Thinking is a strength and overthinking is a weakness. Overthinking is a problem which many people face. Let me clarify what is overthinking? It is an onslaught of random thoughts which keep coming anytime of the day. Overthinking creates clutter in our mind. It also stops us from reaching logical solutions to our problems. It causes addictive, resentful, superfluous thinking. It blurs our vision. We all are aware that we can’t change the past and the future is yet to come, however, we are lost in the messy thoughts from these two timeframes. We must learn from the mistakes of the past and not obsess over them.
Look at a child, there is only “present” for him/ her. There is neither past nor future for the child, just living in the present moment. Even we were children once. We as adults also have the abilityto live in the present and remove the unwanted stress from our lives. Stop Overthinking. I am sure you all would agree that it is easier said than done. The most potent tool to stop overthinking is Meditation. Let’s look at how meditation helps?
Decluttering the mind: Overthinking is a signal that something is bothering you deeply. We must explore and find the root cause of the botheration and must deal with it immediately. By meditation we can recognize the real issue. Once recognized, we can fix it. We are aptly equipped to analyze, organize and prioritize in our heads. This helps in avoiding the bombardment of unrelated, unnecessary negative thoughts. Meditation helps declutter our mind.
Overcoming negative thoughts: After a failure, we are looking to put the blame on someone / something. It makes it easy for us to deal with the failure. Meditation helps us overcome the negative thoughts. Meditation helps us in keeping the fault finding trait under check. It helps in removing the negative thoughts and look for the real reasons for failure. Meditation helps us to focus on positive thoughts and actions.
Supports detachment: Overthinking is an active expression of attachment to our words, thoughts, ideas, deeds, relationships, people etc. This blurs our objective assessment, evaluation, judgement and logical reasoning, making us over critical of everything around us. Meditation helps in freeing ourself, supports detachment. It guides us to clarity and widens our horizon. Meditation shows us endless possibilities in life.
Sets right perspective: Overthinking clouds our mind with unwarranted thoughts and ideas. These give us stress, creates doubts, distort reality. All these bring unhappiness in life. Meditation provides us the opportunity to look at new perspectives, guides us to see the big picture. Overcome the restrictive thoughts.
Are we ready to explore more in life? If yes, we will be able to join the dots and move towards larger goals in life.
(The writer is a Delhi based Master Coach and a Motivational Speaker)
