The moment has arrived, for this is the final post in the series about my rules. I hope you’ve found this series interesting and useful. It’s forced me to think through some of my ideas and rules more fully than I’d previously done. On the subject of thinking, this final post will be focusing on an incredibly important yet rarely discussed subject: Don’t think too much.
This is one of the hardest rules for me to follow as I’ve been thinking nonstop for most of my life. Until a few years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it to be possible to stop thinking or have much control over my thoughts. Ever since I first listened to The Power of Now and started practicing presence, however, I’ve discovered that mindfulness is not only possible but comes with many benefits, including but not limited to the following: less anxiety, greater comfort around other people, easier conversations, more creativity, and a much easier time sleeping.
Since I’ve been working on controlling my thoughts for a while now, I’ve come to see thinking as a useful and necessary thing in some situations but not all of them. Like any quality tool, there are times to use it and there are also times to put it to the side. If I’m always stuck in my thoughts, sooner or later they’ll become negative and start dragging me down. However, even if I’m thinking in a positive way, it still becomes draining after a while if I do it incessantly. Being able to shut off the noise of excessive thinking is incredibly freeing and the more I do it, the better my day goes.
Refraining from thinking too much is one of the most powerful life hacks I’ve found thus far. It’s been difficult to change a lifetime of overthinking and I still think much more than I should. I have gotten much better, though, at noticing when I’ve become lost in thought and snapping myself out of it when I need some mental peace. Since I’ve become aware of mindfulness, I’ve seen it coming up in a lot of places, including books, podcasts, YouTube videos, and even people I know who’ve found this independently of me. I’ve learned a lot of life hacks from each of those resources and included the ones that have worked for me in many of my blog posts. I’ve made a lot of progress with presence and avoiding overthinking since I started and can only see things getting better as I continue to learn more and share what I find.