Over Thinking

susan48

Just wondered if anyone else over thinks excessively?

I would love to be able to switch my brain off and rest it, just for 5 minutes.

Its relentless.
I would love to hear anyone’s tips that might help.

Iv had CBT a few times but doesn’t seem to help.

debbiedo49

Me too. Distraction techniques. Write down your thoughts in a list and determine to tick them off the next day , week, month and so on. White noise.

whistles

No because my memory is rubbish. I've forgotten any thoughts.

You could try meditation. I do that. Very relaxing. 

susan48

Thanks for the tips.
@debbiedo49 I have tried writing things down, doesn’t make sense and used pages and pages of paper. Then I overthink what Iv wrote  . I hope your ok today.

@whistles, Iv tried relaxation methods from psychologist. my memory is not great but remember the stuff I want to forget.

i seem to have gotten into a thing of constantly counting from 1-10 and repeating this til I finally sleep.

Will keep looking and trying things and unfortunately we don’t come with on/off switches.

whistles

Solution on the sleeping is not to worry. If you do you won't sleep.
Go to bed when tired, make sure you are tired.
I now watch a film and I'm tired and sleep. I don't lay there, if my brain is naughty it gets up and I do something- not online that keeps you awake.

susan48

@whistles, sleeping is an issue, Iv insomnia and on medication which helps a bit.

i don’t use phone or tablet near bedtime just tv. I used to read loads before sleeping but have no concentration to read anymore.

debbiedo49

Find what works for you. I play chillout music with or without headphones. I made up a playlist.Believe it will work. X

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whistles

MiVictoriad said:

Sit outside in a lovely evening such as this evening and tune into the birdsong and try and count how many different “ tunes “ there are.

 Sacallis 

I think the crows are 'at it' here. Not the most relaxing sound. More Allred Hitchcock.  

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OliviaO

Listen to interesting discussions on radio or if you have a tape player listen to old interviews you have  recorded.  

vysvader

A few times, I had read that this is a common issue of anyone who's creative/associative. Normally, it's good when the brain finds many associations, brainstorms by itself, but it's not good when is needed to stop or make a choice. If you prioritize then it brings a deduction. When you get too many options then the brain releases more dopamine and you can't swap your focus. This is how is explained the fast addiction to hazard games like roulette. The people can't stop thinking on it because of the number of options and, especially, possible [re-]combinations. For a further analysis, the normal human brain can hold up to 4-7 (the number is rather dependent on the nature of the items) items when is making a decision between them. This is the reason why many people use to write on a paper when need to consider many options, like 8, 11, 20... Let's say, you've got 4 items and imagine, compare, and consider them according to their 10 characteristics per each one. The total number jumps to 40. There's also something called the paradox of choice. 

In programming, we're defining how a computer processes data, how makes a decision. We work with millions of items.
If the regex brings too many results, then you should break it on parts and filter according to a 1 single priority/criteria, from the most important (heaving the biggest weight/value) to the least.
The second option is that you take one by one item and assign a value according to multiple criteria, then compare the values of the items. But don't take all items with all criteria at once. If you've got 4 items and 100 factors per each one, then is better to search 1 in 100 than like trying to imagine and compare 400 items at once each other because it really starts to compare each other (it doesn't finish on 400 when you compare 400 by 400, it tends to multiply the number of performed operations, processes, anytime someone doesn't break it on parts, when someone tries to imagine all at once).