“We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap.”~ Anthony Hopkins
The mind loves to think, and it never seems to want to stop. In fact, we overthink so much that many people consider it a worldwide epidemic. Through extensive research, psychology professor Susan Nolen-Hoeksema of the University of Michigan found that overthinking occurs mostly in young and middle aged adults, with 73% of 25-35 year-olds identifying as overthinkers. There are also more women (57%) than men (43%) who tend to think too much.
The mind sometimes resembles a five year old child – it wants to have everything a certain way and never knows how to sit still. If you allow your brain to continuously run a mile a minute without ever interjecting, it will only press on with the madness until you discover that your mind has slowly become a prison. Learning to take time quiet your mind, instead of distracting it, can allow you to have more mental clarity, focus, and give up the toxic habit of overthinking.
1. You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your own false thoughts.
2. Before you talk, listen. Before you react, think. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try!
3. Stop worrying about what can go wrong, and get excited about what can go right.
4. Overthinking – the art of creating problems that weren’t even there.
5. There is nothing in this world that can trouble you as much as your own thoughts.
6. Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
7. Stop overthinking. You can’t control everything, just let it be.
8. Dear mind, please stop thinking so much at night. I need sleep.
9. Overthinking is the biggest cause of unhappiness.
10. Don’t ruin a new day by thinking about yesterday. Let it go.
11. A quiet mind is able to hear intuition over fear.
This article originally appeared on Power of Positivity