Eight Positive Ways to Heal from Overthinking
Allow your mind to calm down and heal
“Put your thoughts to sleep. Do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking.”~ Rumi.
Life can feel daunting at times. Some unforseen situations can make our thinking go from peaceful to overwhelming in no time.
When overwhelm kicks in, the mind automatically goes into overthinking mode. Our mind has a built in fight or flight mechanism to protect us from danger. So some level of thinking, problem solving mentally is a natural response. But when it takes over your life, and all waking moments are full of overwhelm, thats when we need to reevaluate what is normal.
It’s in this overwhelming mode, that very detrimental life decisions are made, because the mind is so tired of overthinking, it often settles on the wrong solution. This is the reason all decisions should be made with a calm mind, not an overthinking one.
Overthinking is when someone thinks about one thing again and again in a mind numbing loop.
Overthinking might be a result of underlying anxiety, which can trigger overthinking at any time, and this is often out of anyone’s control.
The trigger can’t be controlled, but the response certainly can.
Excessive overthinking can affect our levels of happiness, our relationships, and our entire lives.
Below are some tried and tested ways that can help you to go from overthinking to calm in no time. Best part they are easy to incorporate in your daily life.
8 Positive Ways to Heal from Overthinking
When you feel like you are struggling from the overthinking bug, here are a few simple and positive ways, that can help you come back to your calm healing centre and help you think clearly again:
- ✍️WRITE IT DOWN: Take 10 minutes to write down all the thoughts that are passing through your mind in that moment. The simple act of putting pen to paper allows you to process your emotions in that moment, and then reading those thoughts, has the ability to rationally calm the mind.
- 💭OBSERVE YOUR THOUGHTS: Stay aware of your thoughts when you feel like you have this habit of overthinking. Being conscious of your thoughts allows you to observe where your thoughts get stuck into the overthinking pattern. This can help break the cycle of habitual overthinking.
- ❓ASK YOURSELF THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: Ask yourself these questions: Are these thoughts real facts? Are these thoughts helpful to me in this moment? Are these thoughts serving me in anyway? What can I do right now in this moment to feel better?
Asking the right questions to yourself at the right time lets you come back to rationale thinking instead of overwhelming overthinking. - 💗THE GRATITUDE LIST: Create a gratitude list daily. Make a list of things you are grateful for everyday. Focusing on your blessings reduces anxiety and increases your levels of inner happiness and calm.
- 🥰BE NICE TO SOMEONE ELSE: A simple act of kindness boosts seratonin, which is also famously called the happy hormone. This boost induces feelings of well being and inner satisfaction within you. Its the classic what you give out comes back to you 🙂 Who has time to overthink when youre feeling so darn good, right? ❤
- 😊FOCUS ON A FEEL GOOD HABIT: If you love to watch tv shows or read books, do it all with full attention. Keep your phone aside, and stop distracting your mind. A distracted mind is an overwhelmed mind. And when there is something interesting for you to focus on why bother to spoil it with a phone in your hand, right?
- 🧘♀️BREATHE: Deeper breaths have been proven to bring you back to the present moment most effectively. Use your breath to calm your nerves. Especially when you feel like your mind is all over the place, consciously make an effort to stop doing everything else and simply focus on your breath. Deeper inhales, stronger exhales work wonders.
- 🦋BEFRIEND YOUR MIND: Your mind is your best friend. Start treating it like one. Use positive affirmations to befriend your mind. Affirmations like: “I am calm in this moment. I allow myself space to breathe, space to heal.” If you use these affirmations harmoniously with your deeper breaths, it will definately stop the overthinking spiral.
Honestly, I have been an overthinker all my life. I almost always overthought myself into a dark space that felt worse and worse as time passed by. It robbed me of years of happiness, which I now feel like I could’ve salvaged had I known better at the time. It took me a long time to realise that overthinking is nothing but my own mind playing tricks with me. The moment I realised that, I was able to take control of what I was thinking, rather than the thinking take control of me.
The above 8 ways have helped me and countless of my clients over the years.
I am often reminded of the quote “Don’t believe everything you think.” by Robert Fulghum. It’s a quote I often tell myself when I feel like I’m going down a negative overthinking pattern. Works like a sort of slap within my own head 😉 to jolt me back to reality.
This quote and the ways I shared have allowed me to live a more heart centred life without the dark shadow of overthinking. That’s the beauty of getting out of our own head, we then live from the heart and that to me is the best way to live.
👉💭What do you think? Do you have any special ways you rescue your mind from overthinking? Share your wisdom in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!🤗
💗With all my love, Zeenat Merchant Syal, M.A, M.Sc
💗Zeenat Merchant Syal is a Practicing Counseling Psychologist & Spiritual Counselor. She writes on Healing the Mind, Heart & Soul on Positive Provocations & offers Online Counseling there too.💗
A version of this post originally appeared on www.PositiveProvocations.com
