Ever wondered what is the greatest problem of mankind? The greatest human adversity? The root cause of all suffering?
A lot of people believe that it is greed, selfishness, materialism. While all this is true, I believe the worst of all problems is overthinking.
Sadhguru, the founder of Isha foundation recently tweeted and I couldn’t agree more-
“The greatest problem that humanity is facing & suffering is that they’re so absolutely involved & enamoured & overwhelmed with their own psychological drama that they’re completely missing the magic of creation.”
Sadhguru on overthinking->
Isn’t this so very true? We humans have complex brains which overthink all the time. We are not able to keep things simple.
We complicate the simple little problems in life with emotions and what-ifs and what-nots. The way we approach the problems in our life reveals a lot about our mental and emotional stability.
The average human being applies all the permutations and combinations, weighs each and every outcome and comes up with the optimum solution which is alright.
But the process doesn’t end there. What we do next is what Sadhguru calls “psychological drama” – We question ourselves and create unnecessary doubt. We got confused with our needs and desires.
Related: What is Maslow’s Theory Of Hierarchical Needs?
We try to figure out whether we took the right choice. We ponder over it for so long that we get irritated and annoyed – And for what? Anxiety? Depression? Insomnia?
Yes, overthinking causes all of these and many more disorders. And in this process, we miss the magic of creation. We miss on the wonders taking place all around us.
We forget to appreciate the good things which come our way, the tiny bundles of joy – all because of thinking excessively about situations which are not real or which are out of our control already.
This, I believe is the saddest human tragedy.
Can we stop overthinking?
Yes. But that implies having control over the inflow of thoughts.
Is it possible? Yes.
How?
Believe that everything happens for a reason:
Call it destiny if you want to. This belief would help you move forward. A bad incident took place? It happened for a reason. Didn’t get that job you wanted even after giving your best? Tell yourself that God has bigger plans for you. This belief system would calm your mind.
Accept the fact that not everything is under your control:
Understand that it’s futile trying to control something beyond your reach. It’s futile trying to change others or their behaviour towards you and find out how the past could have been different if you would have done this instead of that.
The day you understand this, you will save yourself a lot of overthinking and will be able to allocate this time to other productive things.
Practice Yoga and meditation:
Yoga and meditation heal you. Meditation helps you focus better, it helps you filter out the negative thoughts, reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. Yoga, which is nowadays believed to be a way of life, has special practices to counter anxiety and stress.
Related: How to be a Fitness Freak from a Couch Potato
Move the cheese:
Dr Spencer Johnson in his novel ‘Who moved my cheese’ explains, through the lives of four characters, how some people tend to resist change because of overthinking and trying to overanalyze the problem.
It is important to accept the change and move on with it. This would save you a great deal of overthinking and asking ‘Why me?’.
Or even better, detect the change before it happens and move your own cheese because no change happens overnight.
So these are a few ways by which you can prevent yourself from overthinking or this is rather a new lifestyle which can be adopted for good->
- Think of all the wonderful things you will be able to do once your mind is free from hundreds of thoughts and can focus on one particular aspect or situation.
- Your efficiency would increase by multiple folds, your concentration will make life easier for you.
- You will have a lot of time to spend on yourself and on productive activities.
And of course, you will be able to enjoy the magic of creation!
-Written by Devesh Dembla(Student)
Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE for amazing content.
