One of the reasons why we do overthink is that we believe we are our mind—something along the lines of “I think, therefore I am.” But we don’t realize that to think, we need to BE first and that we exist apart from our mind.
The mind is a separate agency from us and can act on its own, without our conscious participation. What does it mean? It means that thinking is not always directed by our will or intention—it can run on its own, and even against our will.
Thoughts come to our awareness, and we just follow the direction of these thoughts without questioning their purpose. And this is the reason #1 why we do overthink—because we don’t understand that we need to control our thinking process.
I am sure that many of us have experienced being almost drowned in negative thoughts—one thought piles up onto another, and suddenly, you start to see the whole situation (or even your entire life) in a very desperate way.
The main reason for this negative outlook is the false self—the complex subconscious program that constantly runs in the “background” of our minds. For some reason, it is programmed to see everything in a negative way and to act against our best interests. Unfortunately, we usually believe that the false self is “us.”
The reason #2 why we do overthink is the false self which constantly generates thoughts that keep us distracted, fearful, and anxious.
That’s why we need to supervise our thinking process and be able to choose the direction of our thoughts. And to do that, we need to understand our relationship with thoughts.
We usually don’t realize that most of our thinking is programmed into our subconscious mind. The subconscious uses “associations” to store everything we know. This is the reason why we often experience what is called “the train of thoughts.” It starts with one thought, and then other thoughts follow. They come one by one, drawn from the subconscious mind by association with the previous thoughts.
Very often we believe that we are thinking when, in reality, we are just pulling information from our subconscious. And the fact that the subconscious mind stores an enormous amount of information that we can pull by association almost indefinitely is the reason #3 why we do overthink.
Our subconscious mind has so much information in its storage that we can “think” for an eternity. But the sad part is that even if we think for an eternity, without guiding our thoughts in a particular way, we can end up with nothing.
And last but not least, reason #4 why we do overthink is because of our negative emotions and emotional reactions. This might surprise you, but I’ve found that behind each negative emotion, there is a negative subconscious belief.
When different conditions or circumstances activate a negative subconscious belief, we experience an “emotion.” As you know, when we experience strong negative (or unpleasant) emotions, we also have a surge of thoughts that we are practically unable to stop.
This is because a subconscious belief is, in essence, also a thought. But since it is much stronger, we are able to feel it. It is in the nature of Consciousness to “feel what it understands and understand what it feels.”
The best way to stop this kind of thinking is to remove negative subconscious beliefs. I describe how we can do it in my book Technologies of Happiness.
Four Reasons Why We Do Overthink
To summarize all of the above and to answer the question, “Why Do We Overthink?” we can name four different reasons:
1. We think that we are our mind, and by assuming that thinking is a natural and inevitable process, we just let it run uncontrolled.
2. Because we have the false self that constantly generates thoughts to distract us and divert us from realizing the Real Self.
3. Our subconscious stores an enormous amount of information that we can pull almost indefinitely by association.
4. Negative emotions, when triggered, bring a surge of associated thoughts.
What Can We Do to Stop Overthinking?
1. Understand that we are not our mind but Consciousness that doesn’t need thoughts to exist.
2. Recognize that we have a false self that brings negative, destructive (including self-sabotaging) and distracting thoughts.
3. Learn how to control our thoughts and consciously direct them toward our goals. We need to make an effort to be constantly aware of our thoughts and use discernment to make the right choices.
4. Find and replace negative subconscious beliefs that stimulate overthinking.
5. Realize the Real Self that is always in a state of uninterrupted peace and bliss.
