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  • What are you thinking right now?

  • And how about... now?

  • Our brains are incredibly active, but sometimes, you just want that big ball of grey meat to shut the hell up, right?

  • Thinking is good - it's what makes humans special.

  • Without thinking we'd have no farms, no books, no jobs.

  • It would just be reality TV, no thinking required there.

  • But often, we over-think, and cause ourselves a lot of unnecessary anxiety.

  • So, today we're going to look at how we can tune out those annoying thoughts and make things quieter inside our heads.

  • This is todays episodeHow to not overthink by Health Chronicle

  • Like most problems, the first step is seeing that there is one.

  • You need to learn to recognise when you are feeling anxious because of your internal problems, not external.

  • For example, being anxious that you might crash when your friend is driving fastthat's fine.

  • That is a sensible thing to worry about, tell them to slow down.

  • But if you feel the same when you have a presentation tomorrow, then the problem is coming from within.

  • You're overthinking and stressing yourself out.

  • And, let's be honest, you're not thinking about how well it's going to go.

  • No, you are telling yourself you will fail, you'll forget what to say, your boss will hate it, and you'll forget to wear pants.

  • When you realize you're doing this, start picturing all the ways it can go right.

  • You'll charm them like Barack Obama.

  • Your boss will love it and promote you.

  • You'll wear pants!

  • Once you've pictured all these things, write them down.

  • In fact, write down all the worries too.

  • It's a well established idea in psychology: writing things down helps you to combat stress.

  • It's especially useful before bed, as a way to help you get to sleep.

  • But the important thing with this type of journal is to focus on what you need to do, not what you have done.

  • It's a to-do-list, not a diary.

  • A study published in 2017 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, showed that writing a list of tasks for the next day helped people fall asleep 9 minutes faster.

  • That may not sound a lot but it's a similar result to a lot of pharmaceutical trials for sleeping aid drugs.

  • The reason you focus on a to-do-list is that these are the type of thoughts that normally keep us awake.

  • Sure, sometimes you will sit there embarrassed about some stupid things you did like missing a meeting or calling your partner someone else's name.

  • But normally it's about things in the future: tests, bills, work, the apocalypse, you know, that stuff.

  • Our mind pays more attention to uncompleted tasks.

  • For example, most of us have one person we were attracted to but we never did anything about it.

  • That memory can stay with you for a lifetime.

  • If you had asked them out and you had dated a while and then broke up, you're much more likely to forget them, the task was completed.

  • So, the process of writing things down will help you to stop overthinking.

  • It's like you have taken some of the weight out of your mind.

  • You're sayinghey Brain - I know this is important, I promise I will do something about it”.

  • Another method is to try to distract your mind.

  • But not just any distraction, something peaceful that requires concentration.

  • If you just watch TV, it's still easy for your mind to wander.

  • So, meditation is an excellent option but if that doesn't appeal, try practising a new skill.

  • Maybe you learn to paint or draw.

  • How about learning a new instrument or teaching yourself to cook.

  • Not only will these skills bring you happiness on their own, they will act as an excellent distraction because you need to concentrate.

  • And our final message isgive yourself a break.

  • All you can do is your best, so stop trying to make every part of your life perfect.

  • Because, here's a secret: we're all just making it up as we go along.

  • Make sure to check out our other videos here.

  • You can also click on the left to subscribe to our channel for weekly videos on how to make your tomorrow a little bit healthier than today.

What are you thinking right now?

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