Too much thinking is harmful
Many factors prevent us from being happy – pessimism, emphasis on negative experiences, feelings, and emotions, inability to appreciate the moment, and many others. Most of them involve the habit of overthinking. It is rather insidious because we are used to believing that thinking is helpful. When we are in school and don’t know the answer to a question or answer incorrectly, the teacher asks us to think again. When faced with a problematic situation in adulthood, we naturally think about it and actively look for a way out.
Sometimes we think so much that we don’t notice the trap: thoughts take strength, oppress, and don’t produce results, because we cannot stop at the right moment. In the end, we drive ourselves to a dead end. For example, when trying to figure out why there are so few happy moments in our lives, we may not notice that we would be much happier if we just stopped thinking about it. Sounds intriguing.
⚡️Happy people don’t pay attention to how others live.
We also hurt ourselves when we compare ourselves to others. This process is similar to overthinking. However, in this case, we do not suppose why we are unhappy but focus, for example, on why our colleague is much more optimistic than we are.
We compare our financial capabilities, talents, and even appearance. In the end, we get nothing but self-doubt and frustration. Sometimes it’s better not to think. There are different ways to do it. We can be distracted by hobbies to devote this time to communicating with loved ones, playing sports, and meditating. The main task is to switch the mind and make it pay attention to other things. And this is a challenging task; we will return to obsessive thoughts more than once.
The job is to learn to distract ourselves and bring us back to where we need to be every time. It’s about staying in the present moment. Do not fantasize about the future or dwell on the past, but be here and now. This process is genuinely meditative because we return our attention to ourselves and don’t allow thoughts to control our moods, feelings, and life.