Stop Overthinking With These 4 Simple But Effective Tools

This is what overthinking can look like-- Spending too much time visualizing catastrophic scenarios that never happen. Worrying about what other people might be thinking about you. Not being able to make decisions because you get caught in paralysis by analysis! Spending too much time thinking about what you should have done or shouldn’t have done in the past.

So basically, when we are overthinking we are not present, we are not in the here and now, we are either reliving or questioning the past or we are living in the future, which makes It very very difficult to enjoy your life. The tools I shared in the last episode of the Empowered Souls podcast will help you stop overthinking so you can be more present, make better decisions, have a sense of inner peace, and just be able to relax, enjoy and flow with life more.

Enjoy!

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Empowered Souls,

A podcast for women who are ready to reclaim their power and create the life of joy and purpose they came here to live.

I am your host Veronica Moreno,

A coach and energy healer,

And my mission is to help you break free from what is no longer serving you,

So you can elevate yourself and live your highest life.

It's time for the deep healing,

For new levels of transformation.

It's time to do the great things your soul is calling you to do.

Are you ready to truly step into your power and become the extraordinary woman you were always meant to be?

Let's get started!

Hello my beautiful souls and welcome to another episode of the podcast Empowered Souls.

This episode is all about how to stop overthinking.

And I would love to know how many overthinkers there are in the audience.

I am definitely a natural overthinker,

I think if there were a championship for overthinkers I could easily easily make it to the podium.

So for me overthinking is something I need to be very aware of because I have a natural tendency for it.

So everything I will be sharing in this episode,

Trust me,

I have experienced it first hand.

But even if you have a natural tendency to overthinking,

Like me,

There are some simple things that you can do that will make a huge difference.

And that's what I want to share with you today.

Simple tools to help you stop or reduce overthinking so you can be more present,

Make better decisions,

Have a sense of inner peace and just be able to tell that voice to shut up for a little while and just be able to relax,

To enjoy and flow with life more.

So before we start,

What is overthinking for maybe some of you who might not be so familiar or are lucky enough to not have this tendency?

What is overthinking?

What does it look like?

So overthinking looks like visualising catastrophic scenarios,

Potential scenarios,

Things that might happen that never happen.

It looks like worrying a lot about what other people might be thinking.

And that could be something as simple as going into a restaurant and maybe someone looks at you and you think,

Oh my God,

There's something wrong with my clothes.

They're criticising my outfit.

Maybe I look awful.

Maybe I've put on weight.

Maybe I've lost weight.

Maybe my hair is a mess.

And most of the time,

That person wasn't even looking at you.

Maybe they were just trying to flirt with the person across the other table,

Right?

So yeah,

But all those thoughts happen and they're very real.

So yeah,

It is very common,

We think,

Overthinkers to worry too much about what other people might be thinking.

Overthinking can also look like not being able to make decisions because you get caught in what I call paralysis by analysis.

So you think too much.

You analyse the situation so much.

You think too much,

So much about the potential options in front of you that you end up taking no action.

And overthinking can also look like spending too much time thinking about what you should have done or you shouldn't have done in the past.

So normally there is a tendency to worry too much about the future,

But there can be the other side of the coin,

Which is spending too much time thinking about what would have happened if I hadn't done this,

What would have happened instead?

Or why didn't I do this five years ago?

When it's something that we know we can't change.

So basically when we are overthinking,

We are not present.

Whether we're worrying about what's going on on people's heads,

Or maybe we're worrying about the future,

Or we are just reliving the past,

We are not present.

We are not in the here and now.

And that makes it very,

Very,

Very,

Very,

Very difficult to enjoy your life and focus your energy on your path and what is really important and what you really should be doing.

Overthinking is also closely linked to self-doubt.

When we think too much,

Normally those thoughts are not positive.

It is very rare that someone says,

Yeah,

I'm an overthinker,

But all my thoughts are really,

Really positive.

So they're very productive and it feels great.

Normally there's a lot of self-doubt.

There's a lot of lack of self-confidence or thoughts getting in the way,

Stopping you from believing in yourself.

