How to deal with your addiction to thinking

Photo by Kyle Broad

It’s a fact. No matter who you are you are, you are addicted to your thoughts. We all are. The internal chatterbox drives us crazy. Like any addiction, is hard to break the grip it has on us.

Researchers estimate that around 90% of your daily thoughts are repetitive. Our thoughts are constantly going around and around in circles over worries, fears, and judgments. The more we overthink, the more we build stress, worries, and anxiety.

How can we start to break our addiction?

Like any addiction, it all starts with self-awareness. It’s key to understand how you feel and what do you believe about your thoughts. Confronting the chatterbox can help you with breaking the mental grip.

Here are some beliefs that you could be hooked on.

All of my thoughts are true

Pay attention and question your thoughts. Focus on the ones that create stress, anxiety and make you unhappy. Ask yourself: Why do I believe this to be true?

My thoughts are very important and need to be taken seriously

You don’t need to pay attention to all your thoughts. You can ignore them, prove them wrong, judge them and even make fun of them. Laugh about them! “ That was ridiculous! Come on, please come up with something better to say”.

I am in control of my thoughts

Yeah, right! If we were in control of our thoughts wouldn’t we stop our fears and worries for good? We can shape our thoughts but we can’t shut them down.

Arguing with my thoughts will make them go away

Most of us get caught in this internal battle. The more you argue, the more you are feeding the addiction. Reflect on this. Who are you arguing with?

One quote

“Our addiction to thinking only creates problems that don’t exist. Stop paying so much attention to your thoughts, they are not worth it!”

-Tamy Khan

One question

Which belief are you hooked on?

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