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How to Work With Negative Overthinking · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at Walk West.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
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  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.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
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  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening, when you're tuning in, I just want to say thank you for taking some time from your day to spend with me.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: And today's topic is all about overthinking and rumination.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: So rumination involves overthinking or obsessing about our feelings, about life events, negative experiences, situations or people, and they can actually become intrusive and overwhelming and can be linked to things such as anxiety or depression, or can contribute to PTSD, eating disorders, and so forth.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: So what really causes these ruminating thoughts or these overthinking thoughts?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when you ruminate, you really can't stop thinking about an experience or an emotional.
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  SPEAKER_01: Now, occasional ruminating thoughts are obviously expected.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: We have thousands of thoughts that go through our head every single day.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: But when we excessively think about a certain event or a certain outcome over and over and over again, that's what we're talking about when we're talking about overthinking.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a difference between thinking about uh just challenges that are popping up in our everyday life and when we are thinking about something so much so that we can't seem to release it.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then what ends up happening is it creates uh it creates room for things like lower self-esteem, lower self-confidence.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, for instance, if we're overthinking and ruminating on certain thoughts or negative experiences or just experiences in general, it can create uh things such as body image issues or phobias or just any type of anxiety.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it can cause a lot of anxious thoughts and and can lead to depression.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: So when we're worried, upset, or sad, um, it's about recognizing, and it's not just being worried, upset, or sad, it's just about really taking the time and and and understanding when we are thinking about something that we need to check in with ourselves and understand what we're what we're feeling and what we're needing.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that we can, you know, what and I've said this before many times, but it's it's about understanding one of the first principles, which is that we have the ability the this idea of thought, and our thoughts become a reality.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: So when we're overthinking, that's the and we're overthinking about a certain thing, our reality just is based on that thing that we're overthinking.
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  SPEAKER_01: So, how do we start creating strategies to help shift from this overthinking place and maybe reduce the rumination?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of the first things that we can do is to uh really identify what are the automatic negative thoughts that are happening in our minds during the day.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: How often and what are we saying to ourselves throughout the course of the day?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: So a large portion of our thoughts will pop into our head and they might be self-criticizing thoughts, but we're not even aware of them.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's very difficult to really shift from that place if we're not aware of them.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: So awareness is that very, very first step.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: So starting to identify what are those automatic negative thoughts, and that once we're aware of them, we can then actually make the choice of you know, what aligned action are we gonna take?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're having this thought, what's actually true, and how can we think about ourselves differently?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Mindfulness is a really big one.
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  SPEAKER_01: Mindfulness andor meditation or both.
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  SPEAKER_01: So mindfulness will take us into the present moment.
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  SPEAKER_01: So if we find ourselves overthinking or ruminating, especially about something from the past, and an active practice of mindfulness will take us into the here and now.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: What is present for me in the here and now, and what is my next best step forward?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: And also, if we can start implementing a meditation practice where we have time within our day, where we're able to get into that place of deep, that deep rest, not just for our body, but for our mind as well.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: We give our mind space from from thinking and uh putting all this energy into a certain thought, and we're able to just quiet things down for a little while.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: So that can help uh reduce that overthinking.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Another one that we talk about when we when we ruminate and we really break it down, a lot of times it's because we're trying to get something perfect.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: So if we if there is a fear of not being good enough or not belonging or not um getting it, getting it right, and then therefore not being worthy of whomever or whatever, it's recognizing that those are false beliefs and giving ourselves the ability that that's not actually true.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Just because there this one thing didn't come out the way that we wanted it to doesn't take away from our self-worth.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes when we when we look at overthinking or rumin rumination on something specific, we can tie it back or draw a line back to feeling as though our worth comes from that thing having gone a certain way.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then the uh fourth real important thing that I want to mention about when we're when we're dealing with overthinking and rumination is really getting into a practice of self-compassion.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really truly treating yourself with self-kindness over judgment, uh, giving yourself the ability to um, you know, find ways to grow from adverse situations or challenging situations or you know, outcomes that weren't what you originally wanted them to be.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's about recognizing that you are part of common humanity, that you're not isolated.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Other people have had similar experiences and really leaning into that because that can help improve your resilience and also give you space from that thought that keeps popping into your head.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: It will by raising your resiliency, by being more compassionate, kind overjudgy of yourself, it allows the mind to come out of that fight or flight stage, allows yourself to create some creative space within your mind and see whatever challenges in front of you in a different way.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you're not overthinking on that one thought anymore.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: It allows space to uh create space for other thoughts to occur.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then the final uh thought that that I had um, well, there's a cut there's two final thoughts.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: One is being able to challenge the the idea of what you're having.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you're having a thought and also what could be true, and then self-distraction is another way.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: When we really just can't get in front of it, you know, we really can't, we're just struggling even with the mindfulness.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's about is there a way to look at something else or work on something else in this moment?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or maybe to, you know, go for a walk or go for a run, because physical activity can give us that that just that distraction from the overthinking in the moment.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not to say that we should distract ourselves long term, meaning we never we never deal with the emotions that we're having because we really do have to recognize our emotions are here to tell us something.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: But when we find ourselves spinning, you know, we're spiraling it, we're on our monkey mind is spiraling, we need to sometimes just pattern interrupt that.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes being able to allow ourselves to have that physical activity can can create that that interruption into overthinking about that that one thought and allows space between that thought and and giving ourselves some time to then maybe practice a mindfulness technique, get into the present moment and then ask us what we'd like to do, what's our next best best step forward.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, those are some ideas of how to deal with the overthinking mind.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you find yourself challenged by this and would like to have a deeper dive conversation with me, feel free to book a time at chatwithcomedy.com.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, I hope you have an amazing rest of your day.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authentic me.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.