If you need help getting out of your head, go stare at it in the mirror.

I’m being serious. Go look at yourself in the mirror and take a really good look at your head. Take note that every thought and emotion you are having is taking place in the darkness behind what you are seeing, yet, when you look at the outside of your head, there’s no thought to be found, only the air that surrounds it.

Take a look at your forehead. Do you see any thoughts? Nope. Just some skin and eyebrows (and perhaps wrinkles if father time has etched it’s poetry on your skin).

Take a look at something else in the reflection, the door perhaps. Can the door see your thoughts? Nope. (Well, I suppose a door cant SEE anything, but you get it).

Every time a thought comes up, just take a moment see if you can find it in the mirror. A mean ex shows up? Well do you see them in the reflection? Nope, just the same old door and shower curtain. A traumatic memory? Nope, just a door and a shower curtain. Put yourself in the mirror and outside of your head. Simple, yet effective. Good luck.

(this isn’t meant to trivialize how hard it can be when your mind turns on you, or how all consuming past traumatic events can be, just putting forth an exercise that has helped me in the past).