I overthink everything. How can I stop?

Slowing down your brain and stopping overthinking isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Our minds process hundreds of thousands of thoughts daily, most of which we barely notice. When these thoughts feel overwhelming, it’s important to remind yourself that thoughts, feelings, and emotions have their place, but they don’t need to consume you constantly. You can learn to control when and where you have time to sort through these thoughts. Creating a daily routine to process your thoughts is key! Doing activities like journaling, self-talk, or using coping cards allows you to navigate your thoughts in a structured way, at a time in place you decide. If you structure time in each day to navigate thoughts and emotions, then you won’t need to have them running through your mind all day. When we neglect to take time is when we see an out-of-control waterfall of thoughts consuming us. Mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation are also essential for teaching your mind to slow down and focus on the present moment. These techniques, often paired with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), not only strengthen the mind-body connection but also help you practice gratitude and reframe negative thoughts. Over time, these strategies can empower you to manage overwhelming moments without letting negativity take over. As always, therapy is a key component to help navigate these situations.

Writing your thoughts down is a great way to slow your mind. Since each thought connects to another thought, we can spin in circles if we don't have an automatic slowdown such as writing. Writing is also helpful because it can feel soothing to see our thought process documented -- otherwise, we can get stuck covering the same material repeatedly.

A technique from my book, Nervous Energy: Harness the Power of Your Anxiety, can also be very helpful if you are having a particularly overwhelming number of thoughts at once:
1. Write down a keyword or phrase in the middle of a sheet of paper, and draw a circle around it.
2. Next, draw spokes out from that circle, and at the end of each spoke write the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you ponder the original keyword.
3. Repeat this process drawing additional spokes out from each of the original spokes to notice what further thoughts they evoke.

Do this until you feel you've captured your thought process around the original keyword . This process allows you to "connect the dots" of your mind without having to form carefully worded sentences about how each concept connects-- the spokes help you trace the connections and map out your thought process without getting bogged down with writing perfectly composed sentences.