How can i stop thinking so much

[LonelyGuy]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this thread or not but i need some help regarding this problem i have in my head. I tend to think about things too much and when i am about to go to bed i get all these thoughts going through my mind, sometimes it takes me a while to go to sleep because of all these thoughts racing in my mind. I want to know how can i control this and not let it effect my life.

[IrmaJean]

Sounds like intrusive thoughts, LG. I have them too sometimes, though not so much anymore. They can be very stressful! Do you find any activities calming? Such as listening to soft music or reading? I usually try to practice soothing myself, talking gently to myself...music helps me a lot. I try to turn my focus away from the thoughts and to the pretty sounds. I imagine myself massaging my mind and relaxing it. Sometimes I'll even imagine shoving the thoughts off into a corner of my mind to be dealt with later.

I know you said you had a therapist for a time...might you consider trying again?It could be helpful in dealing with your anxieties.

Take care, LG.

[Guest ASchwartz]

Hi LonelyGuy,

IrmaJean has suggested some very good strategies to help you relax and reduce those intrusive racing thoughts.

Are you in psychotherapy and has this ever been evaluated?

Allan

[LonelyGuy]

Sounds like intrusive thoughts, LG. I have them too sometimes, though not so much anymore. They can be very stressful! Do you find any activities calming? Such as listening to soft music or reading? I usually try to practice soothing myself, talking gently to myself...music helps me a lot. I try to turn my focus away from the thoughts and to the pretty sounds. I imagine myself massaging my mind and relaxing it. Sometimes I'll even imagine shoving the thoughts off into a corner of my mind to be dealt with later.

I know you said you had a therapist for a time...might you consider trying again?It could be helpful in dealing with your anxieties.

Take care, LG.

Thank you for your suggestions Irma, i am trying to calm myself and my mind by imagining i am in a nice and relaxing vacation spot where everything is tranquil and serene. I am interested in getting back in to therapy again and i am hoping that i can find the right person for me.

[LonelyGuy]

Hi LonelyGuy,

IrmaJean has suggested some very good strategies to help you relax and reduce those intrusive racing thoughts.

Are you in psychotherapy and has this ever been evaluated?

Allan

Hello Allen and thank you for your response. I went to a therapist for over a year and got comfortable enough with her to share my problems that are stressing me out. At the time i was seeing this therapist i didn't have these racing thoughts and now I am getting them more and more, I have been told by some people that i am a quiet guy and i think too much which i suppose is true. I don't have many activities that i do and I don't like the place I am living in now. My sessions with my therapist who found me to be normal was more about my shyness, insecurities and some lack of social skills.

[sensitive_woman]

Hi LonelyGuy,

Even I keep obsessing over negative thoughts and keep thinking about them too much till I get exhausted. I was surfing the net for specific strategies to help me overcome this. I found this site which I thought has good techniques to overcome obsessive thinking -

http://www.ocdrecoverycenters.com/ocd/art_obsessiontraining.html

Hope you find it helpful too

[randomperson]

For me I find white noise somehow helps.

[nathan]

When ur lying in bed and mind's racing, concentrate on breathing deep in and out. try to feel your hea rt beating, try lower its rate. Do so until your intensely relaxed. Just switch all your awarness from your thoughts, to your breathing--you will find it kinda automatically happens when you really focus on your breathing. Do it for a good 10 mins.--note, you not trying to go to sleep when you do this. After you finish, stop and try going to sleep again.

[curtailed]

I like Nathan's last reply also, as it seems very practical yet sane at the same time.

I can't really convince anyone about anything but I would like to point out that Buddhism some really smart thoughts about calming ones mind. This includes verily the calming of ones mind from the very problem mentioned in the first and original post. If I can relate any of the thoughts I have gathered, they would sum as the follows:

Let your thoughts exist. Realize they happen in your body but do not participate in them in any way. This means letting your embarrassment, anger, fear, lust, love and hatred merely manifest themselves in your physical torso. You will realize sooner or later that they do not really exist in your mind as such, but merely as bodily tensions. Realize that that your body exists separate from your conscious realization of the body. In other words: YOU are not your body. Let the emotions exist in your body, NOT YOU. It feels really relaxing once you let everything merely flow through your body and realize you don't need to participate in any of the bullshit that goes on in our lives.

It is 4:30 AM and I just came from a bar tonight, but I'm trying to convey my meaning as clear and simple as possible: You Are Not Your Body.

-- Thanks for your attention, Curtailed

[sensitive_woman]

Curtailed,

You are not your body. You are your mind... thats why we are here on mentalhelp.net

[Athena]

I must be a Buddhist at heart. I think of my body as a package. There's stuff that's in it that I don't want there, and there's other stuff I want to put in. Just trying to figure out how to do that. So far, I've come up with a few names. I want Viper (angry reactive creature) and the terminator (judge, jury and executioner) out. Superwoman died, that's good, she just about obliterated the package and everybody in it. I want Athena (strong wise one) to stay and I want C (the real me) to feel more comfortable and welcome in there. I'm inviting summer (relaxed, laid back, contented one) to come in.

Yah, I think too much too. But for some reason, this kind of thinking/head games eventually puts me to sleep!

[idied]

You might want to try journaling your exact thoughts or talking to someone about them. That's what has helped me be able to sleep without thinking a lot.