And this is also closely related to stress and anxiety.

There is normally when we think too much,

When we overthink,

It's because there's an underlying stress or anxiety.

But I will be talking about this more later in the episode.

So what happens when we overthink too much and we don't do anything about it?

So basically,

Why is it a good day today?

Why is it the perfect day today for you to consider doing something about overthinking so you can reduce or stop overthinking?

Overthinking completely drains your energy.

It is exhausting.

And if you're a natural overthinker and you have a natural tendency for it,

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

It is exhausting.

You waste so much energy.

All those thoughts running at miles per hour in your head,

It takes so much energy first to produce them and to cope with them.

So when you overthink,

You are leaking a lot of energy that you could be using on more productive actions,

Like for example,

Enjoying your life,

Like for example,

Just enjoying the view in the park,

Like reading a book or just having a laugh with your friends without worrying about what other people are thinking.

Overthinking is stressful.

You live in a constant state of alert because you're either worrying about what's going to happen in the future,

You're either worried because you think you didn't do the right thing in the past,

Maybe you're worried about what other people are thinking about you.

So living in that constant state of alert,

Again,

Is exhausting and it's so frustrating.

Also if you don't live in the here and now,

Because you're thinking,

Because you spend a lot of time,

Your mind spends a lot of time on a parallel reality,

When you don't live in the here and now,

In the present,

Basically you're spending most of your time in a potential reality that might happen,

But most of the times it never happens.

So instead of living in the here and now and enjoying your real life,

You spend your time just visualising,

Imagining a potential reality.

Now the problem with this is that the more you entertain these thoughts,

Especially if the thoughts are about potential catastrophic scenarios,

The more energy you put into visualising these potentials,

The more likely you are to attract them.

Because when we give energy to a thought,

What we're doing is that we're feeding it to bring it into reality.

So funnily enough,

Sometimes we think that by overthinking and thinking about all these potential catastrophic scenarios we're going to be safe,

We're going to be covered,

And it's good for us,

But actually the more we feed them,

The more we are attracting them.

It's like giving them food,

It's like giving them energy to make them happen.

Also building self-confidence and self-belief to make any decisions that are good for you becomes almost impossible with all these thoughts about a terrible thing that might happen,

What other people might be thinking about you,

If you're going to be judged,

If you're going to be rejected.

So overthinking is a big enemy of self-confidence and self-belief.

Overthinking just takes away any joy that you might have in your life,

And I'm not even talking about just enjoying and having fun,

But also you might not even sleep well.

And this is very,

Very common.

I work with a lot of clients,

And when they come to me,

One of the main words they use is overthinking.

They say,

I just overthink too much.

And it keeps me awake at night,

These thoughts keep me awake at night.

And I have experienced that,

I have experienced waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go to sleep,

Not because I have a big problem,

But because all these thoughts are just running at miles per hour in my head,

And my mind is so active that I just can't go back to sleep.

And also,

And probably most importantly,

Another reason why it's important to do something about overthinking is that when you're in your head too much,

So when you have all these thoughts and you're in your head too much,

You are not listening to your heart,

You are not listening to your soul,

And therefore it's going to be very,

Very difficult for you to really connect with your purpose,

To follow your purpose,

And just do the things that bring you joy,

Because you're going to spend most of the time in your head and not in your heart,

Not letting your soul speak.

So now I know this might sound really bad,

And now you're thinking,

Right,

Okay,

I really I definitely don't want this in my life.

So how do you deal with overthinking?

What do you do about it?

So I have a few things here to share with you.

The first one is to acknowledge your thoughts,

Whatever's going on in your mind,

Give them space,

Welcome them,

Because sometimes what happens is that when we're trying to avoid certain thoughts or to leave the mind blank,

It's really,

Really difficult.

So give them space,

Acknowledge them,

But don't react to them and don't feed them.

