Our thoughts shape our lives. It may sound like a tricky statement, but it is true. The more we overthink, the farther we can move away from the real world. Overthinking can take us away from reality and into an imaginary world. Why does overthinking become a problem? Because the mind gradually develops a habit of overthinking everything. When we sleep or listen to songs, we may begin creating fake stories in our minds. We imagine ourselves as successful or in situations that feel good to us. We create an imaginary world where these fake stories begin to feel real. We enjoy imagining them because our minds make us the hero of the story. Since it feels good, we develop a habit of it and can eventually become a slave to that imaginary world. What we imagine may never actually happen because the imaginary world shows us what our minds want us to see, not necessarily what reality will be.
For example, there was a man who watched singers’ concerts every day with headphones on and imagined himself in the place of the singer. He created a fake story in which he was singing like the singer, people were enjoying his songs, and everyone recognized him. He continued this imagination because it gave him great pleasure, and gradually, he became addicted to it. He then started creating fake stories at every moment. When he went to sleep, he would imagine stories about his marriage and future wife. He imagined himself playing with his children, going out with his wife, and enjoying life with her. He created many such stories because they made him happy. He even started going to bed early because sleeping gave him the opportunity to create these imaginary stories, where his mind showed him whatever he wanted.
One characteristic of human beings is that whenever something gives them pleasure, they want to do it again and again. But fake stories and imagination can be an illusion. What we create in our imagination may not happen in reality. Reality may be completely different when the future actually arrives. This can become a habit, and a person can become trapped in it. To come out of it, we have to weaken our habit of overthinking. Overthinking and imagination cannot simply be erased; they exist in every human being. But whether we become their master or their slave is in our hands.
The first thing is to make our minds understand that a fake story is not reality. Whenever a fake story comes into our minds, we should leave it there and move our attention away from that environment. We should think about something else at that moment and tell ourselves: “This is not real. This is not reality. It is only an illusion, and I should not believe in it.”
Thoughts will come; we cannot stop them. But when we hold on to a thought and start overthinking about it, that thought begins to dominate us. When the same thoughts repeatedly return to the same subject, overthinking can create fear in our minds. That fear makes us weak. We begin to doubt everything because we are constantly afraid. We start searching for the safest option in every situation. This fear keeps stopping us, creating doubts, making us search for the safest side, and pushing us into more overthinking. We should not allow these thoughts to dominate us. We should reject them. Whatever is meant to happen will happen. Overthinking about the future will not change the future. What has to happen will happen.
By creating fake stories, we leave our real existence and present and enter a world of overthinking. Physically, we remain where we are, but mentally, we are somewhere else. Why live like this? Why drown the time of our lives in thoughts about the future or the past? If something is not reality, why spend our lives thinking about it? Come back to the present and see how life begins to settle on its own. No one can avoid what is destined to happen, so live in the present.
No matter how many thoughts come into our minds, we should not hold on to them; we should simply observe them. These thoughts may return again and again, creating doubt and fear and taking us into a different world by making us think about the same thing repeatedly. As a result, we spend less time in the present and more time in that separate world. This makes us weaker in real life because we spend our energy on things that may never happen. While thinking about fake stories, reality can pass us by. We may lose the opportunity to enjoy our lives. So why keep thinking? What will it achieve? Instead of spending all our energy on doubt and imaginary stories, we should use that energy to experience reality and the present moment.
Whatever happens, happens for the good. These fake stories may never become real. That is why we should choose to live in the present. A fake story may give temporary pleasure, but the habit of constantly creating such stories can make us sit in that imaginary world all day while the precious moments of our real lives continue to pass away. – SATYAM BHISE
