“Clear your mind and get a hold on yourself and, as when awakened from sleep and realizing it was only a bad dream upsetting you, wake up and see that what’s there is just like those
-MARCUS AURELIUS
dreams.”
I have always been an over-thinker and I have a pretty good imagination. I am also not very lucky when it comes to friends. I have made few good friends in college, but as we graduated life hits us all, and eventually everyone is busy with theirs. Have not been very lucky in the case of boyfriends too. I am also quite a shy and introverted person. So, naturally, I spend a lot of time inside my head.
I sometimes do joke about it too that I have more conversations in my head than I have in real life. Usually, my life is very inconsequential, and not many things happen in day-to-day life. But when anything of consequence happens I do build scenarios in my mind that don’t even exist. I build all these happy castles for all good things and suffer for not-so-good things.
Even before reading today’s meditation, I have read this one quote by Seneca, which has really hit me hard.
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.”
And that’s when I realized what I have been doing to myself. I am fabricating things in my mind that does not even exist and getting myself depressed over it for no reason. After reading and reflecting more I realized my life is not bad as I am building in my head. And it really helped me to snap out of this negative spiral.
But I think these habits tend to repeat itself and the current pandemic situation makes things more difficult. You are forced to stay alone and whatever limited social interaction you have in your life is cut off. And hence one tend to fall back to older habits. So, how do one break this loop?
Gratitude
We usually see the bad side of things when we fail to see our blessings. Keeping a gratitude journal or spending some time in the day to remind yourself of your blessings is a good way to remind yourself that things are not as bad as you are imagining. It keeps you falling into the spiral when one negative thought enters your mind. Even on a bad day, reading through all the entries just reinstates your hope and spirit.
Ques: Are you also an over-thinker? What do you do to break this loop?
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