How to stop overthinking about everything ?

[Nana_Kh]

hey,

i overthink everything so i can't tack decision, i can't have opinion cause it will changed after two minutes , even so simple things are so complex when entered to my head

what training or exercise i can do everyday for 30 continued days to help me with that

 

 

[Nahm]

@Nana_Kh I find I can’t think, and focus on breathing from my stomach at the same time. So that’s something you can do anytime, anywhere. Here’s some practices too...

 

Breathe Awareness Meditation

Stress is an extremely unhealthy condition. It causes the body to release the chemical cortisol, which has been shown to reduce brain and organ function, among many other dangerous effects. Modern society inadvertently encourages a state of almost continuous stress in people. This is a meditation that encourages physical and mental relaxation, which can greatly reduce the effects of stress on the body and mind. 

Sit still and pay close attention to your breathing process.

Take a reposed, seated posture. Your back should be straight and your body as relaxed as possible.

Close your eyes, and bring your attention to your breathing process. Simply notice you are breathing. Do not attempt to change your breath in any way. Breath simply and normally. 

Try to notice both the in breath and the out breath; the inhale and the exhale. "Notice" means to actually feel the breathing in your body with your body. It is not necessary to visualize your breathing or to think about it in any way except to notice it with your somatic awareness. 

Each time your attention wanders from the act of breathing, return it to noticing the breath. Do this gently and without judgment. 

Remember to really feel into the act of breathing.

If you want to go more deeply into this, concentrate on each area of breathing in turn. Here is an example sequence:

    1. Notice how the air feels moving through your nostrils on both the in breath and the out breath. 
    2. Notice how the air feels moving through your mouth and throat. You may feel a sort of slightly raspy or ragged      feeling as the air moves through your throat. This is normal and also something to feel into.
    3. Notice how the air feels as it fills and empties your chest cavity. Feel how your rib cage rises slowly with each in breath, and gently deflates with each out breath.
    4. Notice how your back expands and contracts with each breath. Actually feel it shifting and changing as you breath. 
    5. Notice how the belly expands outward with each in breath and pulls inward with each in breath. Allow your attention to fully enter the body sensation of the belly moving with each breath.
    6. Now allow your attention to cover your entire body at once as you breath in and out. Closely notice all the sensations of the body as it breathes. 

Repeat this sequence over and over, giving each step your full attention as you do it. 
Suggested time is at least 10 minutes. Thirty minutes is better, if you are capable of it. 

If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. For example, on the in breath, mentally say to yourself, "Breathing in." On the out breath, say, "Breathing out." Another possibility is to mentally count each breath. 

 

 

Awareness of Thoughts Meditation

By learning to watch your thoughts come and go during this practice, you can gain deeper insight into thinking altogether (such as its transience) and into specific relationships among your thoughts and your emotions, sensations, and desires. This practice can also help you take your thoughts less personally, and not automatically believe them.  Additionally, this meditation can offer insight into any habitual patterns of thinking and related reactions.  

Observe your thoughts as they arise and pass away.  

·       By “thoughts,” we mean self-talk and other verbal content, as well as images, memories, fantasies, and plans. Just thoughts may appear in awareness, or thoughts plus sensations, emotions, or desires. 

·       Sit or lie down on your back in a comfortable position.

·       Become aware of the sensations of breathing.

·       After a few minutes of following your breath, shift your attention to the various thoughts that are arising, persisting, and then passing away in your mind. 

·       Try to observe your thoughts instead of getting involved with their content or resisting them. 

·       Notice the content of your thoughts, any emotions accompanying them, and the strength or pull of the thought.

·       Try to get curious about your thoughts.  Investigate whether you think in mainly images or words, whether your thoughts are in color or black and white, and how your thoughts feel in your body.

·       See if you notice any gaps or pauses between thoughts.

·       Every time you become aware that you are lost in the content of your thoughts, simply note this and return to observing your thoughts and emotions. 

·       Remember that one of the brain’s major purposes is to think, and there is nothing wrong with thinking.  You are simply practicing not automatically believing and grasping on to your thoughts.  

·       When you are ready, return your attention to your breath for a few minutes and slowly open your eyes.  

Optional:

·       There are various metaphors and images you can use to help observe your thoughts.  These include:

o   Imagining you are as vast and open as the sky, and thoughts are simply clouds, birds, or planes passing through the open space.  

o   Imagining you are sitting on the side of a river watching your thoughts float by like leaves or ripples in the stream.  

o   Imagine your thoughts are like cars, buses, or trains passing by.  Every time you realize you are thinking, you can “get off the bus/train” and return to observing.

Awareness of thoughts and emotions is one of the areas of focus developed when cultivating mindfulness.  In Buddhism, mindfulness is one of the seven factors of enlightenment and the seventh instruction in the Noble Eightfold Path.  

(The Seven Factors of Enlightenment: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/piyadassi/wheel001.html)

(The Noble Eightfold Path: https://tricycle.org/magazine/noble-eightfold-path/)

CAUTIONS:

Please be gentle with yourself if you notice that you are constantly caught up in your thoughts instead of observing them.  This is both common and normal.  When you realize that you are thinking, gently and compassionately return to observing your thoughts.  

If the content of your thoughts is too disturbing or distressing, gently shift your attention to your breathing, sounds, or discontinue the practice. 

·       Remember that you are not trying to stop thoughts or only allow certain ones to arise.  Try to treat all thoughts equally and let them pass away without engaging in their content. 

·       This practice can initially be more challenging than other meditations.  As you are learning, practice this meditation for only a few minutes at a time if that is easier. 