So a tool I'm going to suggest for this is journaling,

Whatever thoughts are going in your head,

And especially at night,

Like I mentioned,

If they're keeping you awake at night,

Sometimes in the middle of the night,

Especially,

They might feel like a big monster that you can't control,

If you journal about them,

If you write about them,

And just put them into a piece of paper,

They're kind of leaving your system,

It feels like they're leaving you,

Like they're leaving your system.

It feels much easier to have control over a piece of paper that has some thoughts and some words on it,

That when you're trying to sleep or when you're trying to read a book,

Or when you're trying to just enjoy your life,

And that big monster in your head keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger,

And unconsciously,

You keep feeding it and entertaining it,

And it gets even bigger and bigger,

So it's like a spiral that never ends.

So one of the first things you can do to stop this cycle is to journal about it,

Is to write down your thoughts,

And I promise that as soon as you put them into paper,

You will feel that they have much less power over you than they did before.

So that would be tip number one,

Or tool number one.

The second one is,

What triggers overthinking?

When do you overthink the most?

Because sometimes it's either something that triggers it,

Or there is a situation where you tend to think too much or worry about things,

So is it at work,

Is it when you're in a relationship,

Is it when you're with your friends or colleagues,

Is there a certain time of the day,

For example,

Does it happen at night,

Does it happen when you're on the train to work and you have nothing to do,

And your mind just flies and keeps generating all these annoying thoughts.

So how can you be prepared?

My question for you would be,

How can you be prepared,

Or what can you do instead?

For example,

If overthinking happens when you're on the train because you have nothing else to do,

Maybe you can bring a book next time to focus that energy instead of on feeding those thoughts that are not going to take you anywhere,

On doing something more productive.

Maybe this is a good time to do journaling.

If the overthinking always happens at work,

It might be related to lack of self-confidence,

Or lack of belief in yourself or in what you're doing.

It might be that you have to be doing something different.

If there is something,

If it always happens or if it always gets triggered when you're dating someone new,

There might be something about relationships,

Beliefs about yourself or about relationships that you need to heal,

That you need to let go of,

And that's what's causing you anxiety and therefore all this overthinking.

So how can you be prepared for those certain situations and what can you do instead?

What will help to reduce or stop this overthinking?

Now this is kind of like the first layer,

The most superficial layer,

Right?

So how can we reduce it or avoid it in a practical way if it's interfering with your life?

But you know that I'm all about the deep healing and going deep,

Deep,

Deep into the root of the problem or the cause,

And that will be step number three.

So whenever you find yourself overthinking about a particular situation,

And the previous step is useful because then you can narrow it down and maybe it's just an area of your life,

Maybe it happens all of the time,

Maybe it's just a few different situations,

But whenever you find yourself overthinking about a particular situation,

Close your eyes and bring your hands to the heart and try to be aware of the emotion.

What is the emotion or sensation behind these thoughts?

They're always going to be related,

There's always going to be an emotion behind those thoughts.

Is it fear?

Is it anger?

Is it sadness?

Is it frustration?

And the next thing to ask yourself is how young am I at this moment?

When was the first time I felt this way?

There is always some form of anxiety or stress,

Which ultimately is caused by some type of fear,

Fear about something.

And normally we carry these fears deep inside,

They're not new.

Sometimes they're old,

We have experienced them before,

And they're not healed.

And a lot of times we carry these in our inner child or a younger part of ourselves.

Sometimes we've carried a fear of something for generations,

Maybe we have inherited it from our ancestors,

Maybe we've carried it for lifetimes and lifetimes and lifetimes.

But normally,

If it gets triggered and if it's the main cause of overthinking,

Normally it will be the case that it is an old fear.

And that's why you ask yourself,

How young am I at this moment?

When was the first time I felt this way?

And whatever part of yourself comes forward and says,

Yeah,

It's me,

And this is how I'm feeling,

And this is what I'm going through,

And this is why I'm scared,

And this is what I'm scared of,

Just ask,

What do you need?

What do you need from me?

What can I do for you today?

Do you need a hug?

Do you just need love?

What do you need to hear from me?

What would you like to tell her?

I always talk a lot about inner child work,

It is so,

So,

So important.

