Want to know how to stop those intrusive thoughts and cease overthinking? Here are 7 tips you can do this week.

Overthinking is defined as thinking and worrying about a particular thing excessively over and over again. Whether it be something that happened in the past or something you think will arise in the future.

Overthinking can leave you feeling stressed and anxious. As a counsellor I have come across many people who experience this on a daily basis.

This post is about strategies that you can implement this week on how stop? overthinking.

7 Most effective tactics on how to stop overthinking.

1. Brain dump

A brain dump refers to offloading all those thoughts that are manufacturing the feeling of being overwhelmed and distracted. The thoughts intensify and race around your mind like disorganised chaos.

Instead of hoarding those thoughts you?re aiming to release them like decluttering a home. You?re essentially offloading what you don?t need.

Start by writing down all the thoughts that come to your mind. There?s no judgement here ? just write. You may release 5 pages of thoughts or only 10 thoughts. There?s no right or wrong number.

Now choose 3 different coloured highlighters to organise this list. With one colour cross off the things that you can?t control. These thoughts serve no purpose. For example what someone else said or the weather. These thoughts are not things within your control.

Next with a different colour, highlight the thoughts that you can change by taking action. For example getting up an hour earlier to go to the gym or meal prepping to ensure healthy eating.

With the final colour put a mark next to the thoughts which are of priority. These things are the most important. The thoughts you do not mark indicate there?s flexibility in the timeline.

Looking at your list you now have organised thoughts. Some were dismissed (letting go of what you can?t control), the other thoughts were deemed either priority or flexible. You now should have a transparent idea of how to move forward instead of harbouring and overthinking the problems.

Download Your Free 11 page Brain Dump Journal

2. Perfectionism

Do you aim for exceptionally high standards on everything that you do? That relentless drive for perfectionism can overwhelm us and create overthinking.

If you?re struggling with your thoughts and perceiving that you?re failing at everything this can take a massive toll on your mental health.

Stop and consider what goals you can reasonably and realistically achieve. Formulate a list. Next think about the steps needed to reach these goals. Break them up into smaller steps that are achievable in a sensible timeframe.

Perfectionists tend to have a fear of failure. The reality is that no one is perfect and we ALL make mistakes. Remember that it?s not always about the destination – but rather the journey.

With that in mind ? are there any tasks that you can delegate? Can you create more flexibility in your schedule? Revisiting your schedule to look at ways you can reduce your stress may take practice.

Mindfulness and meditation exercises can help you become more relaxed and be your road map to bring awareness and insight to your thoughts. Guided meditations can be useful for beginners and can help you observe your own mind and become more present and less stressed.

3. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive behavioural therapy ? sometimes called CBT assists us to identify and challenge those unhelpful thoughts. The thoughts that don?t serve us any purpose.

A valuable CBT exercise is adopting a thought record. By using a thought record you are able to gain a better insight and control over your thoughts. This gives you an opportunity to extinguish the intrusive thoughts.

Start by writing down all the negative thoughts swirling around your mind. For each thought think about what evidence supports that this thought is true. Is there anything that could prove that this thought is true? For example ?No-one likes me?. What possible evidence could support this?

The more you do this exercise the more confident you become in deciding whether something is a fact or an opinion. Remember that an opinion is just your interpretation. For the example above the answer would be opinion.

Cognitive restructuring can be really helpful in alleviating the cognitive distortions. Challenging those irrational beliefs will help create more flexibility in thinking and help on how to stop overthinking.

4. Deep Breathing

Deep breathing exercises can help to calm your mind and reduce stress. When we breathe shallow and fast breaths we set off our fight and flight response. By deliberately slowing down our breathing and taking fuller breaths we can help control the symptoms of stress.

Here is a deep breathing exercise that can help reduce your overthinking and control those intrusive thoughts. Inhale slowly through your nose for 4 seconds. Hold that air in your lungs for 4 seconds. Now exhale through your mouth slowly for 6 seconds.

Try and repeat this practice for at least 2 minutes but up to 10 minutes would be preferable. Not only does the breathing help you relax but the focus on the breathing is bringing attention to the present rather than being lost in your thoughts.

If you find that your mind does start wandering into the realm of intrusive thoughts then go back to focusing on counting the seconds of breath.

5. Affirmations

Affirmations can be useful to combat negative self talk. Overthinking can leave us emotionally exhausted and feeling overwhelmed.

Reciting and reaffirming positive statements can be beneficial to change our thinking by focusing more on the positives and becoming more flexible with our thinking.

Affirmations can be personalised to your individual requirements. It may be that you?re overthinking about the past so your affirmation may be ?The past has no control over me?. It may be that you?re overthinking about the future. Your affirmation could be ?I am confident about what my future holds?.

Affirmations hold many benefits including helping you to sleep, increasing confidence, motivating, changing negative thought patterns and reducing stress.

6. Look at the bigger picture

Looking at the bigger picture means rather than focusing on the minute details ? look at the longer term picture. It can be so easy to become caught up in daily stresses that it?s difficult to see the bigger picture.

So many of us can become caught up in imposter syndrome where we don?t believe that we have achieved or deserve to be where we are. We start to doubt our own abilities.

But rather than becoming distracted and overthinking the finer details try to see the bigger picture. For example if you are a manager it?s important to not become caught up in the daily stresses and rather focus on where the company needs to go and how to get there.

Another example may be that you?re trying really hard to save up for a deposit on a home. But you really want new clothes. The bigger picture would be that if you save now you will have the deposit for the home sooner.

If you can alter your perspective on a situation you will find more pleasure in life.

7. Fatigue

When we constantly overthink things we create mental fatigue. We start dealing with anxiety and it may even lead to a panic attack. When this happens it can interfere with work, school or your relationships.

Making sure that you are getting enough sleep is so important and will make it less likely that you become stressed giving you more energy to overcome the challenges.

Having a bedtime routine can help. It may be that you have a bath before bed, engage in relaxation activities such as listening to music or reading a book or enjoying a meditation.

Avoiding negative things such as the news, social media, online research etc before bed time can create a more mental nurturing space and will less likely feed your worries and concerns.

Throughout the day look after yourself by making sure you exercise, drink plenty of water and eat healthily. This will assist in combating fatigue. When we?re feeling happier and more energetic we tend to be able to feel more positive within ourselves.

This post was about how to stop overthinking. I hope these techniques will help you in reducing your overthinking and lead to positive mental health.

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