Resisting overthinking begins by knowing the nature of the flow of thoughts and their interaction with feelings, and the reasons why one of us can control the flow of his thoughts while another cannot stop thinking about everything compulsively, and when overthinking about everything is a valid reason for anxiety, insomnia, psychological stress and obstruction. productivity and progress; Treating excessive thinking and mastering strategies to control excessive thinking is an indispensable priority for those who suffer from excessive thinking.
Ways to stop overthinking
Determine the reason for overthinking: The first step is to try to discover the reason that prevents you from controlling the flow of thoughts in your mind. Excessive thinking is associated with many chronic and emergency causes, such as sleep disorders that give you the best time and circumstance for rumination, and self-esteem problems as well.
Identify the type of recurring thoughts and treat them: All your thoughts may revolve around how others view you or how you view yourself, and the central point around which your thoughts revolve may be fear of the future or anxiety about the past. without lining it with thoughts and fantasies.
Put ideas in the right time frame. When you enter a state of overthinking, immediately determine the time to which your thoughts relate. Are they things you should do tomorrow or in five years? Do your thoughts relate to the past that cannot be changed? Or is it related to the near future? The goal is to build an arrangement of ideas according to their time priority. When you discuss with yourself the feasibility of thinking about what will happen in five years, you will find that your mind helps you get rid of the flow of thoughts.
Set a time to thinkBased on the previous step, you can set a time for thinking depending on the importance and priority of the idea. Small, close decisions can be given 30 seconds, and larger and more distant decisions can be given 30 minutes. The more strictly you adhere to the thinking scheme, the more your mind gets used to sticking to it as well.
Overthinking while sleeping: If you suffer from disturbances and difficulties when going to sleep, you must treat it because it is a major cause of excessive thinking, and you must end the time-restricted thinking session at any time except for bedtime.
Get to know yourself more: Start by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of your personality, and start trying to discover yourself again, and do not hesitate to seek help from a coach or a psychotherapist who will help you discover yourself.
Think only of what is subject to changeEvery time you enter into a state of excessive thinking, ask yourself about your ability to change reality, and if your thoughts are within your control. This question will alert you to the purpose of thinking, and you will feel that thinking about something beyond your control or unchangeable is just a waste of time.
Replace thinking with writing: Dedicate a notebook to write your thoughts on a daily and routine basis, and within a short period of daily writing, you will find that the nature of your thoughts has begun to change and become more organized.
Replace thinking with a favorite hobby: If you have a favorite hobby, the best time to call it is the time of excessive thinking, and if you do not have a hobby, you should look for a hobby that helps you face thinking.
Pay attention to everything you are exposed to throughout the dayExcessive thinking is related to everything you deal with during your day of people, things, information and experiences, so you should pay attention to the influential people in your life and the nature of their influence on you, the type of movies you watch and the books you read… Make some adjustments to your daily routine.
Do small things every day: Determine a set of small accomplishments that you must do daily, perhaps reading 100 pages a day, or providing assistance to one person every day, whatever this help is, and the goal is to enhance your positive feelings.
Hold on to the present moment: Getting used to thinking about the present helps control overthinking about the past and the future, and despite all of our realization that we live in the present; However, building the idea of “here and now” requires some conscious effort. Repeat this sentence when you feel that you have taken a bout of excessive thinking.
Learn positive thinking techniquesWhen you have the ability to summon positive thoughts and expel negative thoughts, you will not find a problem with thinking time.
Learn critical thinking techniquesExcessive thinking focuses on one aspect, or on possibilities related to one aspect of the idea, and critical thinking skills analyze the idea differently, all you have to do is force yourself to look at other aspects of the idea.
Change some conceptsIt is not easy to change ideas and concepts, but established concepts are the main source of ideas. If overthinking is about your self-worth, you must acquire scientific knowledge of the concepts of self-esteem and how to form a self-image and work to fix it.
Exercises to stop overthinking
Meditation: Through meditation exercises, we try to get to know specific aspects of ourselves through the test of alert self-awareness, and when the basis for meditation was to focus on a specific point, meditation helps to train the mind in orderly thinking.
breathing exercisesAll breathing exercises are useful in controlling overthinking, whether breathing exercises associated with meditation, breathing exercises before bed, or even just focusing on inhaling and exhaling.
Create mental connectionsMental connections exercises depend on finding a relationship between thinking and an external stimulus. This alerts us to the moment of slipping into excessive thinking. When you link thinking to listening to a musical clip with a specific period of time, the end of this clip will be a notification to you of the end of thinking time. With practice, the mental connections become stronger. And effectiveness.
Shortcut exerciseOne of the main problems in excessive thinking is the association of thoughts and the presence of a lot of side thoughts and fillers, and the reduction exercise works to define the idea in a specific and brief way.
Senses alert: Take a cold bath, or work to stimulate your senses by dancing, as dancing occupies a large part of the sensory response, and you may also try inhaling a specific perfume that stimulates the sense of smell and helps you relax on the other hand.
distractionAlthough distraction and distraction exercises are common ways to control overthinking, it is not recommended to exaggerate with distraction exercises. It is better for distraction exercises to be away from mobile phones, social networking sites, and video games. Doing sports or spending time with others.
counter thinkingThe Counter-Thinking exercise is one of the fun intellectual games, where your mind turns into a ping-pong table. As soon as an idea comes to your mind, push the counter-thought. With time, this purification will help you organize your thoughts better.
Source: specialized sites
