How Stop Over Thinking | Buddhism In English

Summary

The video advises on how to stop overthinking. It first notes that overthinking distracts from getting things done and does not help. Next, it recommends mindfulness practices like focusing on your breathing to bring your mind to the present moment rather than dwelling on past regrets or future worries. Additional tips include self-talk to imagine positive scenarios rather than only catastrophizing, striving to do your best without demanding perfection, and remembering that constant worry kills peacefulness. Overall, the video urges being gentle with yourself, getting out of your head by doing meaningful work, and cultivating mindfulness to find tranquility.

Takeaways

• 😀 Realize that overthinking will not help you; it will only distract you
• 🧘‍♀️ Practice mindfulness, like focusing on your breathing, to stop overthinking
• 🌱 Live in the present moment to find peace instead of dwelling on the past or future
• 😌 Take 3 deep breaths to calm yourself when you catch yourself overthinking
• 🤔 Question your 'what if' thoughts - what if everything turns out okay?
• ☑️ Plan and analyze, but don't overdo it
• 💪 Do your best without needing to be perfect
• 🙅‍♀️ Don't negatively imagine worst-case scenarios
• 👍 Take risks and be positive instead of worrying what others might think
• 🎯 Focus on getting things done rather than overthinking everything

Q & A

What are some signs that someone is overthinking?

Some signs of overthinking include having sleepless nights due to looping negative thoughts, imagining worst case scenarios when doing something new, and excessively worrying about what other people think.

Why is overthinking not helpful?

Overthinking is not helpful because it can distract you from the task at hand and prevent you from taking action. Over-planning and over-analyzing tends to be counterproductive.

How can practicing mindfulness help stop overthinking?

Being mindful and present in the moment reduces the space for looping negative thoughts. For example, focusing on your breathing gets your mind anchored in the present rather than wandering.

What is anna pana sati and how does it help?

Anna pana sati refers to being mindful of your breathing pattern. This can instantly bring your mind into the present moment and reduce overthinking.

What does it mean to live in the present moment?

Living in the present moment means focusing your attention on what is happening right now rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. This leads to more peacefulness.

How can the 'what if' thought pattern lead to overthinking?

Constantly imagining worst case scenarios with what if questions creates unnecessary anxiety. This negative overthinking makes it harder to take action and achieve goals.

Why is perfectionism not helpful when trying to accomplish things?

Perfectionism can lead to overthinking details and it is unrealistic. Rather than demanding perfection, focusing on doing your personal best with a growth mindset is more constructive.

Why are risks and mistakes important for success?

Taking risks and making mistakes enable learning and growth necessary for success. Without some failure, important skills are not developed.

How can being self-critical lead to more overthinking?

Self-criticism fuels negative thoughts about the self that loop constantly. Practicing self-compassion helps quiet this overthinking.

What are some other ways overthinking can be reduced?

Some other ways are taking relaxing deep breaths, doing an absorbing activity, talking it out with someone, and purposefully focusing thoughts on solutions rather than problems.

Outlines

00:00

😅 How to stop overthinking

This paragraph explains that overthinking is not helpful and suggests some ways to stop overthinking, such as realizing it will not help, practicing mindfulness about breathing or body sensations, living in the present moment instead of imagining worst case future scenarios, and asking positive "what if" questions.

05:01

😌 Be peaceful and take action

This paragraph concludes by encouraging the listener to be peaceful, mindful, kind to themselves, and take action without overthinking things, as overthinking kills peacefulness and prevents progress.

Keywords

💡overthinking

Overthinking refers to excessive, repetitive thoughts that go beyond constructive problem-solving. As mentioned in the video, overthinking can be counterproductive as it distracts from taking action and adds unnecessary worry. Examples from the script include "looping thoughts", "imagining worst case scenarios", and "worrying about what others think".

💡mindfulness

Mindfulness means maintaining awareness of one's thoughts, feelings and surroundings in the present moment. The video encourages practicing mindfulness as a way to reduce overthinking. Specific techniques include focusing on breathing patterns and bringing attention to physical sensations and actions happening right now.

💡breathing pattern

Paying attention to the breathing pattern means carefully noticing each inhalation and exhalation. As described in the video, this mindfulness technique can ground someone in the present moment and quiet a busy mind caught up in overthinking.

💡what if questions

"What if" questions refer to imagining hypothetical negative scenarios that haven't happened, such as "What if I fail?" or "What if everything goes wrong?". The video advises balancing these worries by also considering positive what ifs, like "What if everything goes well?"

💡taking risks

Taking risks means venturing into the unknown, even when success is not guaranteed. As stated in the video, taking risks is necessary for accomplishing great things in life, so fears about failure should not prevent action.

