How to stop over thinking everything!

Over thinking can be SUCH a huge source of unease and discomfort in your daily life, it can affect your sleep, cause anxiety, depression and nearly always results in unhappiness.  

Over thinking can cause you to miss opportunities, stop you going for your dreams and generally keep you stuck exactly where you are.  It just makes life feel that much harder!

A great thing to remember when trying to stop over thinking or worrying is that your thoughts really do shape your reality and that where your focus goes, energy flows.  You bring MORE of what you focus on into your life so you need to focus as much as possible on the good stuff!

Can you think of a time when you’ve wasted a huge amount of time and energy overthinking  something that MIGHT happen that never did?

All worrying tends to be either focusing on things that have happened in the past or things that might happen in the future so you can see how important it is to try and keep yourself in the now!

My top tips to stop over thinking:

Awareness is the key to changing any behaviour. So when you’re catching yourself in that negative, over thinking mindset then try a few of these to help shift your focus.

Identify what causes you to over think.  Is it certain people? situations? Circumstances?  

Identify your triggers and try and do less of it or limit your time surrounded by it!

Ask yourself: Who is this helping? And who is this harming?

I was always a HUGE over thinker and these questions always help to ground me and bring me back to the present moment.

Find an anchor thought or happy place in your mind.

Think of a memory when you were really happy and felt care free.  Close your eyes and take yourself back there in your mind. Feel how it felt to be there, see what you saw, smell what you smelled.  If you really can’t think of one, create your own!  Is there a place that you know you feel calm and happy?  Is it a tropical island, a meadow in spring time.  Whatever it is for you

Realise that FEAR is just False Evidence Appearing Real.

Ask yourself is this really true?

Distract yourself, what do you know makes you feel better?

Going for run?  Listening to happy songs? Reading a book?

Use a journal!

This doesn’t have to be ‘dear diary’ kind of a thing!  Focus on the positive – write down 3 good things that have happened to you today and 3 things you’re grateful for.  

You may find it helpful to free flow the thoughts you’re having just so you can get them out of your head!

Ask yourself: Will this matter in a year, a month, a week, tomorrow?

Practice Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is all about being in the now so great for stopping over thinking! Try a mindful breathing technique, or take a moment to really look at what is around you, what sounds you can hear, what smells you can smell, how the ground feels under your feet…give it a go!

Visualise a positive outcome.

As I said before, where your focus goes, energy flows. Close your eyes and visualize a positive outcome to what is worrying you. Really feel it as if it’s real.  Your brain can’t tell the difference so your body will catch up!

If over thinking affects your sleep download an app like Dormio or Calm and do a guided sleep meditation until you fall asleep!  These apps were game changers for me…and my sleep!

Here is a video of me explaining in more detail how to stop over thinking everything:

I hope that helps!  I honestly used to over think absolutely EVERYTHING and using these techniques really helped me to break that cycle.

Fx

Fran Excell, Mindset & Productivity Coach – Helping Business Owners Overcome Self Sabotage & Get More Done In Less Time at www.franexcell.com

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