Overcome Your Overthinking

Description

Have you ever made a decision that you felt confident about and then second-guessed it? And then third-, fourth-, and fifth-guessed it? Have you ever gone home after a seemingly pleasant conversation and spent the evening dissecting every word until you wondered whether the conversation was pleasant at all? We’re all guilty of overthinking some aspect of our lives. Whether it’s lying in your bed reliving embarrassing moments or suffering from decision paralysis, overthinking is a common practice, and second nature to many.

Maybe you’re overthinking right now, about whether you need this course. If you are, you need this course.

Heidi Sormaz has a PhD in psychology from Yale University with an emphasis on cognitive psychology, and she’s been a meditation and yoga practitioner and teacher for two decades. She is also a reformed over-thinker; so, she knows exactly what you’re going through—or what you’re (over)thinking, so to speak.

Overthinking is not productive thinking. It can disrupt our ability to relax, unwind, and let go. It can lead to self-doubt and self-confidence issues. It can even manifest physically, causing a lack of sleep or digestive problems. Over the 12 engaging lessons of Overcome Your Overthinking, Heidi not only provides the science behind cognitive behavioral therapy, but she’ll also arm you with a toolbox of exercises and techniques that are most effective at breaking the spell of overthinking. She fully admits she cannot teach you how to control your thoughts—no one can do that, but she will teach you a new way of working with your thoughts when they interfere with your life. This new approach will help stop your thoughts from turning into overthinking.

You’ll hear the latest research and best insights into the nature of overthinking, and how it gets triggered by everyday situations, emotions, and common occurrences where we rely on it as a distraction or to create an illusion of control. Once you master some simple mindfulness techniques such as practicing labeling emotion, practicing gratitude, and harnessing your body through yoga and breathing exercises, you’ll find that calming your mind and thoughts can become your new second nature.

When Is Thinking Overthinking?

As human beings, we think. Therefore, we are, right? But at what point does the thinking become unproductive? What is overthinking? Heidi breaks down the various versions of overthinking and you may come to realize you do it more often than you realize.

• Worrying: This is the type of overthinking we’re probably the most familiar, and it’s usually phrased as “what if.” Worry is not based on probability, reality, or fact. It’s based on fear and typically takes a scenario and focuses on a terrible outcome. For example: Instead of wondering, “what if my project goes gangbusters successful,” you worry, “what if my project falls flat and the company pulls the funding”?
• Rumination: This type of overthinking is a type of repetitive thought you can’t seem to shake off. Ruminations can be broken down into two types. (1) Depressive rumination—engaging in negative, repetitive self-focus. For example: You dress more causally at a dinner party than your colleagues and spend hours internally criticizing yourself, which leads to distorted thinking about yourself. Depressive rumination can quickly become a vicious cycle. (2) Angry rumination—which typically takes the form of blame. For example: You replay the words of a recent argument over and over in your head, all the while getting angrier and adding evidence to your argument. This leads to aggression, resentment, and distorted interpretations of others.
• Cognitive Distortions: This type of overthinking results in errors in thinking that lead to excessive or unnecessary emotional reactions. When cognitive distortions manifest as habitual ways of thinking, or overthinking, they inhibit your ability to assess a situation neutrally. For example: At a party, a friend barely talks to you. You assume the friend is mad or finds you uninteresting. In reality, there is no truth value in those thoughts—You can’t read their mind or know their situation.

Do any of these situations sound familiar? If they do, it’s because as a species, overthinking is baked into our brains. Overthinking begins with fear, and fear is the oldest survival mechanism we have, teaching us to avoid dangerous situations through a process called reinforcement. Evolution has made fear-based learning automatic, and our brains have adapted to not only help us survive, but to analyze what could have happened if we hadn’t survived, what might happen in the future, and how to avoid any other unpleasant events. For many of us, this feeling manifests as anxiety.

You’ll find the science behind these mental habits to be both fascinating and reassuring—no, you’re not alone in thinking the way you do, and no, your brain is not broken, it’s working exactly as human brains were trained to do centuries ago. But more important than the history and science behind overthinking are the solutions that you’ll want to know.

Habits: Easy to Make, Challenging to Break

One of the foundations of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is retraining your brain to break bad habits—whether they are overeating or overthinking. From the very first lesson, Heidi has you engaged with mindful activities that help you draw focus away from your mind and into other areas of your physical being.

Examining both theory and practice, she’ll walk you through a variety of techniques, including seated exercises and yoga practices that allow you to occupy your physical self, while also talking you through ways to focus your mind to occupy your mental self.

Some of the experiences Heidi will introduce you to include:

• Short seated and standing exercises (2–3 minutes each) that can be easily incorporated into your life at any time,
• Basic and accessible yoga positions,
• Reciting mettā phrases,
• Visualization exercises, and
• Practicing gratitude.

She’ll offer you a toolbox of strategies that can be used before, during, or after being bombarded by your thoughts. As you become more comfortable with each of these tools, you’ll feel more confident that you can make a quality choice about which tool to use in any given moment to help yourself end overthinking.

As Heidi notes, change is not a linear process—It’s more like a very wavy line that gradually increases in small amounts over time. You’ll need to give it time and practice, but with the new tools and information that she provides, you’ll be on your way to lessening the burden of overthinking.

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