What to Do When You Are in Your Head

21 Sep What to Do When You Are in Your Head

I don’t know about you but one of my problems, and I have MANY problems, is that I spend too much time thinking.

This is also one of my strengths, because I’ve essentially made a career and a life out of thinking, but there’s no doubt there are times my thinking becomes unhelpful worry and rumination; and there’s no doubt that this worry and rumination is not good for my health or happiness.

Thinking is necessary for much of life, and for a good life, but so too is finding ways to manage that thinking, to get out of your head and more into life!

If that sounds like something you’d find helpful, for your wellbeing and happiness, then read on ….

via Psychology Today by Tchiki Davis

KEY POINTS

• To be in your head usually means overthinking or overanalyzing a situation.
• Getting out of your head means being present in the moment and letting go of unhelpful thoughts.
• The first step to getting better is acknowledging what’s happening and being mindful of the situations that trigger this reaction.

Source: Adrian Swancar/Unsplash

This post was cowritten by Zamfira Parincu and Tchiki Davis.

The human mind can solve almost any type of problem, but what happens when problem-solving runs wild in our minds? We are so good at identifying problems and imagining scenarios that sometimes it is hard to stop. And being in our heads too much can make it hard to move past difficulties.

What Does It Mean to Be in Your Head?

To be in your head usually means overthinking or overanalyzing a situation. Your mind can “wander” to the future and you might worry about things that can possibly happen, or it can “wander” to the past and replay the bad events that happened previously.

When you’re in your head, you might wonder if your friend secretly hates you because it took them more than a few hours to answer your text. Or you might ruminate about why you were passed over for a promotion.

One study clearly shows that you’re less likely to feel happy if you’re in your head. In the study, participants were asked at random times what they were doing, whether they were thinking about a task or not, and how happy or unhappy they were. Researchers concluded that “a wandering mind is an unhappy mind” (p. 932; Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010). They also point out that although our human capacity to think about what’s not happening right now served us well at some point, it came at an emotional cost (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010).

If being in your head means overthinking or overanalyzing a situation, getting out of your head means being present in the moment and letting go of the unhelpful thoughts. If you get out of your head, it’s more likely that you’ll be happier than before. Rumination, or continuously thinking over the same thoughts, is a well-established risk factor for depression and anxiety. For example, those who engage in this type of behavior have increased depressive symptoms and are more at risk for the onset of major depressive disorder and anxiety symptoms (Harrington & Blankenship, 2002; Nolen-Hoeksema, 2000).

How to Get Back Into Your Body

​The mind–body connection has been a topic of conversation for many years. Researchers keep showing that anxiety and depression have a negative impact on our bodies—for example, they can contribute to insomnia, high blood pressure, a decrease in immunity, gastrointestinal issues, and heart problems (Alberts et al., 2013). Considering that being in your head, overthinking, and rumination are associated with anxiety and depression, it’s important to learn how to get out of your head and into your body…

… keep reading the full & original article HERE