“To think too much is a disease.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
One thing most of us have in common is our ability to think and think and think until we’ve exhausted ourselves and our dreams. It also doesn’t help that technology has squeezed the juice out of our brains.
On my laptop, I have nine programs running, slowing it down and making it burn to the touch. When I have just two open, my laptop functions smoothly and doesn’t feel like Mars.
The same goes for our brains when we overthink.
The more things we worry about, the more overwhelmed, burnt out, and unhappier we feel.
But if one thing can save us from our own minds, it’s mindfulness.
Being mindful means tuning into your brain to become acutely aware of your thoughts.
In this post, I’ll go into more detail about how you can practice mindfulness for overthinking to become more positive and calm.
Table of Contents
How to Practice Mindfulness for Overthinking
1. Journal
If there’s anything that saved my life after a few heartbreaks, it’s journaling.
I used to journal on my phone when my mom was undergoing cancer treatment. Then, I moved to a paper journal when I had my heart broken for the first time. And when I struggled to find my purpose, I wrote and wrote and wrote until I found it.
Keeping a journal is like having a therapist available at any time. You can offload whatever’s bothering you, and you’ll always feel lighter afterward.
But most importantly, you become more aware of your thoughts when you journal.
So, write down all the pesky details that are bothering you. Get comfortable with offloading onto paper and walking away with a cleaner mind.
Also, paper journaling is better than using your phone or laptop. This is because people write slower by hand, which helps your thoughts slow down to match your writing.
2. Meditate
In my post, How to Practice Mindfulness Without Meditation, I detailed how meditation isn’t a prerequisite to achieving a mindful state of being. However, it’s by far one of the best ways to use mindfulness for overthinking.
In meditation, you become an “observer of your thoughts,” making it easier to pinpoint when your thinking is slowly heading down the overthinking route.
You can develop a meditation practice over time by committing to one-minute meditations (yes, there’s no need to set aside an hour every day to meditate.)
And if you’re finding it hard to build the habit, use an app like Calm, which holds you accountable and teaches you how to meditate.
Plus, they have multiple one-minute guided meditations that you can do anywhere.
3. Stop Living in the Past and Future
You overthink because you aren’t living in the present. You’re either stuck in the past, ruminating over lost opportunities, or worrying about your future self.
This isn’t only exhausting but can lead to a lot of anxiety.
I know it’s not as simple as saying, “Stop worrying about the past and future.” This might only motivate you for a few hours, but what happens when you’re assaulted with the same worries day after day?
The only balm is to be grateful for your present situation by changing your perspective of it.
Here’s what happened recently: I went through a stage where I felt behind in life. My friends were getting married, having kids, and some were falling in love. Then, others were getting their dream jobs, buying their own houses, and just living a supposedly better life than me.
It got me down for an entire year until I changed how I saw my situation.
I thought to myself, “I’m actually living my dream. I work remotely with words (which I never dreamed of as a possibility.) I still live with my parents, but this means that I get to know them better as an adult and save more!
Instead of comparing yourself to others, count your blessings and think, “Maybe I’m the lucky one….”
Related Post: 25 Things to Be Grateful for In Your Life Instead of Complaining
4. Be Hyperaware of Your Thoughts
We have 60,000 thoughts running through our minds per day. 80% are negative, and 95% are the same thoughts we had yesterday. Clearly, our thoughts are too much to keep up with.
But to be mindful means to be hyperaware of your thoughts.
Just yesterday, I sat in my room feeling sorry for myself. I called myself mediocre, lazy, and worthless until all the hours I’d put into practicing mindfulness finally paid off. I interrupted my thinking.
Here’s the conversation I had with myself in two minutes:
“So, is that it then? Are you going to sit here and feel sorry for yourself? Get up and prove yourself wrong! Think about all those moments when you didn’t believe you could do something, but you did. You can do it now too. There’s nothing remotely mediocre about you. And it’s high time you started believing in yourself.”
This is me being my own therapist and pulling myself out of that negative mindset — all because I’m becoming more mindful of my thinking.
Now I know when I’m feeding myself lies and when I’m trying to gain my own sympathy. And most importantly, I know when I’m trying to avoid responsibility for my life and blame a greater power for the shitty hand I think I’ve been dealt.
Mindfulness will help you change the way you think about yourself, which, in effect, reduces overthinking.
Final Thoughts
Practicing mindfulness is a life-long journey. There’ll always be situations to test you, days that will put you through the wringer, and people you’ll want to punch. But as long as you have control over your thoughts, you won’t just survive the situation, but you’ll conquer it.
If you enjoyed this post about using mindfulness for overthinking, check out these other posts:
- How to Practice Mindfulness Without Meditation: 5 Techniques That Work
- 83 Feeling Low Quotes Guaranteed to Make You Feel Better About Life