The Idea of the Week
When does reflection become overthinking?
Reflection is a skill to (essentially) know yourself better. Reflection is useful for processing events, emotions, or topics. There are many benefits to regularly engaging in self-reflection, and this 10-minute Verywell Mind article discusses the benefits and how to incorporate self-reflection into your routine in more depth.
On the other hand, overthinking involves excessively dwelling on a subject or situation for long periods of time. Most often the topic or situation are things that have happened in the past. The mind may also adapt the topic to think about what it means about your future self.
Let’s begin with some signs that you may be overthinking, from this Verywell Mind article:
- You have difficulty thinking about anything else.
- You replay mistakes in your mind.
- You replay challenging or uncomfortable conversations in your mind.
- You imagine worst-case scenarios or outcomes.
- You often question “why” something happened or “why” you did something.
- You experience a lot of negative thoughts.
- You second-guess your decisions.
- You constantly feel worried or anxious.
Overall, reflection is a healthy skill to process events and emotions. However, reflection becomes unhealthy when we think about the event or topic excessively, judge ourselves, have negative self-talk, criticize our actions and decisions, or compare ourselves with others.
The Practice of the Week
There are many exercises that you can practice to stop overthinking. One exercise may feel paradoxical and ironic—this exercise involves reflection: what are your triggers for overthinking?
As paradoxical as it feels, we are invoking mindfulness in this exercise. Mindfulness involves a present awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and body and observing them as they are without judgment. This 8-minute Verywell Health article outlines a mindfulness exercise and includes 9 more exercises to help you stop overthinking.
Our last resource for this week is an 11-minute video on How to Stop Depressive Rumination and Dwelling on the Past. Emma MacAdam from Therapy in a Nutshell shares how rumination (or overthinking) makes you feel miserable and several exercises to stop dwelling on the past. For instance, some of the exercises include:
- Change your “why” questions into “what” questions. Instead of, “Why am I depressed?”, change it to “What is one small thing I can change to make my life happier?”
- Do not make vague, overarching statements or labels. Swap “never” or “always” with a specific situation.
- For any situation, identify your value and take the action you need. For instance, if the situation is about taking advantage of someone, recognize your value of boundaries and act on that.
Check out the video for more exercises!
News of the Week
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The Thought of the Week
Wishing you a peaceful week!
