What To Do When Thinking Too Much Becomes A Problem

As rational beings that we are, thinking is an activity that is associated with our nature. Thoughts can be our allies, but they can also be our worst enemies. Thus, whether or not they become a problem will depend on how we use our reason and conscience when thinking.

If we interpret that thinking is the act of reasoning, understanding, imagining, in a way that helps us make decisions and put an action into practice, we can conclude that he has great power, as much as we want to give him. Let us remember that  thinking is not stable, it is not always sensible, and it does not always make sense. 

Giving too much value to our thinking in certain situations and circumstances can harm us more than it benefits us,  so we have to be aware and open our minds to other possibilities that may be conditioning us, such as our emotional state, our experience or certain conditions specific, such as alcohol consumption.

When thinking too much creates anxiety

There are situations where we have the feeling that we can’t stop thinking, where we go around and around always thinking about the same thing. In this brooding process, we become obsessed with something that takes up most of our time and thoughts. When worrying about something, anticipating a situation or remembering moments from our past, we leave the doors wide open for anxiety. 

The anxiety created by our thoughts turns out to be an out-of-control process: we find ourselves dominated by what has already happened, by the uncertainty of what has not yet arrived and what is to come. All of this happens when we don’t look at the present. We end up getting lost, disoriented and distracted from what is happening today,  from the world we live in here and now.

Trying to look for and give explanations for everything around us also turns our thoughts into anxiety. There are personality types that are more prone to worrying and trying to get explanations for everything they experience. Therefore, people who have this inner dynamism have to make a great effort to remain calm and focus on what they are experiencing right now.

focus on the present

In view of the anguish that arises from our thoughts, the best thing is to do everything possible to focus our attention on the present. When we capture the moment, we can take control of our thoughts, centering on the experience, on the reality that we are closest to. Let’s let what’s around us enter us and infect us with a different sense than the one we started cognitively in our mind.

When we accumulate thoughts and agonize over worries, a good exercise is to start writing and ordering these ideas, keeping notes and putting solutions into practice when they arise. In this way, we will do something with what torments us, and we will leave an open path for decisions and solutions.

Understanding and accepting our way of thinking helps us not to fall into despair and victimism. Understanding that thoughts are part of us and that we can use them to our advantage prevents us from coming into conflict with them; a conflict that would actually be with ourselves.

I control what I think

I’m not what I think, that’s part of me, and that’s why I better understand the nature of thinking. I know it is part of me and my experiences, I know it has to do with my attitude and my way of seeing and being in life. So  complaining about what I usually think is just a strategy to run away from myself.

We can control what we think, especially with the practice of concentration. We can guide our thoughts to what is most important to us, and we can stay grounded in it or move forward and give way to the world of possibilities that are coming and that we cannot control.

Our attitude determines how we think and act. We can stay in our world of possible options without daring to make decisions, or we can plan a strategy by shaping a possibility through our decisions.

Thinking, even if we see that it is something automatic and that it arrives out of the blue, does not mean that we cannot take an active attitude. If we continue to be spectators of our thoughts, we will assume that it is impossible to control them and that is how they will dominate us.