How to Stop Overthinking: A Calmer Way to Handle a Busy Mind
Overthinking feels like effort, but it rarely gets you anywhere. Here is how to tell useful thinking from the kind that only circles — and what to do instead.
Psychology, made clear.
Overthinking feels like effort, but it rarely gets you anywhere. Here is how to tell useful thinking from the kind that only circles — and what to do instead.
When anxiety spikes, you don't need a theory. You need something that works in the next few minutes. Here are nine techniques, why they help, and how to choose between them.
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Most people do not fail at drinking water because of willpower. They fail because nothing reminds them. Tie water to things you already do and make the glass impossible to miss.
Second-guessing feels like diligence but usually keeps you stuck. Making most decisions 'good enough', setting a stopping point and committing to your choice makes you both calmer and happier with the result.
We feel our emotions so vividly that we assume they are written on our faces. Research shows observers usually notice far less, a gap that can ease anxiety once you know about it.
Anger that seems to come from nowhere nearly always has a source: a body running on too little sleep or food, stress that has piled up, or a feeling underneath that anger is covering.
Cooking at home fails for the same reason most habits fail: it starts too big. Begin with two simple meals a week, prepare the night before and make the easy option the default.
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Why do we defend choices we know are flawed, or change our beliefs to fit what we have already done? The answer is a classic idea in psychology: cognitive dissonance.
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