·       It can be helpful to treat thoughts the same way that you treat sounds or body sensations, and view them as impersonal events that arise and pass away.  

·       Some people like to assign numbers or nicknames to reoccurring thoughts in order to reduce their pull and effect.

 

 

Posture Meditation

This body-based meditation is a very effective way to get grounded and centered. It encourages an embodied, calm, and open awareness, and discourages disassociation. If you have a tendency to "leave your body," feel ungrounded, or disassociated, this is a good practice. 

Sit with your spine straight and aligned, and the rest of your body relaxed. Keep bringing yourself back to this condition. 
1. Take a reposed, seated posture. 
2. For this meditation, it is very important that your spine is straight. Your neck and back should be in perfect alignment. Your chin should be down very slightly. 
3. If you are sitting in a chair, do not rest your spine against the chair. Sit forward so that your spine is supporting its own weight. Let the muscles of the spine be engaged. 
4. All the other muscles of your body can be completely relaxed. Allow your face muscles to let go, and your jaw to drop slightly, so that your teeth are not touching. 
5. Let your shoulders hang freely, and let your belly be soft and open. 
6. This is the posture you are aiming for, with your spine erect and your body completely relaxed. 
7. As you sit, keep bringing your awareness back to the fine details of your posture. Notice any time your spine slumps even slightly, your head leans to either side, or any other deviation. Correct these gently and repeatedly. 
8. Also notice if any other areas of your body tense up even slightly. If anything is tensing, relax it in a gently and soft manner. 
9. Keep checking in with the body, using your body (somatic) awareness; the feeling in your body. Mental images of your body will probably arise, which is fine, but these are not what you are concentrating upon. Instead, concentrate your awareness in the sense of your body. The sensitivity in your muscles, tissues, viscera, skin, and so forth. 
10. The more detailed and minute you get with this awareness, the better. Each tiny area of the body has its own sensitivity to contribute. 
11. Every once in a while you can zoom out to cover the entire somatosensory field -- the awareness of your entire body -- to bring the overall body back into alignment. 
12. Keep relaxing every muscle everywhere. Use just enough tension to keep your spine erect, but no more. 
13. Continue this meditation for at least 10 minutes, continuously contacting your body awareness. 

CAUTIONS:
If you have any spinal injuries or severe back pain, it is fine to allow your spine to rest in a pain-free position.                    If you find yourself distracted by a lot of mental chatter, you can use verbal labeling as an aid to concentration. 
For example, when checking on the spine, you can say to yourself, "spine in alignment." 
When checking on the body, say, "body relaxed." 

 

Resource for different meditations: https://sites.google.com/site/psychospiritualtools/Home/meditation-practices

[Joseph Maynor]

Do some "do nothing" meditation for 30 minutes every morning.

 

[Vingger]

Realize how much of that thinking is really useful

[PsiloPutty]

Ha, I was going to say "MEDITATE!!!" but I see it's already been covered. OP, it really does help, even if it doesn't feel like you're doing it correctly at first. 

[Ether]

@Nahm YOu got me covered

[Nahm]

Lol.  Thanks.

great article on the subject....

https://medium.com/the-mission/11-simple-ways-to-stop-overthinking-everything-and-take-control-of-your-life-cf6de0b8d83f

@Ether

[Star Net]

Hi @Nana_Kh

On 19.02.2018 at 1:28 AM, Nana_Kh said:

so i can't tack decision, i can't have opinion

You are thinking alot  again and again because You are afraid of taking the wrong decision or having the wrong opinion,

You are thinking alot because You are afraid of being wrong,

it is about the mindset,

think and take decision and have opinions and do not be afraid of being wrong,

Do not be afraid of failure,

In every decision or opinion You are making think like :

'' If it is the right decision or opinion then I did a good job, if it is the wrong decision or opinion then I did a good job too'' because

Failing is the way for success,

Read about the inventors, Innovators and other types of cool people You will be amazed about how many times they failed,

I hope You understood What I ment,

By the way @Leo Gura made good videos about '' Fear of failure '', You can watch them ....

 

 

[pluto]

Less subscriptions and attachments, more simplicity.

A simple life is a good life

[YaNanNallari]

Don't care about overthinking, overthinking stops. How to get there? others probably told you

[Shin]

@Star NetNet. Like <  said

You need to stop fearing to take a wrong decision.

You will inevitably make really stupid mistakes (retrospectively), but that's ok.

Mistakes are the only way to progress, you can't progress if you do everything right, because that means you're either doing something you already know, or nothing.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Shin

[Aquarius]

I agree with Vingger. You really have to ask yourself how much of that overthinking leads to results. 

Besides that, I would recommend having a thought journal, or just having a few blank print papers to fill up with thoughts, then throw them away if you want. But the best is having a note-taking app, and every time you have a need to overthink, just write, and write, and write... Write your heart out. And see what conclusions you got.

That, combined with 10-30 minutes of meditation daily can be helpful. Good luck to you!

Edited February 25, 2018 by Aquarius

[alyra]

KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid!

words to live by!

 

 

I've also found success in checking "is what I'm doing my priority?"

I've also found success in considering in the moment - what is realistic? 

and don't forget - awareness itself is curative  if you can keep constant acute awareness throughout the entire process of a thing - you will naturally move towards improvement. Even just a marginal amount of awareness can make a real difference as you work towards growth in some aspect. 

oh and - to stop a bad habit, the best way to do it is - create a new one. identify what you get out of the bad habit that you use/appreciate/need/rely on, and replace it with a new habit that provides the same function without the same cost.