I share with you my personal experience. 

A few days behind, I lost a small jewellery piece in the morning and kept on wondering the whole day where I had missed it.

It took my entire day.

My family had planned to go to a movie that day as it was a holiday.

So, we went as per schedule as the tickets were already booked.

I could not enjoy the film a bit although the movie was incredibly entertaining.

After the movie, we had dinner in an acclaimed restaurant.

The food was delectable, but I was not enjoying that.

Everyone in my family was suggesting to forget the event and enjoy the day. But nothing could stop the restlessness of my mind.

In a nutshell, the entire day of my family was spoiled.

I did not find that missing piece and had to go to bed tired and stressed.

I write answers on the website Quora regularly and check my account every day for new questions.

( For information: Quora is a place to gain and share knowledge. It’s a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers.)

However, I could not check my Quora account on that day (due to apparent reasons).

The next morning when I logged into my account, I found my mailbox was filled with several questions.

While reading the questions, I found that people have more pressing issues than I have.

I felt disappointed to think that I wasted my holiday searching for my jewellery piece, and spoiled the fun the family and I could have enjoyed.

And I did not even answer the queries on Quora.

I could not relive the previous day, so I decided not to repeat the same mistake in the future.

My mind was at peace, so I recalled the moment I noticed that the jewellery piece was missing.

I forgot that I went to the basement to fetch a few books that day.

I had searched everywhere except the basement.

Immediately, I rushed towards the basement, and to my surprise, it was lying on the floor near the bookshelf.

What a moment was that!

This event gave me some invaluable teachings.

1 Overthinking about issues does not solve problems. Only right thinking and right actions solve the problems.

2 Overthinking creates anxiety.

3 Anxiety diminishes the wisdom to solve problems.

4 Anxiety and overthinking spoil happiness and people are not able to enjoy the beautiful things in their lives.

Signs you may be overthinking include:

When you are paying attention to past events.

Recall your mistakes again and again.

Fixing things you cannot control, change, or improve.

You imagine the worst outcome of the situation which may or may not be true.

You take your worries from the present moment into an unchanging past or unpredictable future

If you find yourself in such a situation, you need to take the following actions-

Pay attention to your thoughts.

If your thoughts create anxiety then it is time to stop thinking about those issues.

Try to divert your thoughts into other activities which you like to do or you can continue with other important tasks.

You need to think about the harmful effects of overthinking.

You will be able to master your mind only when you understand the harmful effects of overthinking and the advantages of right thinking.

You can also do some breathing exercises. Take a deep breath, hold the breath for 10-15 seconds, and breathe out. This process disrupts your thought process, kills overthinking and brings your mind back to its normal state.

You can also use fidget toys that can help in diverting negative thoughts.

There is also a simple strategy to handle overthinking. Take a piece of paper and a pen. Make two columns and write ‘problems’ on the left and ‘solutions’ on the right. Whatever problem you have or your reason for thinking more, write it under the problem section. Then write whatever solution you have under the solution section.

Maybe, you have no solution to a problem and thus overthink. But try to come up with something; It can be anything, even if you know it’s impossible to do. When you focus on finding the solution, surely you will get success.

When you practice the above things, after some time you will be the master of your mind and not the slave of your thoughts.

How do I stop overthinking things?

How to deal with overthinking: