
How To Stop Your Neurotic Overthinking For Good
Four simple tools you can use to create distance from your mind and have the ability to switch gears mentally and emotionally: let's cover them with enough direct engagement and detail that you can run with them and see some results right away.
Transcript
If you're a neurotic overthinker,
You probably have a brain that talks at 2x speed,
And you probably wish podcasts had a 3x speed option,
But they don't,
But at least I'm talking fast right now,
And it means that you don't have to think,
Because I'm speaking at the rhythm that your brain speaks at,
So there's no space to.
.
.
But if I stop,
You'll notice your mind will start going,
And if it's not,
If it got staged right for a moment,
It's waiting in the wings.
We know it's perambulating,
It's waiting to make its appearance,
And just notice when it starts up.
And you'll notice that there's an illusion that you are the one doing the thinking.
But that will start to fade away as you notice that if you just step away from that illusion for a moment,
Your mind will continue to think,
And you might even notice that right now.
It might even think,
I insist,
I am the one doing the thinking,
But you'll notice that that program just runs by itself.
And if you can notice that,
Then you can notice that you're probably addicted to your thinking.
You probably like being that neurotic,
Overthinking version of yourself,
Even though it leads to rumination and catastrophizing and all sorts of intrusive thoughts,
And it does a lot more harm than good at times.
There's a weird Stockholm Syndrome-like relationship we can have to that voice in our head that simply is addictive.
We don't want to step away from the overthinking.
But if we can admit that to ourselves,
Then we can say,
Maybe this is doing more harm than good.
We can disidentify from that voice in our head,
And you might enjoy the short film I created on just that.
You really grasp that if you watch that.
But for now,
Just notice that you are not that voice in your head,
No matter how much you want to be,
No matter how familiar and cozy it might be,
No matter how addictive it might be.
If you can notice that and step back from that,
Then you can go to the second step,
Which is that sometimes you might reject that part of yourself.
You might say,
This is getting in the way again,
I'm overthinking things,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah.
But it's like any part of ourselves that wants recognition and acknowledgment.
So you can just say to that part of yourself when it flares up,
Or you can practice right now,
Just say,
I accept you.
I accept this neurotic,
Overthinking part of myself.
You might put your hand on your heart and do that right now and see how it feels as an experiment.
And once you've done that,
The next step is to take up a daily meditation practice.
Oh no,
The dreaded daily meditation practice feels impossible.
Check out this page.
There's plenty of meditations that'll make it easy for you.
But the key here is to understand that recognizing you're not your thoughts creates space between your awareness and your thoughts.
So you have the option to be present.
But if you just realize it intellectually,
There's a moment of awareness,
But then that thinking mind has momentum.
And when you go back into your day,
It's hopeless.
You will not maintain that space.
But meditating for 5 or 10 or 20 minutes creates space that you can then stabilize.
And then you can go into your day with that space.
So you have the option to flip the switch and be present when you want to be present and go into the flow of your thinking when you want to do that.
The next step is to go to the body.
And you can practice this right now.
The driver of this overthinking is usually restless energy in your body.
So as you notice that right now,
You'll sense the arc.
There's probably like a clenching or resistance feeling that you feel as you start to sense what's in the body.
But instead of running from that,
Just allow that to be there for a moment.
It's like a wave.
As you allow it and sense it,
It might start to peak.
But just notice what happens as you stay with it.
Instead of going to the thoughts,
Stay with what you sense in the body.
Even if it's a little uncomfortable for a moment.
Just breathe with it.
Flow with it instead of against it.
Imagine space opening up around it.
Just notice how you can start to create safety and relaxation with what you feel.
Even if it's not the coziest feeling at first.
And that acceptance and presence and attention on it literally starts to transform the feeling.
And as it does,
You'll notice that the mind starts to mirror that calmer feeling.
The mind will start to calm down automatically because you've gone to the root of that momentum of thinking.
So you're just simplifying it.
Www.
Mooji.
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