Mental Overweight, Or The Consequences Of Overthinking

If you have the impression that your body is constantly tired, stiff, or sore, you may be overweight. But we are not referring here to physical weight gain, or even an increase in the size of the head circumference; what we’re talking about here is mental overweight. From an excess of negative, inert and unproductive thoughts.

During the day, we imagine things, we understand others, we think, we create, we calculate, we make decisions… Finally, we live by thinking. But not all thoughts are valid or useful, and in fact, many times our minds are filled with thoughts that are of no use to us.

Because of these ideas that don’t get us anywhere or get us anywhere , our mind eventually becomes exhausted. It becomes heavy, erodes, gets stuck and gives up on exerting other processes.

As we can see, thinking is part of human nature. In fact, it is one of the processes that differentiates us from the rest of living beings. But our thinking, contrary to what we tend to consider, is not mainly conscious. Quite the contrary.

Think of an iceberg. The point of the latter, or in any case the part which is visible on the surface, would be the conscious thought. On the other hand, the ice submerged under water, namely the biggest part of the iceberg, would be the unconscious part.

According to Dr. Michael Shadlen, Principal Investigator at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Brain Behavior Institute of Columbia (USA), “the vast majority of thoughts that circulate in our brains come from behind the radar of conscious awareness, which means that even though our brains process them, we are not aware of them. ”

Therefore, the quality of our thoughts determines our daily life. Depending on the conscious and unconscious ideas going through our mind, the outcome of our development will be different.

Trash thoughts are those whose recurrence chokes us because they bring us no benefit. These are empty, even toxic reasoning . And they come from our conscious mind. In other words, mental overweight is not the result of repressed mental processes, impulses or desires, but the result of deliberate elaboration.

They are superfluous and unnecessary, because instead of giving us greater knowledge of ourselves as well as cognitive benefits, they waste our energy and slow down the rest of the conscious process. They prevent us from being creative, understanding or from acquiring new skills. They block us and paralyze other virtues.

This is why, when we are mentally overweight, our thoughts act like junk food, and cause physical consequences that can even be similar to those of obesity. Among them, physical exhaustion, which causes difficulty in walking or performing physical efforts, but also problems breathing normally, excessive sweating, general pain in the joints and even skin changes such as acne.

There are different types of toxic thoughts, but there are some that we resort to more frequently. Here they are :

• Criticism: When we blame another person for something, judge or condemn them, in reality, we are addressing ourselves. We devalue ourselves, and project all our powerlessness onto the other.
• Sadness: Victimization is one of the obstacles that prevent our mind from progressing. Change is about getting out of this pain, not about delving into harmful, negative, frustrating or helpless thoughts.
• Guesses: The only job guesses have is to tire us out. Conjectures, riddles or figurations only hurt us by generating mental overweight in us almost automatically. How can we claim to verify what someone thinks of us so often we are not even able to know it ourselves?

• The conditional ones: “if I had done this, now things would be like this…”, “maybe I should have gone…”, etc. Do not torture your mind excessively; what is done and done. Now all you can do is learn from it. These thoughts only lead you to judge yourself and even end up destroying yourself.

To prevent mental toxicity from besieging us, we must not allow our thoughts to dominate us. In other words, it is necessary to learn to control them. And for that, you can put into practice the following tips:

• Rest your mind: Meditation is a fantastic exercise in trying to attract only positive ideas. Other practices such as painting can help release tension and replace junk thoughts with more productive ones. Reading, watching movies, or attending workshops and other seminars can also give us a mental rest.

• Eliminate Social Toxins: Identify social relationships that can harm you. For example, if you are surrounded by people who are too gossip and critical, you will end up becoming too yourself. Look for a more enriching environment that gives you strength, energy and positivity.
• Stop your thoughts: put a stop to this toxic recurrence. Paradoxical as it may sound, focus on these negative ideas as much as possible. And after a few minutes being entirely devoted to it, cut it radically and abruptly. Clear your mind.

If negative thoughts occupy our mind from time to time, their physical impact is hardly noticeable. But when they set in and become constant, they can end up inhibiting our abilities and diminishing our quality of life.

Mentally overweight people seek to distance themselves from their own reality and to cover their inner void with the personal wealth of others. These are individuals who need to unload their unproductive thoughts and free themselves from all the unpleasant emotions they produce. Don’t let them contaminate us.

If we take care of the quality of our thoughts, we will take care of the quality of our life. Let us not forget that.

Our thoughts