3 Tricks to Stop Overthinking
I have been consistently an inconsistent meditator for over 20 years now. Even so, I’ve had a few transcendent meditation experiences.
There was the time I did a 10-day silent meditation retreat called a Vipassana.
In the first three days, I learned that it wasn’t actually silent because my brain is the loudest, most spastic thing I’ve ever heard. Day after day, my mind went on about nothing at all. I couldn’t even make it sixty seconds without a rambling thought tangent.
Then on the fourth day, there it was.
First a whole minute of breathing, counting. Then another. And then I sank into the glorious spaciousness. No counting. Just a warm hum all over my body. I was relaxed all over. Suddenly, the bell rang, the hour was complete and I started cracking up so loud that the person next to me started laughing, then several people were laughing. Nothing was silent. Everything was alive.
Mostly though, my meditation practice has been like dragging a boat in the sand.
The good thing about meditating is you don’t have to be good at it for it to work. You can spend 19.5 minutes of a 20-minute session thinking about a conversation you had at work. After a few days, you might notice that you only spend 18 minutes thinking. Better than that, you somehow start to feel calmer and more clear-headed.
Thanks to my imperfect practice, I’ve developed a few tricks that stop my thoughts in their tracks, at least for a moment. I’ve used them when I am generally overthinking (trying to fall asleep is the worst), or when I have hopped on a worry wheel and can’t get off.
The Dry-Erase Board Trick
One of my happy places is standing in front of a dry-erase board with a marker in hand. You’re the teacher. You’re in control.
Imagine yourself in front of a big classroom size dry-erase board.
Write the thought you are having at that moment on the whiteboard. Pick whatever color marker you want. Big letters, small letters, messy, neat – doesn’t matter. Just write the thought on the board.
Now take the eraser and erase the entire board.
Try to think of what you were thinking of. For a moment, it is gone.
When I realize the thought has disappeared, I like to keep erasing. All along the edges of the board and in rows up and down. Sure these images are thoughts but now you are in control and sometimes, you can ride the precious emptiness out for a while.
The Radio Knob Trick
My grandpa and uncle were both Top 40 DJs, which might be why years ago, I latched on to a helpful analogy. Our bodies and brains are like radio towers. They transmit & receive signals from all the other thinkers in the universe. Some people like to hang out on the Negative Nancy channel, while other people like 105 Chill. So keeping with that analogy, here are two images that help change the channel.
Ask the question, “Who does this belong to?” then check your body for a shift in energy. Sometimes we just pick up random thought frequencies from people or places around us. We might not actually be sad but we picked up some sadness and assign a story to it. By asking who the thoughts belong to, we allow them to energetically return to sender.
Imagine an old transistor radio with large tuning and volume knobs. For the children, the tuning knobs changed the channel to a different number to receive a different FM frequency (or AM if you were a Dad.) Now listen to your thoughts like a radio program. For a moment, imagine turning the volume up and down. When you’re ready, imagine turning the tuning knob slowly to another channel. First, there’s static, then notice what the new station is playing. Do you hear a sweet, kind voice yet? Keep changing until you hear what your body needs to hear.
If you imagine turning the radio knob a few times, it starts to become a reliable image you can use to instantly change your thought channel or even turn off the radio altogether. At least for a moment.
The New Thought Trick
After trying the other two tricks, you might notice that most of what you think about is the same stuff you thought about yesterday which was basically the same as what you were thinking last week and ten years ago. The characters change but generally, we have very few original thoughts in a day. So this trick is simple but effective.
Tell your mind to think a new thought. Just one original, shiny new thought.
Wait for it.
That’s it. Issuing this challenge to my brain always makes my mind go blank. Like completely empty. Not even crickets. In a few splendid instances, there was a long silence followed by an actual new thought. When that happens, I imagine writing the new thought on the dry erase board so I don’t forget and ask for another new thought so my mind doesn’t start analyzing the first new thought until it is as old as the rest of them.
If you try any of these tricks, I’d love to hear about your experience. Message me here or DM me on IG.