Lalitha Venkatraman
Once I fell sick with a severe headache and naturally, I referred to the Google ‘doctor’ – to my horror all my symptoms pointed to one thing, a brain tumor. Even after multiple check-ups and assurances from doctors declaring that it’s only a sinus problem, my anxiety didn’t go away. I wondered why my mind loved to get carried away with overthinking. I am healthy and energetic, yet, these thoughts of insecurity, fear, and loneliness would just crop up.
What’s going on inside our head?
When we are in a relationship with the one we love, we overthink and burden ourselves with worries over losing the other person, or fear of not being interesting anymore. We feel vulnerable about the future, we keep trying to solve all the problems in our head! Some people do it more frequently than others and get diagnosed with anxiety disorders.
Picture this: You’ve had a bad day at office. You can’t vent out your anger on your boss fearing the consequences of getting fired from your job! How would you pay the bills? How will you find another source for living? How do you ensure you don’t lose your temper again? All this would make you freak out.
Suggested Read: Stress is stressing me out
Why do we overthink?
Everyone overthinks. The process of overthinking is not really clear to scientists. But it probably engages the same parts of the brain involved with anxiety and fear. The cerebral cortex is the main logical part of the brain that brings up memories and helps us think about our rational or irrational thinking. But when we obsess about something it will lead to the amygdala (a section of the brain that is responsible for detecting fear and preparing for emergency events.) That’s when things get dramatic. A feeling of uneasiness and tension settles in, which makes our heart pound with palpitations as if you are having a heart attack.
How do we manage?
Overthinking, like a vaccum, sucks you in. All we do is repeatedly think about the same thing ad infinitum. The more we train our brain to think about it the more we risk ourselves to anxiety disorders in the future.
What is the solution for this? I’m grateful to have been introduced to a meditation practice by a friend of mind for which I am deeply grateful – it is the Heartfulness meditation practice. Initially, I was skeptical because I was neither religious nor spiritual. But once I heard the Heartfulness Global Guide, Daaji explaining the simplicity of the practice, I found myself getting pulled to the system. Such was the transformation in my character that I willingly put in an effort to intensify my practice towards evolving myself.
Was it possible to defeat the pattern of overthinking? Yes! Heartfulness Meditation helped me win my life back. I learnt to raise my thought power maturely. Through Heartfulness meditation, I learnt to dive deep within my heart where there is stillness and with the aid of Pranahuti (transmission) it helps me by gradually removing the excessive fear,anxiety, desire, and ego that complicate the affairs of the heart and mind.
