OVERTHINKING

1. Observe your thoughts from a distance

Don't get caught up in your thoughts, or try to stop them from arising. Just watch them pass through the mind. Know them to be fleeting clouds in your sky-like existence.

2. Write down your thoughts

This will help you organise your thought process a lot better, and avoid loop-thinking.

3. Designate 'no-thinking' times

In this time consciously maintain an effort to drop out of the thinking mode.

4. Distract yourself

Take a healthy diversion. Engage in an absorbing activity which is a mix of physical, mental and social engagement. You will come to the present and avoid overthinking.

5. Focus on what you can do right now

Replace all thinking, with doing. Focus on something you can do now, however small it may be, and do it.

Like all habits, changing the overthinking one can be a challenge. But it is possible and worth doing. With practice, you can free yourself from overthinking. Enjoy an existence where thoughts serve you well, instead of ruling you.