And you can also ask yourself,

What is the worst that could happen,

Especially if you're worrying about what might happen in the future,

What is the worst that could happen?

And again,

Bring it to a piece of paper,

Bring it to somewhere where you feel like you have control over it,

Don't let it control your mind,

Don't let it take control.

What is the worst thing that could happen?

And what resources do I have to deal with it?

Because normally,

When we overthink,

It's because we're trying to protect ourselves from something.

Normally,

We're trying to protect ourselves because we are scared of a certain outcome,

Right?

Whether that's failing,

Being rejected,

Being brokenhearted,

Being homeless,

Whatever it is,

There is always the fear of something.

And normally,

It happens that we think of the worst possible,

The most catastrophic,

The worst possible scenario,

Even though we know that it's not going to happen.

But okay,

What is the worst that could happen,

Right?

Just to know,

What's the worst that could happen?

Bring it to your awareness so it doesn't become a shadow part of yourself.

Let's acknowledge it and give it light,

What's the worst that could happen?

And then the next question to ask yourself is,

What resources do I have to deal with it if it happened,

Right?

Whatever it is you're scared of,

What resources do you have?

Inner resources and external resources.

So inner resources,

I mean,

Lessons you have learned,

Skills you have,

Your strengths,

Experiences you've faced in life,

Challenges you've faced and overcome before.

By external resources,

I mean,

What people do you have in your life,

What physical resources do you have?

Like,

For example,

If your fear is that your partner is going to leave you,

What resources do you have inside?

Have you experienced that before?

How have you overcome it before?

External resources,

Do you have money in your bank account to go to therapy and heal it faster or in a less painful way?

If what you're scared of is losing your job,

What inner resources do you have?

What skills do you have?

What strengths do you have?

What experience have you accumulated in your previous jobs or stages of your career?

External resources,

What contacts do you have that could help you get another job?

Do you have emotional support from your partner,

From your parents,

From your friends to make it easier?

So always ask yourself,

What resources do I have?

If it were to happen,

What could I do?

How would I be able to deal with it?

And don't be scared of going deeper because it is when the magic happens.

I know some of these questions might be probably feeling uncomfortable already just when you heard them,

But that is where the magic happens.

When you go deep and you heal the deep wounds and you go to the root of whatever is going on for you and that you want to change or you want to improve.

Okay,

And the last one,

A last tool that I want to share with you today that is incredibly amazing for overthinking is meditation.

Do some form of meditation to train the mind,

To bring your awareness to the here and now.

I'm always talking about meditation.

You're probably bored of it already,

But in all honesty,

It is a game changer.

For me,

It completely changed my life.

I used to overthink a lot about many things and I still have that natural tendency inside me.

Meditation is the tool that probably helps me the most on a day-to-day basis.

Obviously,

Having done a lot of inner work and a lot of healing,

I have healed a lot of deep fears.

I'm still working on other things,

To be honest.

I'm still working.

Even recently,

I've been doing a lot of inner child work and clearing old fears that were unresolved and I felt that were stuck within me.

It's a never-ending journey.

Having done a lot of inner work and healing has helped me or has brought me to be in a more centered place,

In a place where I feel more centered,

More balanced,

Where I have more inner peace.

Regardless of all that inner work,

Meditation has always,

Always,

Always been a part and will always be a part of my daily practice because even if I know that I've done a lot of inner work and I've healed many things that used to cause overthinking and that's not there anymore,

I've overcome that,

I've healed that,

It's gone,

But because that natural tendency for me to be too much in my head is there,

Meditation is one of the most powerful tools I use.

I use it every day because even today I know that if for a week I don't do my meditation techniques,

I don't take time to train my mind,

Then I find myself awake in the middle of the night and my mind being in control and lots of random thoughts.

I notice the difference every time,

Every time,

Especially if I go on holidays or if I'm going through a busier period of life,

Like when I was moving houses for example and yet there's so much going on and the last thing I have time for is to sit in meditation for 30 minutes every day in the morning,

But because the times I haven't done it I've noticed such a huge difference,

I learned to make it a priority.

