When we obsess, we mentally stir up a pot of worry, anxiety, fear, and angst. Overthinking doesn’t give us a reasonable perspective, it turns us into hamsters, mindlessly repeating the same sentences and scenarios until we’re worked into a near frenzy. Our thinking created the agitation. The way out is through feeling. Mentally scanning our bodies and noticing our sensations brings us back to a state where we can most effectively respond to life…
With balance.
Your description of obsessing, worry, fear and angst turning us into hamsters is so accurate and hits the nail on the head. I agree that our ‘thinking’ creates the agitation. What I struggle with is the ‘feeling’ part, and the struggle is two-fold: 1. Noticing any particular sensations in my body during these moments of anxiety is difficult for me for starters, nothing usually stands out despite my efforts to mentally scan. And 2. When I am occasionally able to notice: “Okay, I’m feeling fluttering in my chest or my breathing is shallow (etc), then what? My therapist and various guided meditations all tell me to ‘notice what’s happening in the body’, but they never elaborate on what exactly I’m supposed to do with that awareness. How can I apply my awareness of feelings in the body to getting off the mental hamster wheel? Is it simply a distraction – if I’m focusing on my body, I’m not focusing on my thoughts? I always feel like I’m missing a piece of the puzzle when I read or hear about this ‘paying attention to our bodies’ during stress concept. Any advice?
PS: Side note: I’ve been getting your daily insights via email for years and I absolutely love you guys. They’re always so simple yet relevant and thought-provoking.
Hi Laura, Thanks for your sweet comments and questions. I understand that it can be difficult to do this, especially when we’re feeling anxious, but if we sit quietly and turn our awareness within and notice the sensations in the body, with no story, we’re actually feeling our feelings rather than ‘thinking’ our feelings. (this kind of concentrated body scan is also the essence of Vipassana meditation). When we do this, we give ourselves the attention that we want and that so many of our actions in life are actually directed toward getting. When we observe our sensations as neutrally as we possible can, without having reactions, just noticing, we become connected to the witness, the real part of ourselves, rather than the part that’s being jostled around by our thoughts. When we practice refraining from jumping on every train of thought that arises, we eventually understand that we are the witness and we don’t have to be yanked around by whatever thought that happens by. Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out anytime. 🙂 Love, Jarl and Steve