Whether it is dwelling on the past or trying to plan for every eventuality in the future, overthinking can do you harm. Depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, anger, insomnia, substance abuse, chronic pain, can all result from too much thinking. Fortunately, it is a habit. Once you know this, you can stop, let go, and move forwards. Mindfulness for overthinking is one way to support yourself.
When you dwell too much on the past, this is called rumination. Replaying offenses, dwelling on past mistakes, too much attention to your flaws and weaknesses. It is a mental habit, and it can help you feel more in control, as though you are being productive. However, while healthy reflection helps you gain new insights, rumination does not lead anywhere.
It is easy to believe more thinking is the solution to your problems. But more thinking can sometimes produce ‘analysis paralysis’ where you have too many options, or none at all. When planning, you can get trapped in procrastination, making no decision because there is no clear path. The chronic stress of ongoing confusion and anxiety can weaken your immune system, making you more vulnerable to illness.
For midlife women, there is the potential for many changes and new opportunities. Taking advantage of them means being able to work productively with the anxiety that often accompanies the menopause. And reducing stress makes dealing with the other symptoms of the menopause easier.
Five ways to use mindfulness for overthinking
At the centre of mindfulness is the creation of awareness. Gaining insight into your own mind, your own thinking, allows you to spot rumination and overthinking. Only when you are aware of what is happening can you interrupt the pattern and make changes.
- Meditation is sometimes mistakenly thought to be about clearing or quietening the mind, stopping thoughts. In truth, the mind is always thinking. In meditation the goal is to learn to watch yourself thinking without judgement. You become an observer of your thoughts without getting caught up in them.
- An initial practice might involve focusing on the breath, or an object. And choosing time and again to bring your focus back to this. Training your mind not to run away with itself. Familiarising yourself with how your body changes with the mental activity.
- It can be helpful to have a physical trigger that you use when overthinking takes over. A wrist band you can snap or moving a watch or ring from one hand to the other. Passing an object like a pen back and forth across the front of your body can help calm the anxiety that goes with rumination.
- Try the STOP practice. A guided meditation to stop overthinking and encourage you to breath and observe. Stepping back in this way allows you to be open to new opportunities. It can be unsettling not to go down your habitual route, and when you stop, you may not know what to do next. This is normal. Allow yourself time for the answer to emerge.
- Once you become more aware of your thinking, you can interrogate your thoughts. Is this true? How likely is it to be true? What is the likely best care scenario? What is the worst? What would your best friend say?
Breaking the habit in daily life
Sitting to meditate every day is all very well, but it will not help if you do not take the practice ‘off the mat’.
My own experience has been that, if we want change, we must stop having the conversations we are used to having. To make space for something new, we must give up something old.
This is easier said than done. Unwittingly we get comfortable with the familiar, even if the familiar is not pleasant. We get used to the inner critic and the repetitive rumination. The habitual reactions, replaying the past and worrying about the future.
For me, the first step to stopping has been to become aware of the habits and patterns. Then it has been about finding the courage to sit with the discomfort of the unknown, and not fall back to the familiar.
Mindfulness and meditation have helped. So has movement – running, weights, yoga – which get me out of my head and into my body. Making time for hobbies, especially creative things, like cooking, and stitching, something productive that occupies my brain.
Take time to write down one thing you can do today to help yourself with overthinking. Small alterations, made consistently, add up to bit changes. Try this guided meditation to support you in using mindfulness for overthinking. The practice is 10 minutes long.
