You should think, but should you overthink? We generally don’t consider overthinking as a problem at all but to your surprise overthinking is quite addictive in nature. Let me give you an example of the situation, suppose you feel hungry when you are inside a classroom and you start to think of food and from the food, you start thinking about the restaurant, then your favorite dish and after 10 minutes you realize that you were thinking about how boring your life is!
Has that or something like that happened to you? Do you sometimes overthink and ruin the simple thing? Happens right? Sometimes overthinking makes you more stressed then actually you are. Even worst you are in a happy situation but due to your overthinking habit, you tend to ruin the moment. You sometimes overthink and cannot sleep, that’s the common thing a lot of people share with me. Trust me, studies even have shown that one of the major reasons for mental disorders is due to overthinking. So, the conclusion is you should think but not overthink. But how to is the question!
Accept that overthinking is not good at all.
Most of the people don’t know that they are overthinking at all. They don’t think that they are overthinking and most importantly they don’t know that overthinking is not good at all in most cases. So, the first step should be to accept the fact that overthinking is not good for you.
Overthinking doesn’t give you any insight neither thinking will be the ultimate reality.
This is probably the mistake that we all do. We think that overthinking might give us insight into the person or thought we are thinking about, but that doesn't happen. You need to live life, have a lot of knowledge, and so on to build the insight rather than overthinking as you think what you already know generally. Of course, over-thinking doesn’t change reality.
Don’t “let it go” but “let it be”
In everyone’s life, there are a lot of problems or moments that stick to your head. That may be why your ex broke up with you, why you are not getting outcomes as you should get, and so on. So, let it be. It’s over, the thing that is not within your control cannot be controlled with your thoughts too. So, let it be, it’s over. Whenever some such incidents hit you rather than getting deep into that thought just let that thought complete and have the attitude of letting it be and move on with your work you are doing.
Practical exercise to perform when you find that you are overthinking
I always say, the solution to any such a problem is to be in the moment. Be here and now!
Whenever thoughts come to you just try to engage in that thought only. Don’t get dragged with the thought and go with the flow of the brain. Whenever you think that you are going with the flow, just focus on your breathe and then the sensation of your body. Be aware of the environment and get back to work. Of course, again, mediation helps a lot with this. You can take the 13 days free meditation course called MMIS from this website.
