Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Addictions don’t like to be recognized for what they are. They make you feel like you’re getting what you “want.” Addictions are mechanisms to escape reality, and the mind does this, almost automatically. It thinks and thinks, incessantly. Are you addicted to the stories, the conversations, and the chatter in your mind? If you constantly try to “solve” your problems (figuring out the so-called cause of your negative emotions) by overthinking, you might be addicted to your thoughts.
The key to stopping an addiction is to increase your level of awareness of the triggers and behaviors. If you’re addicted to overthinking, you can begin to observe how much you chit chat with yourself, all day long, then you might begin to see how much pain it causes you, and how unnecessary it all is. Start to pay attention to the stories that are running through your head. Then pay attention to how they make you feel. You might not be able to stop them, but you sure as hell can observe them more carefully, neutralizing their effects.
Shedding light to any addiction is the first step in getting it under control. What you think might be causing your emotions (good or bad) are not necessarily coming from what’s happening to you; they’re likely coming from how your thoughts are interpreting those events. Catch yourself in the mental loop, and step back for a second. Start observing what your thoughts are saying, and try to gently curb your addiction, by paying attention, more closely to the present moment. Don’t let your thoughts overtake your better sensibilities like they have the potential to do. Addictions seem to have power, but there is something within you that’s much more aware and much more powerful than some of your addictive, harmless thoughts.