Overthinking

I was reading a book by Louise Hay where she says a person overthinks because it is the easiest way to skip taking action.  Action takes hard work whereas thinking simply needs you to do nothing.  I realize it is absolutely true. How many times did you think of quitting your job and starting a business, but did not actually do it?  How many times, did you want to apologize to someone, but did not actually apologize?  How many times did you want to take a solo trip, but did not actually take it?  Doing things, makes you step outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself. On the other hand, thinking needs you to do nothing yet keeps you occupied believing you are doing something.  The funny bit is you become more tired from thinking than all the work you actually do.

How do we then stop overthinking?  The trick is to actually simply ‘stop’ overthinking.  Thoughts come when you allow them to.  If you are hell-bent on not thinking about something, you can actually block the thought from hitting your mind. You may think I’m joking, but I’m not.  You and only you have the power to tell your mind to shut up and then direct it to do exactly what you want it to do.  To change a mental state of mind, change the physical state of being.  Change your actions and your body will start helping your mind to align to what it is doing. If you sit there doing nothing and only thinking, then you choose to sit and think.  You choose to overthink.  You choose to be burdened.  The deal with overthinking is that it makes things in the future seem so real that you are not able to divert your attention.  You build stories in your mind about things that may never happen.  While doing this you put to the side, work that actually needs to be completed in the present. 

So, the next time your mind is overthinking and enslaving you, make sure to stand up and take control.  Consciously choose not to think about things you cannot control and take action towards the things you can.