How To Stop Overthinking?

Overthinking means thinking more than what we should and what we need to. It can be of many types. It may be the case of over-analyzing things & situations or it may be the case where we entertain or develop compulsive cycles of thoughts. It is important to recognize the prevalence of overthinking in our life so that we can remove it to make ourselves more capable of taking important decisions & actions in life. But first let’s find out why we overthink!

Why Do We Overthink?

Why Do We Overthink?

We are born with a mind, a body and a soul (or life). In trying to grow physically or economically we need to use our mind & body but to grow spiritually, we need to touch upon our soul which is the basis of our existence. But to become spiritual and grow spiritually we need to go beyond our physicality i.e our body & mind and deeper into our consciousness and the  very source of energy within ourself. Since, most of us today are material rather than spiritual and we want to earn a better income and live a more luxurious life, we tend to use our body and especially our mind more than we actually should. We tend to overthink! 

Consequences of Overthinking

Consequences of Overthinking

Overthinking not only keeps us from experiencing spiritual nature of our existence but also entangles us in the circular & unending process of material life. We keep on getting the same thoughts, which we don’t have any answers to and as a consequence of this we keep on repeating the same actions to remain stuck in the same situations. Some of the thoughts are beneficial at times while some prove to be detrimental for our growth, well-being and life in general.

Why We Need To Stop Overthinking?

Why We Need To Stop Overthinking?

Whether we want to open up the spiritual possibilities within us is a personal choice and pursuit but we definitely need to overcome overthinking so that we are able to live a peaceful & stable life. A life that is crafted by us according to our own wishes rather than from the compulsiveness of our thoughts. Another big problem with overthinking is that it drains you of all the energy by making you busy with unwanted thoughts that gives you stress and anxiety. Overthinking is bad not only in the case of negative thoughts but also in the case of positive thoughts as it doesn’t let you act promptly & decisively. It keeps you either trapped in the past or gloating in the future which directly or indirectly ruins your present. 

Understanding How The Mind Works 

Understanding How The Mind Works

We do understand that overthinking needs to be overcome but the solution for it looks far away. To come out victorious, we first need to understand the functioning of our mind. 

We need to understand that there is one part of our thought process that is autonomous while there is another part which is under our control. The former doesn’t count as overthinking as it is meant to give us the whole picture related to any situation. It will give us every possible thought from every angle and viewpoint. Some people mistake this part of the thoughts of our mind as overthinking which is not correct. So, we need to make peace with these autonomous tsunami of thoughts as it is natural and quite important for our intelligence to remain active and to take care of our survival. 

Overthinking exists only in that part of our mind or thoughts which is under our control. This means that the problem of overthinking can be solved by us. The mistake we do is to extract negative or positive thoughts from the autonomous thoughts and keep repeating them in our mind over and over again till they become compulsive thoughts which feel like they are out of your control. Over time   the volume and intensity of these thoughts keep on increasing which start causing overthinking and which can drive us crazy.

Preventing Overthinking 

Preventing Overthinking

Now that we know that overthinking can be  controlled, our first effort should be not to take autonomous thoughts as given or ultimate. There are some thoughts that feel quite sticky to our mind. We feel it to be impossible ignoring them. This is where we need to take control so that autonomous thoughts don’t become compulsive ones. We need to let autonomous thoughts flow unhindered & uninterrupted like a  smooth river. Just let them flow and use them when you want to. Don’t let your thoughts use you to get unwanted things done from you. Once, we let our autonomous thoughts flow smoothly, our compulsive thoughts would be reduced to nil which will end our habit of overthinking. This is how we can prevent overthinking. We can use this way to stop creating new compulsive cycles of thoughts.

Curing Overthinking

Curing Overthinking

But the main problem is the cure of overthinking. What to do when you have become habitual of overthinking? When we become habitual of overthinking, we have repeated some thoughts several times in our mind to an extent where these thoughts keep coming on their own even when you don’t want them to. We have trained ourself to make turn some autonomous thoughts into compulsive ones. The solution is simple, we have to stop these thoughts from repeating themselves over and over again in our minds. So, what we need to do is to undo these thoughts in our mind. We need to ignore or refuse to acknowledge these thoughts. This is very similar to the case where you ignore a nasty & negative person. Once you stop acknowledging their presence, slowly the compulsive thoughts would fade away. Your compulsive thoughts would once again turn into autonomous ones like a smooth-flowing river. 

But the important thing is not to give up in between. Undoing the cycle of compulsive thoughts needs surrender & the state of extreme oblivion till you become open enough to let go the trapped thoughts towards becoming autonomous thoughts once again.

Conclusion

The mind’s natural function is to keep flowing with thoughts and our nature should be to let it flow smoothly and to keep collecting ‘The Pearls’ from these flowing thoughts at will whenever we need to. Don’t let overthinking ruin your life. We humans are made to act and not to overthink. Let your mind do its work while you do your own. Bring balance in your approach towards life so that every aspect of life including your thought-process becomes balanced so as to serve you better! 

Freedom From Overthinking