California Gal

California, USA

Risa 

Seattle, WA, USA

Sam Clarke

London, UK

Sandy

Nelson, BC, Canada

Kate Mincher

Stroud, UK

lynn

san diego,  CA, usa

Steff Morrison

Kamas, UT, USA

Cara Steinbuchel

Asheville, NC, USA

Becka Gagne

Maine, United States

Australia

John Muller

Fairport, NY, USA

Becky H

Texas

Robin

Tonya

West Hartford, CT, USA

Joyce

Salina, KS

Mitch Andrus

Louisiana, USA

Sandra FM

Clare Louis

New Zealand

Steve B

Visualize your thoughts as clouds floating by to create distance and detach from self-critical thinking.

Spirituality

Stress & Anxiety

Anxiety

Guided Imagery

Consciousness

Visualization

English

Struggle with overthinking? Well, we process over 70,000 thoughts every day! Meditation is one way we can realign to the present experience and become an observer of thoughts, rather than feel subjected to, or distracted, by them. 

This guided Thought Defusion meditation is commonly used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and is a way to visualize and separate ourselves from our thoughts. Today, you will use the ‘Thought Cloud’ visualization technique. 

Sit back and watch them go by.

Thought Diffusion: Taking A Step Back From Our Thoughts

 Kiyora and welcome. My name is Tanisha and I am an art psychotherapist and counsellor. And today I'm excited to share with this community one of my favourite visualisation meditations for a busy mind, thought diffusion. This thought diffusion exercise comes from acceptance and commitment therapy, also known as ACT. It does what it says on the tin, it helps to diffuse the intensity and attachment to our thoughts. Being able to detach from them creates distance, so we can be an observer of thought, rather than be controlled by them. Here we accept that many thoughts occur, rather than trying to stop them or change them, in this exercise we allow them to be fleeting and independent from us. They don't have to define us, and we don't have to buy into their story. This is especially helpful if you have been conditioned to be highly self-critical and over-thinker or judgemental, since most of the thoughts in your case will likely be negative, anxiety provoking or shaming. So get yourself into a comfortable position, and when you're ready, let's begin. So to start with, we're going to take three deep breaths in through the nose, and out through the mouth. If you feel comfortable, please close your eyes, and settle into the body. Notice how the body feels in this moment, that feeling of contact with the chair or the floor or the cushion, the sense of being held by your surroundings, the support of the ground beneath you. Notice the sensation of your breath as it flows in through the nose and out through the nose, whether it feels warm or cold. And now I'd like you to imagine that you're sitting outside. This can be in a garden or in a quiet park. Perhaps it's somewhere you've visited before, or somewhere you'd like to visit. Notice how the ground feels. Notice if you prefer to be sitting on the grass or perhaps on a bench, and the feelings and sensations of the grass or the bench. It's a sunny day, with sun clouds floating through the sky. Notice how the sun feels on your skin. As you settle into this outdoor space, look up to the clouds above you. Follow them in your line of sight as they move from either right to left, or left to right. Whatever your preference is here. Now begin to tune into your thoughts as they come. Place each thought or the summary of it onto a cloud, and watch as this thought floats by. Some of these thoughts may move slowly in the sky. Some may float by quickly. Some may be on a very small cloud. Some may be on a larger, denser cloud. But just watch as they pass. Notice any feelings or sensations that arise as you watch these thought clouds. Notice how like the clouds, these sensations shift and change as you observe. There may be multiple thought clouds in the sky at one time. This is okay. There may be a moment of no clouds at all. This is okay. Notice how this feels. Any judgements that arise, any pending tasks, any to-do's, place them on a cloud and allow them to drift by. If you get stuck on a thought cloud, come back to your observer position, that sense of being on the grass, or on a bench, whatever you might be seated on, or even laying down. Come back to that observer position and allow that thought on the cloud to continue moving and floating by until no longer present. I want you just continuing watching these thought clouds pass by. We're not trying to pass judgement, we're not trying to solve, fix or understand them, we're just noticing them with a sense of curiosity and allowing them to come and to go. Remember if you get lost in a thought, come back to the observer role, in your seat in position outdoors, and gently visualising the remaining thoughts on the clouds above you, just floating by, along with the next, and the next. Now I want you to come back into the body slowly. Notice now the weight of the body on the surface that is supporting you. Begin to tune into any sounds around you, any sensations, any sensations. Notice the breath in the body, coming in through the nose, and out through the nose. Notice the temperature as you start to come back into your original setting. And when you're ready, you can open your eyes. So how was that for you, to become an observer of your thoughts and to begin creating that distance? Just notice how that was, was it challenging or was it difficult? Practice building this skill with this guided meditation as many times as you need to. Thank you for joining me in this meditation today. Follow me on Insight Timer for more mental health skills. Take good care, and I'll see you next time.