it feels as if we’re carrying our whole life on our back.

When you find yourself feeling like this, it can be very cathartic to draw paths. Draw trails and paths that get cut off but that are joined by strong bridges.

13. You’re annoyed

A drawing of different color lines.

Being annoyed is not as intense as rage. It’s a bothersome state, like a cloud that fills us with negative sensations that we can’t get rid of.

Each time this happens to you or you find yourself in this state, it’s useful for you to take colored pencils and draw lines along an empty page.
Try it! You’ll be amazed by how much these simple pieces of advice can help.


This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.