Have you ever felt stuck in the loop of overthinking?
If so then this article is for you.
So there are at least 50 thousand thoughts that come to our mind everyday and most of them are negative.
When you keep thinking about a thought in your head whether it is positive or negative, it’s called overthinking.
Thinking about a positive thought like if you keep dreaming about your goal and achievements in future tense, it has some positive impact on your life (as per the law of attraction, only if you follow basic principles while thinking like gratitude, feeling, visualisation, clearing blockages before affirming in present tense etc) there is another side also which says that it makes you feel like it’s already done and if you are a person who delays the implementation then you will keep dwelling here.
Point of time when people knowingly or unknowingly do overthinking.
While choosing a career or subject in school.
Many students get stuck here and stress caused by overthinking about what to pursue after 10th or 12th grade isn’t just their fault.
It’s because of the pressure that they feel for it, which makes them believe that it’s a once in a lifetime decision and they can’t change it later.
Students just need to become aware that we live in a world where all the fields are connected directly or indirectly and it’s possible to pursue something unexplored and more interesting as a way to build wealth in future. And right now at this stage they just need a small self introspection to find out the subject they just like to study as compared to other subjects and select it that’s it, over analysing about the fields in it or imagining the whole career in that moment is not at all needed.
After choosing the goal
No matter what the goal is, the biggest reason behind overthinking here comes down to one reason: what will others think?
If I fail, what would others think?
If I end up becoming jobless, what will people think?
Because at the end we know that if you are capable enough to be studying in a school and have a family, you don’t need to worry about food, water and shelter.
Of Course there are the things that homeless, family less, people overthink about.
While doing the work to accomplish goals.
Perfectionists come here, like I can’t write anything right now because It must be perfect and fully optimised then only I am going to post it.
And the solution for such overthinkers is accountability.
After accomplishing some goals.
Like a parent, even after having a career set, they keep thinking about the future or past.
These people need to practise deep breathing, yoga, meditation as they need to learn about how to be fully present in the very present moment.
Consequences of overthinking
I don’t think that stress and fear causes overthinking but it’s the opposite, overthinking causes stress and fear and then it keeps repeating and the intensity of tension keeps increasing with time.
It causes the person to keep dwelling on different negative thoughts and makes them feel low and you know that thoughts that are negative like fear, regret, resentment causes mental, emotional and physical health issues.
It leads to procrastination and more and more stress at the end.
It makes you question your ability to accomplish your goals because you keep delaying your everyday tasks.
Stagnation in growth and low decision making ability are also results of overthinking.
11 tips to stop overthinking
Here are 10 tips that will help you stop overthinking.
1)Journaling
If you find yourself overthinking then just write down all your thoughts and everything that’s going on in your mind without thinking about grammar or tense mistakes, it will help you break the loop and gain clarity.
And if the thoughts are so disturbing then you can burn the paper and flush it, believe me it helps a lot.
2) Meditation.
You can practise Raj yoga meditation by bk Shivani, 6 phase meditation by vishen lakhiani, focusing on breathing and listening to healing music with specific high vibrations or AUM chanting with the help of youtube, Jin shin jyutsu etc.
3) Yoga, pranayama and deep breathing exercises.
4) Quick aerobic activity like dancing, jogging, running, 2 minutes exercising.
5) Listening to your favorite music.
6) Watching your favorite movie or series.
7) Talking to a loved one
Do this only if the thoughts are not so negative as you can transfer them if the listener is not a high vibrating soul.
8) Spending time in nature
You can do a barefoot walk on grass, forest bathing, sun gazing ( within 40 minutes of sunrise or sunset), tree hugging and releasing all your thoughts with every exhale while doing so,or simply looking at the sky on the terrace.
9) Doing something creative like painting mandala
(I suggest you not to cook as it transfers your emotions in food and indirectly to those also who eat).
10) Practicing gratitude.
Legends say that when you practise gratitude you forget all negative thoughts.
here are 6 reasons why you must practice gratitude everyday.
There are 2 ways to express your gratitude
First is by writing
Second by saying
But there are a few steps that you must follow to attract more of what you are grateful for fast as written in the book The Magic.
- Just say and feel all the things about what you are grateful for in alpha state (within 20 minutes after just waking up or before sleeping) everyday.
- Answering why you are grateful for each thing.
- Visualising it.
- Say Thank You, thank you and thank you god at the end.
11) Go to peak state
It’s a technique I learned from my mentor Arjun Singh Kalsi through his program management heist.
Peak state is a state of mind at which we are confident and can make anything happen.
One of the ways to reach peak state is using a muscle memory accelerator where you make your backbone straight, chest out, chin up, you maintain this posture and you shout some powerful I am statement frequently, when you do this your entire state changes.
For another way to get to peak state, you need these 3 things.
- Focus, focusing on some past achievements.
- Language, what you are saying to yourself and how you are saying it.
- Physiology, here comes the muscle memory accelerator
Doing these three things simultaneously will bring you out of the loop of overthinking.
You know, If you are aware about your habit of overthinking and what is overthinking then half the battle is already won, you only need to follow few of the 11 tips to overcome overthinking that you just read above.
All the best.