You must use your mind to get things off your mind.

How much of this planning model do you really need..? [A]s much as you need to get the project off your mind.

The purpose of thinking is to let the ideas die instead of us dying.

We have many problems, but I'm trying to take people’s minds off it, like forget about the problems for once and just identify the beauty you know.

When your mind is stuck on negative thoughts, try proposing their opposites.

Keep your mind off the things you don't want by keeping it on the things you do want.

Consciously sending a mental “message received, safe to proceed” signal to your brain is a simple and surprisingly effective way to make yourself stop fixating on the issue

Forget whatever should be forgotten, so that you can remember what should be remembered.

If you’re out of ideas, wash the dishes. Take a really long walk. Stare at a spot on the wall for as long as you can. As the artist Maira Kalman says, “Avoiding work is the way to focus my mind.

Setting the mind to remember... involves a continual minimal irradiation of excitement into paths which lead thereto... the continued presence of the thing in the 'fringe' of our consciousness. Letting the thing go involves withdrawal of the irradiation, unconsciousness of the thing, and... obliteration of the paths.

Your goal isn’t to get rid of negative thoughts;
it’s to change your response to them.

The next time you have a thought...let it go.

By simply noting the thought, you get off the “train of thought” and back to the present moment. In doing this, you solidify the understanding that your identity is separate from the rush of stressful thoughts running through your brain. Most of us spend the entirety of our life jumping from thought to thought, never getting off the “train,” thinking that this is “reality” or “you.

The top idea in your mind is where your mind will wander if it's left to wander.

Make sure the idea that keeps popping up is the one you want to keep popping up.