Distracting the mind

I have been walking every morning for 45 minutes to an hour. (I started at 20 minutes when I hit four months and over the past two months I've build up my endurance.) I listen to my iPod and carry a canvas bag and a "grabber" my wife just got me and I pick up cans along the street, out of dumpsters, in trash bins behind stores, everywhere. It really keeps my mind occupied and I enjoy it so much now that I wake up excited at the prospect of going for my walk.

I set a new record today! I walked for 66 minutes (not unusual) but I grabbed a record 48 aluminum cans. The going rate is 70 cans = one pound and one pound fetches 80 cents. So, based on that, I made almost 66 cents while walking 66 minutes!

TV helps, especially comedies. Stay away from blood and gore or movies with explosions and too much action. Those tend to ramp up my stress level.

Finding distractions really is an individual thing. What are your interests? Do you like working in the yard? Maybe go trim a tree. I think that anything that helps get me outside of my house is helpful in me getting out of the tendency to "focus inward" and begin worrying about things.

If I don't distract myself 24/7 my mind starts wandering down a dark road every time.

I agree, when I was in acute withdrawal and my physical and mental symptoms were at their worst, I began distracting myself almost obsessively.  It soon became a habit for me, and it's helped me far more than anything else.  The key is to use whatever works for YOU in that moment.  For me, it was old movies, art, walking, errands, interacting with my pets, and just going out, anywhere, for a few hours.  That stopped the train of cataclysmic thoughts.