How Do I Stop Overthinking Everything?

We have all walked through the landscape of overthinking and some of us may still be wandering in those lands desperately searching for a place of rest. It is not uncommon to be found there, you are not alone, and I would love to be here as a humble guide to help you find your way through to safety.

You can’t rest until you know you are safe and you won’t know safety until you find true rest.

If you know me, you know I like to keep things simple. I won’t have a lot of technical terms, I have friends who can paint you incredible pictures with a scientific breakdown of this topic, but here you will find an artists journey paired with a lot of garden analogies.

There is a real place in Christ that exists, a true rest for our souls, and it is only here that we can experience that real safety we need. It’s worth noting here when I say this I am first referring to spiritual safety though it does reach into the physical as well. In this world, where we will have trials of various kinds, He promises to be WITH us and His protective presence remains steadfast. The safety and security our souls need is only found in the perfect love of our Father which empowers, sustains, and redeems through any suffering.

So the question remains… if I am in Christ and I am still overthinking all the time, what then? Well, like a plant, we are now planted in His house as the Scripture says, and we now have everything we need to GROW and become who God created us to be as His son or daughter. We all were born and raised in a very broken world and, needless to say, we all get to walk the journey of healing and wholeness with Him.

Now with those foundations I want to leave you with a tool… a practice to help get down to the root of overthinking. Because the truth is overthinking is not part of who you are as His child, no matter how normal it’s become, you were made to LIVE in the safety and security of His love. But there is no shame if you are experiencing a pattern of overthinking, it’s simply a symptom or fruit of something deeper.

Here is a practice I do if a pattern (like overthinking) shows up in my life: In the moment of overthinking write out a few of your thoughts and get them on paper. Then think back and ask yourself or Holy Spirit what triggered these thoughts-what conversation, comment, event etc.. started you feeling/thinking this way.

At this point we’ve dug just below the surface. Our goal is to get to the root so we need to dig deeper. I will mention at this point, it can sometimes be difficult to dig deeper on your own and may be incredibly helpful to pull someone in who understands how to get down to the root of things with Holy Spirit. Though, YES God is able, He also made us to be in Family and much of our healing happens in relationship with one another. The more familiar you are with this practice of connecting with your heart the easier it does get but, even still, may we find those people who can be with us in the process.

Back to digging deeper.

The next question I would ask your heart “What was I feeling in that trigger?” Keep it simple- mad, sad, scared… etc.

For example: When my boss made that comment it made me feel angry. What about it made you angry? I felt disrespected.

Great! Get curious about that.. What is that disrespect speaking about you? Or what would your boss respecting you give to you- what would it say about who you are? Typically you’ll hear your heart respond with something like… “It would mean I’m good enough.” Or “I’m not a failure.”

Wonderful. We are connecting with our heart and Holy Spirit is here to help guide us even deeper, down to the root.

Stay in that connected space and ask, “When did I start feeling this way(I’m not good enough or I’m a failure)?”

Most often a memory will come to mind from childhood.

In this deeper place there may still be pain or grief to process, this is where someone else can really embody our God who is with us in our suffering. To see you and know you in the pain as you process through.

Now we want to ask Holy Spirit if there are any lies you started believing about yourself, about God or others. He is so faithful to help us exchange those lies and receive the Truth that sets us free and brings healing to our souls. There may be forgiveness and other things to walk through but ultimately as we invite Jesus into that moment as a child He reframes it in the light of Truth… in the light of His presence that was with you through it all.

To summarize, what I want to leave with you is the reality below the surface. You were made to prosper and flourish in your soul and if you are experiencing a crippling pattern like overthinking in your life it simply means there is a root system to tend to with Holy Spirit (and even a trusted friend). I hope this practice serves you in learning how to connect with your own heart so you can tend and guard it with all diligence.