OVERTHINKING AND ITS REMEDY

          Controlling the mind for most people is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks. Overthinking that people engage in, happens quite unawarely and by default, since they cannot control it by their will. So what to do in such a situation.  The below quote could be their starting point to begin with if they wish to overcome it, which would happen over a period of time by practising to control their mind. But then things are more easily said than done. So the below-given aspects however would certainly help them in this endeavour.                                  

                                               Get out of your head and breathe,

                                        All your thoughts are not facts.

                                        Tune into what’s happening right now.

                                        Pay attention to your senses and practise

                                         being in the present.

                                                                                     ---------- Ash Alves.

 The above quotation implies the need to avoid overthinking and to start living in the present moment. Thinking, as we all know is a spontaneous mental process that happens all through our waking hours of day and night. But not all the thinking that man indulges in is on things that are relevant to him at the given point in time. By a simple definition,  I may state that “Overthinking is the thought process that man indulges which is irrelevant, maybe even harmful and causes meaningless distraction of the mind from the important activity that he should have engaged in”.  

And it is this that man needs to restraint himself from indulging in and endeavour for a meaningful utilization of time and his mental energy

Let us go a little deeper into the subject to understand it better. The different aspects that lead to overthinking include several factors that cause this spontaneous impulse.

1.      Past unpleasant events that haunt the mind.

2.      Pondering over the probable or expected events of the near or the distant future.

3.      An immediate forthcoming unpleasant situation that is unavoidable, which he has to face in his professional or personal life.

4.      Negative judgemental comments made by other people either in his professional or personal life

 The above are some of the most common reasons, but there could be innumerable other reasons for overthinking. However, these are some of the major ones so I would focus in this blog post on these aspects only.

 1.      Past unpleasant events that haunt the mind:

The mind of most people (excluding enlightened sages, monks and spiritual leaders) keeps restlessly jumping from one thought to the other like the monkey that keeps jumping from one branch to another in the tree. And unpleasant events of the past are the issues that most commonly haunt his mind and triggers overthinking. This is something that happens despite his awareness that it is something that he cannot go back to correct. It is these uncontrolled thoughts that keeps repeatedly coming back, again and again, to haunt the mind with emotions of contempt or shame or disappointment or sadness depending on the nature of the event.

 2.      Pondering over the probable or expected events of the distant future.

Pondering over some probable or expected good or bad times in the distant future, is a very potent and tempting reason for overthinking. This a person either consciously engages in or at times is unconsciously driven into because of his lack of control over his restless mind. Knowing very well that the events of the distant future are something uncertain of nature and what actions it demands, cannot be decided in the present time. But even then the unstoppable mind triggers unnecessary thinking and keeps on harping on the uncertainty, which is a meaningless mental exercise. A negative minded person is more vulnerable to such an occupation and creates illusions of the probable failure as the outcome. A positive minded person though would maintain an optimistic outlook but deliberates on the uncertainty of the situation. Both categories of people are thus in a state of mental impasse. Hence in this situation too overthinking would be a meaningless mental exercise.

 3.      An immediate forthcoming unpleasant situation that is not avoidable which a person has to face in professional or personal life.

Unpleasant situations whether ensuing or forthcoming ones are potential reasons on which people overthink, though their hindsight may tell them that those are something that are meaningless. The nature of overthinking would be different in professional and personal life since the nature of situations would be quite different. The intensity and seriousness of overthinking are more if it pertains in professional life to a situation threatening his job which would adversely impact his livelihood. The less severe situation could be one of the vitiated environments at the workplace to which he has to mentally exert himself to adjust with, till the he can find an opportunity to move off from that organisation. However, in the personal field overthinking may or may not be always meaningless since it depends again on the nature of the situation. Where things have gone to an irreparable extent in a relationship, it obviously would be beyond the control and thinking would be meaningless. A situation that is perceived to be within control thru the process of self-correction or improvement, then thinking and acting accordingly would be a meaningful exercise.

 4.      Negative judgemental comments made by people.

A negative judgemental comment and that too when made publicly are very potential reasons to instigate the person to overthink. This more particularly happens if the person due to some or the other reasons had to restraint himself at that instant from bouncing back to that person with a similar comment. In such a situation he would be constantly overthinking for finding an opportunity to avenge it.

 Having stated some of the reasons above for overthinking, I now feel the need to state the ways to avoid indulging in such meaningless mental exercise thereby causing wastage of time and mental energy. This at the fundamental level demands a perceptual shift in the thinking about the self. Following are some of the ways how this could be done.

A.     Maintain a strong will to develop an attitude to live in the “Here and Now” .i.e. to live in the present moment at any given point in time. Not to dwell on past unpleasant events or future uncertainties.

B.     Come what may, always remember these famous words of Buddha “All things arise and pass away”. Not to take any events too personally as this does no good, as it affects the physical health and disturbs the mental stability.

C.     Hold on to strong reasons to maintain always a sense of positive self-image.

D.     Develop a strong sense of judgement of what is right and wrong in the given situation and always take recourse to the right path without paying heed to how people would think about it.

To develop all the above mental attributes there is a sure way to achieve it. And that is thru the practice of “Mindfulness", which is a form of meditation that is a very effective way to develop mental stability and achieve peace of mind . With this, overthinking can be effectively avoided.

To those who are keen to know about “Mindfulness", in order to have a glimpse of what it exactly is, follow the below given link.

 "Mindfulness",