There are three exercises that practiced regularly will help you shift from overthinking and your unwanted thoughts…
Exercise #1: Stop and Drop. Awareness is freedom…so three or four times a day, turn your attention to what your mind is doing. What thoughts are popping up? How do these thoughts make you feel? After a minute or two, move your attention to your body and what you are seeing, smelling, hearing, and tasting. By focusing on your body’s sensations, you experience the present moment rather than being lost in the quagmire of your thoughts.
Exercise #2: Nonjudgmental seeing. Close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths. Then open your eyes, and look at your surroundings but don’t name the things you see, Just look. When your mind conjures up labels for the objects around you, move on. For example, if you see a book, your mind will prompt the word “book.” If you see a chair, the word “chair” will surface silently in your mind. Resist the impulse to identify everything you see. At first, you may have only a moment or two of not hearing a word or thought while looking at these objects, but with practice, it will get easier to find the space between your thoughts, a place of silence and peace similar to what people expererience during meditation.
Exercise #3: Who am I now? Try going through a whole day as if you have no history or self narrative about what kind of person you are or what you have experienced. Just focus on who you are in the present moment. Example: Hal’s mother was critical of him and could never celebrate his wins in life. He thought he could have achieved more if he’d just had a more supportive parent. This exercise helped him strip away layers of the story he told himself. It allowed him to stop being a victim and give him a chance to achieve his potential.
In the next blog post I will talk about another strategy to help you stop ruminating. Hypnosis is also a proven strategy in helping to eliminate unwanted thoughts. If you are interested or have questions, please contact me at 361.442.9590 or holtadams2002@yahoo.com.