💡peacefulness

Peacefulness refers to an inner sense of calm, contentment and tranquility. Practicing mindfulness can cultivate peacefulness by anchoring one's awareness in the present.

💡best version of myself

Striving to be the "best version of oneself" entails having self-compassion, working diligently, and focusing on self-improvement rather than perfection. This attitude allows for optimism and resilience.

💡get out of your head

"Getting out of your head" means redirecting attention away from unproductive, excessive thinking and towards external actions and sensations happening in the real world.

💡start doing the work

This phrase in the video encourages taking action on tasks and goals rather than endlessly planning or analyzing in one's mind. It relates to being mindful, getting started, and avoiding overthinking.

💡be kind to yourself

Being kind to oneself means speaking gently, having patience, and showing understanding towards oneself. This can help ease self-judgment fueling overthinking.

Highlights

Realize that overthinking is not going to help you in the process

Practice mindfulness to stop overthinking

Be mindful about your breathing pattern to come to the present moment

When you're mindful, you find peacefulness and stop overthinking

Take deep breaths and be mindful of your breathing to stop overthinking

Be mindful of your body and what you're doing now to stop overthinking

If you're sad, your mind is in the past; if anxious, the future; if peaceful, the present

Live in the present moment to be peaceful and stop overthinking

Don't constantly ask "what if" questions and imagine worst case scenarios

Think positively - what if everything turns out okay?

You can't be perfect but you can do your best

Take risks - without risks there is no success

Be mindful and get out of your head

Be peaceful to kill overthinking and worry

Start doing the work you've been avoiding

Transcripts

foreign

a quick question

are you having sleepless nights because

of these heavy loads of thoughts that

are coming and looping inside your mind

or are you someone who is Imagining the

worst case scenarios all the time

whenever you're going to do something

new

or are you someone who is worrying about

what other people will think of me

well if you are such a person

you might be overthinking

so let's find out a way that where we

can get out of our head and quit

overthinking and get the works done

so what we can do for this

well

the first and the foremost thing that

you have to do is to realize that

overthinking is not going to help you in

the process

right you can plan you can analyze but

do not overdo it if you are over

planning if you are over analyzing it's

not going to help you

right it will distract you distract you

from the process

the first thing that you have to realize

is that overthinking is not going to

help you

the second thing

you can practice to be mindful now this

is a practice that that you can do to

stop overthinking to be mindful to

practice the mindfulness

so how can we practice the mindfulness

so there are many ways that our great

teacher Supreme would that taught us to

be mindful one of them is

to be mindful about the breathing

pattern

which we called Anna panasati right when

you become more mindful about this

inhale and exhale

your mind instantly come to the present

moment

now you're only thinking about inhale

and exhale you're being mindful about

that now instantly you reduced these

thousands and thousands of looping

thoughts to two thoughts what are those

two two thoughts in hell and exhale

so when you're thinking like that and

when you become mindful

normally automatically you will find the

peacefulness and you will stop

overthinking about these things right so

whenever you catch yourself overthinking

what you have to do take three deep

breaths in and out

right and just stay for a while by being

mindful about your breathing pattern

or you can be mindful about your body

right you can ask from yourself that how

am I sitting now right what am I doing

now and you ask these things from

yourself you can answer these things

like I'm sitting now

you can recognize

when you do do these things you can be

mindful

if you're mindful your mind is in the

present moment and when your mind is in

the present moment your mind is in the

peacefulness there's a saying and it

goes like this

if you are sad

then your mind is in the past

if you are anxious your mind will be in

the future

but if you are peaceful and if you are

still

your mind is in the present moment

so

start living in the present moment

right when you live in the present

moment when you live right here right

now

you can be more peaceful and you can

stop this overthinking patterns right

and also there's another part of

overthinking what is that the what if

question

right so many people ask from them that

what if this happened what if this not

happens right what if everything that I

did was wrong

they are constantly thinking about these

things like that

right

they're imagining these worst case

scenarios

so I must say something about them

right so if you're thinking this what if

question again and again you can't ask

from yourself what if everything that I

did was okay

you can be positive

what if everything that I've planned and

I've done was really great

so that can happen there is always many

possibilities for your plans to go okay

so don't be negative all these things

think I'm not going to be perfect right

I cannot be perfect but I can be the

best version of myself I can do my best

I must do my best and be positive and go

for it and take risks without taking

risks we cannot be successful in our

lives so practice these things

right be more mindful right be more kind

to yourself and always think that if I

overthink if I constantly worry about

myself it will kill the peacefulness of

my life so I hope this video gave some

light to your life so be peaceful and be

mindful and get out of your head and

start doing the works that you haven't

done