So sometimes I might go a day without it,

Two days without it,

More than that,

I don't allow myself to do it because I know it's so good for me.

I know it is a big priority.

And for me I take it very seriously because when I do my sessions,

Especially if I'm doing a session where I know I'm going to be doing some energy healing,

When I need to be 100% focused on the energy field of the client for it to work,

When I have to be 100% center in balance with myself so I can be guided intuitively to know what to do,

If my mind is all over the place it's not as effective.

So I take it very seriously for my personal well-being,

For my personal healing,

But also and I know a lot of you are professionals that help other people,

Maybe you're coaches or you're a coach or a therapist or a healer,

So even more so,

It's even more important that you have some form of meditation to train your mind.

Now for the people who might not be so familiar with the meditation practice,

Trust me this is not about just trying to leave your mind blank,

Because this is what a lot of people think and they're super scared of it because obviously I would be too,

It is impossible to just leave your mind blank,

It's not going to happen.

It's not about that,

It's just about bringing awareness to the here and now,

It's just about being aware of what's going on and the thoughts will keep coming to your head,

To your mind while you're meditating and that's fine,

The difference is that instead of feeding them and you getting caught in the hamster wheel and the thoughts controlling you,

You will be able to just observe them like you are an external observer,

Not react,

Not engage with them and not feed them,

That is the main difference and meditation will help you with that when you train your mind to be aware of either your breath,

For meditation the simplest way you can meditate is by setting a timer,

Closing your eyes and just bring the awareness to your breath,

Seeing the air coming in and out.

You can focus on a mantra,

You can repeat a mantra again and again and again if you set the timer for five minutes,

You can repeat your mantra for five minutes,

I am abundant,

I am love,

I am light,

Whatever it is,

So it doesn't need to be anything complicated and while you're repeating that mantra,

I am love,

I am love,

I am love or while you are trying to bring the awareness to your breath,

Thoughts will kick in and the key is to just keep bringing your awareness to either your mantra or the breath,

The present moment,

Whatever it is that you are doing and that will train your mind to not generate so many thoughts and especially to whatever thoughts appear so they don't take over,

So they don't take control but you can become just a natural observer and then you can acknowledge them,

Give them space,

Write them down but you are not engaging and you are not feeding them,

You are not putting the energy,

Like I was saying before,

Especially if you are worrying about potential terrible scenarios,

The more energy you give them,

The more likely that you are going to attract them,

That you are going to make them happen,

So it is super important that you have that power and that you train your mind to just observe those thoughts and then decide what you want to do with them,

If you want to explore where they come from,

What needs to heal,

What you need to let go of,

What beliefs you need to change for those thoughts to stop coming to you but you are aware,

You are in control,

You don't let them take over you.

So yeah,

So that will be the fourth tool,

So just a summary or to wrap up before we finish,

The first step will be acknowledge your thoughts and the tool for it will be journaling,

To make sure that you put them into a piece of paper and you feel more empowered and not like they have the power but you have the power over them.

The second one will be to think about when overthinking is triggered,

If that is in any particular situation,

Any time of the day and how you can be prepared for that and what you can do instead to try to minimise that overthinking.

The third step,

We're going a bit deeper and it's about being a bit more aware of the emotion,

The sensation behind the thoughts,

Connect with your inner child,

Ask yourself how young am I at this moment,

When have I felt this before,

How is that inner child feeling,

What can I do about it,

What can I do to help her,

And yeah,

Going deeper and exploring the root of the fear or the emotion that is triggering the overthinking.

And the last step which is something more for maintenance,

Let's say,

It will be to add some form of meditation practice to your daily routine,

If you can do it first thing in the morning or before going to bed,

Even better.

Okay my loves,

So that's all for me,

I'm going to ask you a favour which is that if you're enjoying this podcast,

Give it a like,

A good review,

Leave me a comment to see what you're thinking about these episodes,

Share it with your loved ones,

So invite more people to be part of Empowered Souls,

And I will see you next week,

Sending much love and light for now.

Take care,

Bye bye!