Fake Smile: Antidote for Overthinking?
Overthinking makes you worried. It’s no secret but we just can’t stop it many times.
I am going to give you tit bits of my experiences about how to stop overthinking.
I can tell you, if you have to know these tips from self-development gurus you may have to spend a fortune on retreat camps and a lot of time for continuous resort visits to learn from them.
Anyways, I practice before I preach!
If I find it useful then I share with rest of the community. Here I am giving you a couple of ways to stop those overthinking moments.
We are all there and probably faced it sometimes in a day or a week or a month or occasionally depending on our mental state.
A person’s health depends on how fast one can come out of this overthinking state. There’s enough scientific evidence to support this claim.
A person with a positive mindset and hope can even face cancer and come out of it unscathed. Granted, with a suitable intervention. Not downplaying any kind of intervention in curing a disease.
Those with a negative mindset may succumb to even a tiny ulcer in their body even when having appropriate intervention.
That’s how powerful our mind plays are.
If anything related to our health or some other trouble has shown an indication of something wrong with our body or other issues, occasionally a cold chill spike down our spine. Or we may be even shiver with fear, depending on how serious it’s.
Further, in those moments our thoughts race much faster than the speed of light (exaggeration intended!!!) and we want to know:
Why it’s happening to me?
What are the consequences?
Will I survive this?
What happens to my job or business?
What will happen to my children?
Will my spouse survive without me?
I am sure one time or other we have been there and experienced it if you are old enough to have a family and kids. Rarely, it may also happen for some unfortunate young individuals as well.
Instead of thinking about how to solve the problem at hand we immediately go down the hill of emotions and think about what all bad things can happen.
Have you experienced those anxious or overthinking moments?
It’s frightening, isn’t it?
Of course, many people come out of it and go ahead and take action whatever needs to be done.
Let’s say we experience some unknown problem inside our body, like a slow and consistent pain. But the nature of problem is, it’s not emergency situation but it happened for the first time or recurring regularly.
What do we do in general?
We take an appointment with the doctor, right?
But you know unless it’s an emergency you have to wait for your appointment date.
That will leave you a lot of time overthinking about your problem and those overanxious moments are coming in spurts.
If you search on the internet for home remedy or some other alternative ways to handle the problem, you may find some temporary or permanent solutions for your problem before you even go to the doctor.
Then you don’t need to keep up with your doctor appointment unless it’s in France (have you heard about this, if you don’t turn up on your doctor appointment day, you will be fined in France)
How many of us really can go business as usual without being overwhelmed about the issue at hand?
In my view not many can handle the issue at hand without overthinking.
So, how do we avoid this problem?
So, to find the solution we immediately search on the internet ‘how to stop overthinking?’
These days we may turn to ChatGPT or Gemini for guidance, AI avatars of world wide web (WWW).
They may give you some generic guidance on some non-pharmacological solutions as given below:
Be a witness: while keeping your eyes open. It’s like meditation while keeping the eyes open.
Observe the thoughts emerging within you as a third person. It’s easy for the people who practice yoga regularly.
Meditation: yes, you can go into deep meditation. Regular practice of meditation is required to dissolve into it easily. Deep meditation resolves many of our fears.
But many people stop meditation because the issues overwhelm them, and they can’t sit there for even a few minutes.
Witness state and meditative state are connected and if we can practice one of them effortlessly then other is also possible with ease.
Slow and relaxed breathing: Certainly, slow breathing helps a lot. It calms down slowly but again it requires practice to get the benefits. I would like to write about it in future posts in more detail. That itself is a separate science in yoga practice.
Gratitude: Be thankful for yourself and others for the life you led until now. Remember all the good happened to you until now compared to many other unfortunate people around you or anyone out there unknown to you. It’s a kind of thanking universe for all the good things that happened to you compared to many others.
If you search deeper on the internet with specific prompts, you may get additional tricks for stopping the negative thinking.
Of them laughter therapy is one.
Laughter therapy: It’s scientifically validated as a single or adjuvant therapy for mental health. It’s proven to reduce stress and anxiety through positive modulation of neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin and lowering cortisol levels.
If you are at home or in a private place when overthinking strikes you then yes, probably you can laugh out loud instantly to get out of the problem.
But we can’t laugh out loud if you are in public places without reason and it’s considered as a sign of mental health problem.
Then what to do?
Further, all the above solutions require regular practice, and you need to be adept at to get the desired benefits quickly.
What if you want instant solution for your overthinking? The following is what exactly I do in such situations.
Technique 1: Combination of Witnessing and Fake smile
Basically, I combine two of the above techniques, be a witness and laughter therapy, to get instant relief from my overthinking.
No, I don’t go into crazy laughing mode to get those benefits. By the way we can’t do both witnessing internal turbulence and laughing at the same time.
But a variation of laughter, i.e. broad smile can be coupled with witnessing state of mind.
I go into witness mode (meditation) with eyes open while keeping a broad smile (not laughter) with closed or opened lips. I prefer closed lips smiling because it allows me to be subtle.
You can say it’s a fake smile. Even a fake smile gives you positive benefits. As they say ‘fake it till you make it’ but it gives you desired results.
What happens when we smile?
The smile activates the amygdala, the emotional center in the brain which controls our emotions. Which then releases the happy hormones and sends you calming signals.
It’s very easy to do it and slows down my breathing in a few seconds and takes me into mindful observation (witnessing) of my physical and emotional experiences.
Then those fears dissolve in a matter of few seconds.
Have you noticed some people who are tactful, laugh out or keep smiling if someone is angry and shouting at them. The onlookers may find it crazy why that person is laughing out when someone is yelling at them. That means they have taken deliberate steps not to get involved in the dual vocal fight.
Now we know the reason for that ‘fake smile’.
Technique 2: Combination of witnessing and staring
Another technique is to turn your gaze (stare) at distant objects such as trees, while keeping a broad smile on the face and walk freely in the open area. Even this combination helps in stopping ceaseless thoughts. This is close to the walking meditation practiced for thousands of years since the ages of Buddha.
If you are in a room or in a closed area and it’s not possible to stare at distant objects and walk freely, then stare at something on the wall of the room or any other object in the room. Don’t forget to bring the broad smile on the face and witness the emotional turbulence as long as you are comfortable.
Both methods equally work well, and you will experience the disappearance of thoughts.
Take care of the problem
Once I am settled with the overthinking problem then I attend to the issues at hand in a non-emotional state. I can think of solutions for the problem at hand in a calm manner instead of going down the rat hole of thoughts.
Try them and let me know.
Remember these techniques don’t resolve internal or external problems we are facing but they allow us to think in a rational manner to attend the problem at hand.
These techniques are very important for the care givers of persons with mental health issues to keep their own emotions in control in order for them to tackle the issues at hand.
I found them very helpful in controlling my emotions either with respect to my own health related issues or whenever I get worried about my son’s slow progress because of his ADHD.
These techniques are equally helpful for any person going through the roller coaster of emotions at any time.
If you need more information or explanation, you may reach out to me with a private message.
Until the next post, cheers!
Vara
