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How to Empower Ourselves To Quit Overthinking · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at WalkWest.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Kamine Wood, and I would like to just say thank you for taking a few minutes of your day to join me here on this episode that we are going to be discussing overthinking and how we can come up with a few different ways to stop the overthinking in our life.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, a question for you: how often do you catch yourself dwelling on the past or chewing on the problems of the past?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you're thinking about the potential dilemmas or dramas that could happen in the future, whether it be the near future or the distant future.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Truth be told, many of us spend a lot of our waking hours thinking, analyzing, worrying about uh issues, whether they be health concerns, work issues, relationship issues, things that happened in the past, what we should have done or what we could have done.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: And we truly just spend way too much thinking, time thinking about topics that upset us or cause stress or cause anxiety or truthfully just leave us emotionally drained.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: So let's talk about what overthinking even is.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: So, in order to stop something, we've got to understand what it is.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, what is it?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, once we understand how to recognize overthinking, you'll actually feel empowered to maybe start um uh maybe you'll you'll come up with ways to pattern interrupt and to quit quit the overthinking and over-ruminating.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, overthinking is often described as the tendency to dwell on something excessively.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: It can involve ruminations that go round and round that never truly bring solutions.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, while it's natural to spend time thinking about things and maybe even scrutinizing dilemmas and problems and decisions or pondering them at least, uh what happens when we overthink is we cannot seem to let it go, and it can lead to chronic anxiety and depression.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: We often do overthink or ruminate because there is this idea, it's almost like the subconscious false sense of control or security when we are overthinking.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost like we can't let go of it because it's human nature to want to have control over the things in our lives, and so when we think about it, we almost feel like we have a sense of control.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and if we don't think about it, it almost creates a sense of helplessness or maybe fear tends to set in.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but when we oh when we spend too much time thinking about the things and overthinking about them and over-ruminating, we can actually cause ourselves to become more confused and more anxious, which might actually lead to not just emotional and mental issues, but it can also lead to physical symptoms of pain or trouble concentrating, and can eventually lead to just uh chronic anxiety or depression, or just being in that that that overwhelmed state of stress, uh, that fight or flight stage for such a long period of time that it can cause detrimental effects.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So destructive thought patterns, let's talk about some of them.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: Ruminating.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Ruminating involves the ongoing and repetitive thoughts about past experiences and problems.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's true, we do tend to think about stressful situations.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: So brief ruminations are totally natural.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: But when we sit and dwell on them for long periods of time or obsessively think about them, and we obsessively ruminate on the things that have happened in the past, it can lead to us thinking really negatively about ourselves because what it could lead to is this idea that we're not good enough or we're not worthy or that we're bad or wrong people or that we don't belong.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: So when we ruminate too long, it can cause those false beliefs to really take hold.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it can create anxiety and it can create the um the inability to continue with daily life because we're spending so much time thinking about something that happened in the past.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, other ways that we can, or other destructive thought patterns are that's just the persistent worrying, right?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's this constant worry about what could happen.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I often have referred to this in the past, you may have heard it.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'll say future tripping, and what I really mean by that is this um idea of having anxiety or worry about what could happen in the future, and just it's the what-ifs, the what-ifs, the what-ifs.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so that's the persistent worrying.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do we how do we maybe take take steps to to end the overthinkings, take steps to end the constant worrying or the rumination?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: The first one that I want to talk about is mindfulness.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: I talk about this so often because it's so important, you know.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Many of us spend a lot of our time thinking about the past or worrying about the future, and it's about really getting into this present moment.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Exist in this moment.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really learning mindfulness skills.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: How can we uh release the past and and and release what could happen in the future and just get into the here and now?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: And many mindfulness techniques and mindfulness meditations, there are so many out there, things like the body scan or um you know, taking a self-compassion pause to get into this present moment, checking in with your five senses, which is one of my favorite tools, but it's really taking the time to learning how to practice mindfulness, how to get into the here and now, which is one very important way to slow down the overthinking.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Another uh way that we can stop the overthinking is to release perfectionism.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So there's nothing wrong with setting goals or having aspirations in life.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: However, there is definitely a difference between healthy striving and trying to get things perfect.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Perfecism often stems from just fear or from insecurity, and it can when it's um done in such a way that leads us to feeling that we're not good enough unless it's perfect, it can it can be unhealthy and unproductive and can keep us paralyzed.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens with a lot of perfectionists is that we we tend to set really unrealistic goals, and when we don't make those goals, we want to put ourselves down, and that's when the overthinking and unforgiving starts to take effect.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really about releasing this idea of getting something perfect and recognizing when good enough is good enough.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Another way that we can slow down that overthinking is to just really evaluate what is this true scope of the situation.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, excessive ruminations take a toll on your mood, your health, your relationships.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So just really being mindful and present and recognizing, you know, what's what has actually triggered the the rumination, and then just taking a step back and asking what's really true about the situation, really assessing the scope of this situation and then being able to interrupt that with the truth of the matter, which allows for that pattern interrupt from the overthinking.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Trusting your intuition is really important, so really listening to your gut.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Your gut will often allow you also to come up with creative solutions.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: It helps you see things from a different perspective.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we when we ignore our intuition, we're really stuck in that in the ego mind, right?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: In the thinking mind.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so learning to listen to that gut can also help with the the over the overthinking.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Making time for regular self-reflection is really, really important.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's about, you know, it stems from mindfulness, it stems from being in the present moment, but it also stems from being able to look at the choices that you have made, but with a sense of compassion and self-compassion that is, and not from a place of judgment.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So being able to incorporate that that reflection time to ask yourself, you know, how did I grow?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: What did I learn?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Allowing your mind to wander into those places, but without judgment and uh and releasing, um releasing the thoughts once you are able to capitalize or at least conceptualize the things that you've you've taken from the situation.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then there is um really getting in touch with the ability to just let the past go, really coming to terms with the fact that once the past is like once something's done, it's in the past, we can't go back and undo it.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: All we can do is really take the lessons and the growth opportunities from it.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: So every time that you're replaying those scenes in your mind from the past, it's just acknowledging that that's what's happening very kindly and compassionately.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Remind yourself that that's already been done.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: So what did I learn?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then asking yourself of what steps do I want to take to move myself forward.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: Which leads into the final one, which is just coming to this place of um uh becoming aware, be noticing when you're overthinking.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Because we cannot shift anything unless we're aware of it.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it's slowing down and paying attention to your thoughts, allowing yourself to become aware of those moments that you're overthinking.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And journaling really does come in handy in this regard because when we journal, we're actually having an output channel for our thoughts.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And in that process, we can recognize when we are overthinking, and from that place, we can start making taking aligned action to move ourselves from that place of overthinking and over-ruminating into something that could be more helpful or move us towards the goals and intentions that we have set for ourselves.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you find yourself overthinking or wanting to just chat more with me about what could be possible, how to maybe get unstuck from the box that you may have thought yourself into, feel free to book a time with me at any time at chatwithcomedy.com.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay well.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authentic me.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.