Stop Overthinking: 23 Techniques to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present (The Path to Calm Book 1)
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Stop Overthinking: 23 Techniques to Relieve Stress, Stop Negative Spirals, Declutter Your Mind, and Focus on the Present (The Path to Calm Book 1)
we might fail one test in a hundred, but when we say, “I failed,” we ignore the other ninety-nine. Perhaps we see success as a lucky chance or fluke, whereas a genuine accident is proof that we are bad, or that bad things always happen. This bias speaks to our core beliefs that things will always be bad to such an extent that we don’t even see the
... See moreApplied to a personal life, Kanban is great for looking at systems and processes that are already underway, and improving them. Note, though, that it cannot help you identify goals or set up systems; rather, it allows you to continually streamline systems already in place.
So, you could use PAJ to unpack a horrible argument you’ve recently had with someone. You can sit down and first “vent” a little to put words to what you’re feeling. For example, “I can’t believe she’d say that, and I’m so hurt that she didn’t consider how her words would affect me . . .” As you write, however, you could gradually start to reframe
... See moreAutogenic training, visualization, and muscle relaxation are all, in a way, variations of the same theme: you want to learn to take control of where your conscious awareness is settling and guide it toward your body, the present moment, and the input from your five senses, and away from stressful rumination and overthinking.
Once you have a handle on the real causes of stress in your life, you can use something like the 4 A’s technique to take action, or else rearrange your lifestyle or schedule to moderate stress. If you notice that all of your stress is coming from one person, you can draw some boundaries around your relationship. If you notice that your normal
... See moremeditation, stretching, and so on can help us deal with the inevitable stress that’s on our plates, we can also minimize the stress we’re exposed to in the first place by better managing our time.
Stress is not a bad thing. “Eustress” or good stress is the kind of normal everyday pressure that inspires us, keeps us on our toes, and challenges us to be better. When stress is too great, however, it has the opposite effect and only works to deplete our psychological resources and leave us feeling unable to cope. On the other end of the
... See moreNot important tasks can wait, or are not priorities. You can decide on your own ranking system and make your own definition for what “important” really means to you, but clarify it for yourself before assigning each label to a task.
If your answer is “not much,” then you might need to go one step further and accept it.