Stop Overthinking: Learn to Eliminate Overthinking in 10 Days

By John Miller

Think too much, do you? Are too many thoughts making your head spin? Unsure of how to get rid of the confusion that invades your mind? Do you experience ideas before bed? Read on if you fit into one of these categories.

One of the most famous quotes from the philosopher Descartes is "I think, therefore I am." Therefore, thought is what makes a human being. We are able to accomplish amazing things thanks to our ability to think, develop ideas, and form mental pictures. What transpires, though, if our minds are overloaded with ideas, and thoughts?

There is a problem known as "overthinking," according to academics. Although the Italian language lacks a clear translation for this phrase, "excess, confusion of thinking" comes the closest. Thoughts entangle, new ones emerge continually, and we are unable to reach a conclusion because we have created a mental tangle in which we are trapped.

Overanalyzing never yields any results. Even now and then, we hear someone comment, "You think too much." This is irritating because, although we are undoubtedly also highly brilliant and sensitive, our method of "thinking" prevents us from quickly coming to the same conclusions that others, who may be a little more superficial, have reached.

Is there a cause associated with all of this? And above all, can we do something to mitigate or eliminate this problem of ours? The answer is yes.

Overthinking is an issue that has been examined in numerous studies, and some have offered very good answers. You may understand the findings of the analyses and what possible solutions there are for the issue of thinking excessively by reading this guide. You'll discover:

to understand the fundamentals of thinking and how it functions, as well as the "why" we frequently overthink

to adopt basic mindfulness techniques

to acquire basic relaxation techniques

to comprehend how to do organized problem solving and much more!

Although perhaps no one has yet explained to you how to improve your way of thinking and your capacity to "empty" your mind of excessive and negative thoughts, and although you may still be doubtful about your capacity to address the issue of overthinking, this book will introduce you to and guide you toward a potential course of action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Miller
• Release date: Jun 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223363187

Book preview

Introduction

How many have happened to spend long periods during which it seems that the mind is unable to rest and the thoughts follow each other whirlingly, leading us towards a state of impatience?

Suddenly, perhaps in the middle of the night, we feel a jolt, our eyes are unable to close and, frantically, we pass from one concern to another, however failing to find the key to the problem.

Yet, our mind, we all know, is in constant activity. What makes the difference, in some periods, is the type of thoughts we face and the mood associated with them. All of this can greatly differentiate our state of mind and direct our days for better or for worse.

A particularly effective name has been coined, in English, to identify the mental state just described: overthinking. Literally, it could be translated as thinking too much. In other words, we are talking about a real mental rumination.

In this mental stage, as mentioned, thoughts gather, the mind elaborates and counter-elaborates, without finding solutions and associating a change of mood with each evaluation. In this context, finding peace, balance, serenity appears like a utopia. In the most serious cases, overthinking leads to a level of stress, anxiety or even depression that makes it impossible to carry out daily activities normally.

Are there any solutions to the overthinking problem?

The answer is yes. There are several ways to overcome the obstacles built by our mind and we will illustrate them in this book.

We will discover that to reduce overthinking it is necessary to carry out special exercises and train in order to overcome the impasse.

Overthinking is often associated with issues related to self-awareness, self-confidence and the ability to relate to others. We will address these issues to try to give practical help to the reader.

To start: what is thought?

In everyday life, it is common to hear someone say: I'm sure you think the same thing... or I was thinking that... or even I thought it was more beautiful. These are just examples, but they highlight how many forms a thought can take for us. In fact, we associate it, in common parlance, with ideas, memories, images but even songs, feelings or sensations. In fact, we all experience thoughts and have no problem identifying them and talking about them with others.

As daily as it may be to talk about thoughts, what thoughts are remains mysterious from a neuroscientific point of view. They are certainly caused by brain function, but we still don't have a clear and unambiguous idea of what it is the brain function that causes them. Are particular types of neurons involved? How is a population of neurons activated? Do conscious thoughts require the activation of specific networks of brain regions or traits of them (as it were, the information highways that allow brain regions to communicate with each other)? Do thoughts require activation of perceptual areas of the brain? At this stage of scientific understanding, we simply don't know.

It appears that, before experiencing a conscious thought, unconscious brain processes work behind the scenes to generate the thought. During this unclear process, unconscious representations and evaluations appear to be involved. The great Hermann von Helmholtz referred to these behind-the-scenes processes as unconscious inferences, and Wilhelm Wundt, the father of experimental psychology, referred to conscious thought as high-level perception, because it involves more unconscious analyzes and interpretations than normal perception.

Edward Chace Tolman, the great scientist and theorist of psychology, was the first to demonstrate that thoughts (for example, memories about the layout of a labyrinth) influence action. Tolman showed that the rat's maze-solving behavior could not be due to external cues alone, but required information that resided only in the rat's mind, information he referred to as a cognitive map.

After Tolman, the great cognitive psychologist Roger Shepard showed that people can indeed manipulate mental representations.

Before the scientists, numerous philosophers wondered about the meaning of thought.

In ancient Greece, Anaxagoras had associated thought with the ability of a Universal Intellect to express itself, i.e. a capacity not of the individual but of a superior, cosmic Intelligence, capable of bringing order to primordial chaos.

Parmenides identified in thought a tool for distinguishing what is from what is not. In fact, the moment we think, independently of the existence or otherwise of realized thought in some place, for us men that idea, that thought, becomes visual, real, therefore it becomes a being. Everything we don't think about doesn't exist for man.

Socrates identifies thought as a critical spirit, or rather as the human ability to evaluate the reality of things by means of the intellect. Although in fact the True is