Train of Thought

 Train of Thought 

Mindfulness is a helpful way of being able to take a conscious step away from our thoughts, emotions, and even physical experiences. There are many different exercises which can be helpful in mindfulness and it is important to find one that works for you. 

This activity is called the train of thought. It’s a visual activity that takes 2-5 minutes to do. It can usually be helpful if you’ve noticed you’re mind has felt flooded with a lot of thoughts and emotions recently, as well as if you have had a lot of stress.  

First to do the activity first sit in a comfortable position with limited distractions, and close your eyes. 

• Imagine yourself driving in your car in a rush to be somewhere and then you come to a railroad track with a very slow train going by. 

• Even though your frustrated there’s no other routes around, so go ahead and put the car in park and sit back and relax. You’ve been needing a second to just sit anyway. 

• As your sitting there watch the train cars slowly go by, and take a minute and watch them one by one come into your view and then go out of your view. 

• As your watching each car go by notice how some of them have graffiti on them and some do not. You don’t have to try and figure out what the graffiti is saying just admire the creative artwork or the quirkiness of it.

• As each car is slowly passing by, notice how different thoughts will come to your mind. 

• When a thought comes up, instead of holding it in your head imagine it as graffiti on one of the train cars. Mentally draw the thought on the train car and just watch it as it goes by. 

• After that thought disappears out of sight continue to watch the train, and when another thought comes up write it as graffiti on the train car and let it go by. 

• You may have thoughts like “this is boring”, “it’s taking to long”, “I’m not doing this right”, when you have these thoughts come up, write them also on train cars. 

• Also notice different emotions which come up for you, as well as bodily sensations. You can also write the specific feeling or sensation in graffiti on a train car and let it roll on by.

• If you notice you have anxiety, or tension, or anger, just add these on the train art, and let them move on by with the train.    

• Continue watching the train and your thoughts and emotions and putting them onto the train and letting them go by. You can do this for as long as you want. And when you are feeling like you are more relaxed, watch as the last train cars and engines come in and out of view and bring your attention back to the present. 

What I like most about this activity is that you can practice the mental activity when actually coming to a railroad crossing with a train on it. Since there is nothing else to do, it’s a good time to practice mindfulness and ship off some of the stress of the day to somewhere else. 

-This activity is based off of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy defusion techniques.