6 Ways to Stop Over Thinking

As a sensitive person, overtime you may have learned how to get into your head about things and overthink a lot. It can be draining and exhausting, and we also miss out on the power of our intuition. It also makes it harder to know who we are, what we want, and what we believe. Try out these six simple tools to start thinking less and living more.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to think less.

Maybe that sounds crazy, but I spent far too much of my life living in my head, basically functioning from the neck up. When you live from that mental place alone (without the harmony of the emotional, spiritual, and physical) it’s enough to make anyone crazy. 

As human beings, we’re not built to simply think. We’re also built to feel, to move, to be, to sense…

But in our culture especially, we pride ourselves primarily on the thinking part. Or at the very least, it’s valued far more than the gifts we may have emotionally or spiritually. 

And what I found was that when I spent so much time in my head, I spent less time in my life.

I experienced more confusion and stuckness, and didn’t have a sense of who I was or what my purpose and passions were. You see, those aren’t things you think your way to.

Being able to get out of your head is a skill that takes practice for some people. And if you’re still reading this, my guess is you might be one of those beautiful souls who wants some practice with this, and is who is seeing the major benefits it could have in your life.

So how do you do that? GREAT question!! 

Here are six ways to practice getting out of your head and into your life:

#1 Spend a little time every day noticing and allowing your emotions.

When one of my clients first started working with me, she had a lot of judgements about the anger she felt. We discovered that she wasn’t even allowing herself to feel a lot of her emotions, because she thought they were wrong or bad.

So, over the course of a week or two, she spent 10 minutes a day simply making space to feel whatever emotion she was feeling. This gave her permission to feel more of a range of emotions. And since the assignment was simply to make space to feel whatever emotion, the anger had room to be processed.

In that space, it was “correct” or “okay”.

To do this you can find a room in your house or a space outside where you feel comfortable, set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes, and write down what you’re feeling.

“I feel _____.”

Make sure you’re actually writing down feelings and not thoughts. If you’re saying “I feel like ____,” that’s actually a thought or opinion, and not a feeling.

Feeling examples would be: sad, happy, bored, irritated, calm, anxious, excited, hurt, loved… etc. You can use this emotions wheel if you’re having trouble naming a feeling.

You can also just say it out loud or to yourself, or simply just feel it! I like to give tangible how-to’s, but for some people, just setting a timer and feeling is enough. Instead of thinking about, judging, or resisting what you're feeling, now you're simply feeling, and you're out of your head! 

#2 Get to know your intuition - You have one!!

If the concept of an intuition is lost on you, fear not! First of all, you’ve got one. And secondly, there are practical ways to build up your intuition muscle.

Your intuition typically speaks to you through one of your senses. For some people, it’s more auditory, so you might hear your intuition in sentences in your head, as if you’re speaking to yourself. For others, it’s visual. And for some, it’s a gut feeling, and you just know.

The best way I’ve learned how to access my intuition, and discovered how my intuition speaks to me, is by first recognizing that I had one. And secondly, by exploring how I experience my intuition. For me it tends to be a gut level, “I just know,” kind of thing, but I only discovered that through getting curious.

So what if you got curious, and started to play around with tuning in and listening to your intuition? You can experiment by taking action and making choices based on what you think is your intuition, and over time, you’ll know. This will automatically allow you to stop over-thinking, because you’re basing something on intuition, not logic.

If you want to know more about the science of it, check our Dr. Catherine Wilkens, a woman who has studied the intuition from a scientific perspective. With a degree as a veterinarian as well as a chiropractor, she’s put a lot of science to intuition. Here’s her YouTube channel and she also wrote a book called Soul's Brain: The Neurology and Logic of Your Intuition. 

#3 Move your body.

 Moving your body is a great way to practice what it feels like to BE in your body, and not in your head! It sounds so simple, and it is.

I noticed when I was struggling so much with anxiety and OCD, when I would go to an intense yoga class and feel my muscles working, I had less energy in my mind because it was literally going to my body. Going to my edge physically also trained me in mental health, but that’s another topic.

Dancing is another GREAT way to stop over-thinking. For a lot of people, they feel self-conscious when they’re dancing, so if this describes you, practice doing it alone! It’s not about doing the best dance moves. It’s just about letting your body move however she or he wants to. I recommend trying it out in the morning. Dancing is a day-changer! 

#4 Make a God Box.

A God Box, or Universe Box, or whatever you want to call it, is a box you designate where you can write down your worries, concerns, or questions, and then put them in the box, to signal that you’re giving them up to a higher power.

This can serve as a signal to your mind that you’re done thinking on this topic for now. I love using this tool at night before bed as a way to day, “Ok, I’m done with this for now and I’m handing it over to a power greater than myself.”

It’s a great way to practice FAITH and TRUST rather than over-thinking or over-controlling.

#5 Set a timer.

I love this method. It’s, again, so simple.

If you’re over-thinking something (and this especially works for decisions), you set a timer for whatever time you want, and when it goes off, you move on to something else. So if you’re using this for a decision, when the timer goes off, you make a decision one way or the other, and that’s it. 

#6 Practice the affirmation, “Action is my medicine.”

Last year was a big year for experimentation, growth, and change in my business. I started stepping up to my edge like never before, and a lot of the things I set out to do were intimidating.

There were times where resistance would come up, and where I’d procrastinate in the form of continuing to think about it, rather than taking action. But, when I did take action, I felt a million times better! It became my medicine, and so did this mantra 😊 

So what do you think? (No pun intended 😆) Which of the above are you ready to test out?

I’d love to hear from you. Share in the comments below.

And if you’d like some 1:1 support in getting out of your head and into your life, you can find out all about my coaching program here.

Yay! I’m so excited for you to put this into practice and notice the immediate and long-term results. Have fun and I can’t wait to connect more soon!

Xoxo,

Angie

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