What a crazy word and what a crazy world! Did I say something wrong? No, I am sanguine that 99.99% of the people reading this blog will agree that the alarming cause affecting our mental health is “OVERTHINKING”. Yeah, It’s absolutely correct that we are over-thinkers, we are over-analyzers, we are extreme analysts. Well, the funniest thing about today's topic is that everyone believes that overthinking is not good, but nobody is able to overcome it.

Let me share a small incident which recently occurred: I met a small child. He had an ample amount of potential, he was smart and intelligent but as usual, he was an overthinker. He had created a separate world of his own. He is in grade 2 but is struggling with the struggle of what he will do after passing out from school. I was really shocked and surprised too that at this age he is thinking about 10 years ahead.

Of course, planning is a very essential part of life but timing of execution should be perfect to meet our expectations. If planning and execution are done at the perfect time then the result will be fruitful otherwise it will end in over thinking, anxiety, and depression. I am not saying that overthinking is not good. If we are not able to think, there will be no difference between us and animals. In fact God has given us the power to think but what to think depends on us. Right thinking is not a problem but wrong thinking is definitely a problem. Now the problem is what is right and what is wrong. Who will tell you this? This is just a dilemma that what is wrong for me may be right for someone and what is right for someone may be wrong for me.

So, as per my experience and beliefs, the thinking which is based on beliefs is wrong and the thinking which is based on reality is right. I think beliefs are just an illusion which is created by us for ourselves. I may not be an expert in giving solutions on how to come out from overthinking. But, I would like to share some ways which may be useful to get rid of over-thinking. The first way which I have learned is that if you are worried about anything and you want to remove that thought from your mind then you should start thinking of any other topic or any other moment which gives you happiness that will definitely ease you in getting out of the situation. This situation of change of mind from one thought to another can be said a Diversion of thoughts. The other way to conquer overthinking is writing which is my personal favourite. Whenever I started overthinking on any topic based on my beliefs. I usually write my thoughts on paper. This helps me in developing new thoughts which are far away from beliefs and based on reality and it helps me in writing blogs. Another way which I have come across to defeat overthinking is Acceptance. Accept what is going on in your life as if it is supposed to be in the same way as it is happening. If you accept it then your mind will feel very relaxed and all the thoughts which are in the back end of your mind will stop and the problem of overthinking will be removed to some extent.

Let me share with you a small story:

There lived a young boy in a small village. He was troubled by the habit of not being able to forget old memories and thinking about the same thing over and over again. If someone told him something or if something went wrong with him, he would just think about that one incident all day. The same thing kept swirling in his mind all the time, and then he cursed his luck and God for some bad incident that happened to him. Or else he kept on making thoughts of taking revenge on the person who had said something to him or did something wrong to him because of his overthinking habit, he neither had good relations with people nor did he know how to do any work well. He was always in a state of tension or mental disturbance, seeing his condition, a friend of his advised that a monk who lived in a nearby Buddhist monastery here, should go there. He would definitely tell you some solution to this mental problem of yours. The boy went to the monk and explained his problem to him about how he keeps thinking about the same event over and over again, and can’t forget the old bad things or memories. After listening to the boy’s problem the monk gets up from there and goes inside the monastery. But, he still sits there. Now the monk came again close to the boy with a glass filled with water. The monk asked the boy, "Tell me how much the glass weighs." The boy said, “I can’t tell exactly but it does not weigh much “. Now the monk said seriously, “My question is what will happen if I hold this glass like this for a while?” The boy replied, “Nothing will happen”. Monk again asked “What will happen if I hold this glass like this for an hour?” The boy said, “Your hand will start aching”. Monk again asked, “What will happen if I hold this glass like this for the whole day?” Boy answered in a serious tone, “Sir, you won’t be able to hold this glass of water for a long time, muscles of your hand will become weak and you may face other difficulties.” Monk appraised, “Great, but did the weight of the glass change in the meantime?” The boy said, “No, the weight didn’t change.” Monk asked again, “Then why was their pain in the hand and tension in the muscles?” Boy replied, “Holding on for a long time.” The Monk again asked “What should I do now to get rid of this pain?” “Put down the glass,” said the boy. Monk said, “Exactly, this is the point. Troubles in life are the same. All you need to do is keep them in your mind for some time and then put them down. Do not hold for a long time. Otherwise, they will damage your nerves exactly the same way as the glass of water would have damaged if kept for a longer time.”

I really admire this example and incident. It's important to think about past mistakes and incidents in your life, but more important than that is to learn from them and move forward. If you keep on holding on to the same thing then just like that glass it will also cause pain in your life. Sitting with the past is no solution for the mistakes made at that time. All you have in your hand is present. Try not to repeat your past mistakes now. So that you create your present beautiful and your future even more beautiful.

To conclude my blog all I want to say is that anything which you have in excess is always harmful whether it is food, money, or thoughts. Life is very short, don't waste it in overthinking. It is always better to act than to think.

“Sometimes the worst place you can be is in your own head.”

.    .    .