How To Stop Ovethinking

Holy moly I can not tell you how many times I was sitting at the other end of the smoking barrel of this question. Overthinking. Thinking too much, a common (very common) problem that many (perhaps all) of us face.

I use to wonder when my "thinking" became "overthinking." I mean what is the difference really?

Overthinking is when you begin to create a problem that is not there.

For example, you may be thinking about what person X said to you earlier today. Why did they say it this way? Or why did they use the words they did?

Or perhaps you're thinking about a physical trait of yours that you're insecure about, maybe you're too skinny, or fat, or awkwardly shaped.

When you start to create anxiety inside your mind or fabricate a problem that doesn't actually exist, you are overthinking.

So, how do you stop overthinking?

Honestly, the solution to overthinking is actually quite easy in theory, but a little more difficult in practice. What your going to need to do is sit down and focus.

Here are 3 ways to stop overthinking.

1. Listen

When you are overthinking, you have a voice in your head. That voice is speaking a million miles an hour, pointing out all the negativity and frustrations you have, making your mental peace distant or even inexistent. 

That voice is a part of you, you're speaking internally.

When I tell you to listen, I'm telling you to listen to your surroundings, to your environment. 

Your goal here is to get out of your head. Listen to the wind, the traffic, the waterfall, footsteps, your breathing, anything! 

When you are making noise, you aren't listening. And in order to listen, you have to be quiet. So by listening to your environment, you automatically force the voice in your head to shut up, so that you can focus on what your listening to.

I like to take walks and hikes, and sometimes your footsteps are the best thing to listen to. Your breathing is also a fantastic choice of things to hear. Your breathing not only will bring you out of your mind, but the sound of your breath is actually quite soothing.

2. Focus on the now

The present moment is all you have.

Read that again,

The present moment is all you have, ever!

What you are doing right now, what's around you, in front of you, what you're experiencing at this moment, your senses the way they are filled now, these are the only things that exist. 

What happened yesterday does not exist. What is going to happen tonight does not exist. These are creations of the mind. These are part of the ego. The ego is the mind's identity. You are not your mind's identity. A large source of our anxiety and dread comes from our ego, or who/what we choose to identify as. 

You must realize that you are not your ego. You are not the things you identify with. The ego is a fabrication and with it the concepts of past and future. These things do not exist, and they contain no merit in reality.

The human mind does this to survive. We love to plan for the future and to learn from the past (which of course you can do, but you do not have to live there.) We get caught up in these ideals of how we should live or what we shouldn't do. The shoulds and the shouldn'ts. We are focused on a construct, a survival mechanism, a false reality.

When you are full of anxiety, you are associated with the past or future.

You can pull yourself out of this mind state by remembering that you are only in the present. That is the only place you will ever be, and the only thing you will ever have. The now is forever. 

Be in the present. Focus on the now.

3. Meditate

This point is kind of like the last two points combined. This step can also help you with the last two steps. The idea here is to cultivate a mindful mind state, because often times anxiety and overthinking stem from a detachment of awareness.

Mediation is huge when it comes to ending the days and times of overthought. To meditate, you simply sit (you can also stand, or walk), focus on your breath, and observe.

It is best to start by sitting and breathing, allowing any thoughts to simply appear in the mind, but then fade them away by returning your attention to your breathing.

You can practice this by standing, but your legs may grow tired. Especially as you get better you may begin to want to meditate for longer periods of time.

Alternatively, you can practice walking meditation. In order to do this, you walk - but before you take your next step you must be fully aware. You will start out by walking very slowly. Each step you take will be full of presence and awareness since you will not take your next step until you are fully aware, until you can feel your foot lift through the air, make contact with the ground, and roll to the ball of your foot. Then again with the other leg.

There are many other forms of mediation, such as eating or bathing, sweeping and cleaning, doing the dishes, writing, and/or sitting.

Listening and focusing on the moment are forms of meditation.

Meditation is simply being mindful.

And there you have it, not only 3 ways to combat your anxiety and overthinking, but you have now learned an entirely new way of life.

Continue to cultivate mindfulness, meditation, and presence in your everyday life and you will certainly feel your mind change. You will find yourself anxious less. You may even find your thought processes changing and might undergo some psychological change, for the better. 

Go fourth with your new powers.