One kind of meditation that I created as a hybrid of a tool I learned on how to deal with triggers and sitting meditation from Zen is "feeling meditation."
When I'm feeling antsy, angry, frustrated, agitated, or my mind is ruminating on something, a tool is to ask myself, "What am I feeling right now?" It's a process my therapist suggested as a way to pause before making a choice on how to respond to stressful events.
Feeling meditation takes this one step further, where I take time out to purposefully sit and feel about the things going through my mind.
Starting with some counting or other centering breathing, I sit on my mat, or lay in my bed (especially if I'm having trouble sleeping).
Then I let my mind wander. Or, if there is a specific problem I'm grappling with, I think about that.
Then, I ask myself, "How do I feel right now? How does my body feel and what are my emotions?"
There's no right or wrong answer. And no explaining of why I feel that way. Just how I feel.
Then when I pinpoint the feeling, I let my mind wander again. As soon as I hit another thought, I ask again, "How do I feel?"
After a while, I process a lot of the distracting thoughts in my mind, and it really feels like my mind is "clearer."
It's one of my favorite meditations. I hope it works as well for you as it does for me.
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