How to Stop Overthinking & Hear Your Soul’s Voice

Introduction to Intuition and Overthinking 0:00

Hey friends, I'm your host Dr. Elizabeth Demanda, the intuitive psychiatrist, and you're listening to Stepping Into Soul Power, a podcast for people who know we are more than just our physical body. Today, we're going to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart, intuition, but I'll say this. Our intuition is such a powerful force. Intuition is the language of your soul. It is your so speaking, speaking to you, kind of nudging you along to be like, hey, pay attention, go this way. But you know what?

Sometimes, sometimes it can be really tough. to hear that wisdom, that inner knowledge. And one of the big things that tends to get in the way of really getting this divine knowledge is overthinking. In fact, a lot of times overth thinking, being in a state where you keep going back and back, and to the same stuff over and over again can really drown out what your soul is trying to speak to you. And in today's episode, I'ma share a little bit about what you can do, practical things that you could do if you're an over-thinker to quiet that noise so that you can actually hear your inner guidance.

And I'ma say this, Ima be real. I am a psychiatrist, and I work with people who have like really, really gone through some hard things and have really high anxiety, who are experts, experts at overthinking. and i will tell you this that, you don't need to have a mental health diagnosis to be someone that overthinks. You don't, but sometimes overthinking can be an indicator of a health issue. And in fact, or it can even be and indicator about medical issue too, right? Medical things or a medication issue, so that's why it's important to connect with a professional that you really, really trust who knows you,

Why Overthinking Blocks Inner Guidance 2:51

who is able to give you sound advice. But I also believe in giving practical skills to try to empower yourself. And so we're going to talk about these practical skill, these things that can do on your own. The other thing I want to say is part of the reason why I'm harping on and I I'm getting on the train. The train that is trying to put out the flyer that, hey, we are here to really tap into our strength, and in particular, our intuition, is because we're living in this new age. It's a new time right now.

We are living the age of AI, We're are in the living of the the of algorithms, of non-stop information. Wherever you turn, somebody got something to say, somebody got an opinion, there's a lot of noise out there. And so you, it's hard to know what to do with that. What's true, what's not true. But what I wanna do is empower you. Empower you to to the best you can with the tools that you got, with a beautiful brain that got. Really knowing or getting to a point where you really master the art of discernment.

When I say discern, I mean, you can choose, figure out what's real and what not real. And the best compass that you have isn't outside of yourself, it's in you. It is your intuition. Intuition is a universal skill that we all have. The big difference is we got some people who have really honed in that craft. They put some hours in. It's like, it's kind of like this. Think of any sport. I don't know, I'm thinking about tennis, right? There's Venus and Serena, they've been at it. For years! They've practicing that skill for years.

And so they are superstars, And so it is a skill within you. And if you practice, it can get better. The more you practise, the stronger it gets. Unfortunately, what I've seen, and what really gets in the way is overthinking. There are other things that can get in the way too, like fear, doubt. We can go down the list, but I want to focus on overthinking today because it's a tough one. It's tough. When you are living in a way where your mind is running on a treadmill, replaying the same thoughts, reanalyzing, the same thing, second-guessing yourself, never reaching clarity.

It really puts a hamper on you creating the life that you want for yourself. You won't take a while to make a decision. In fact, and the problem that happens with that is that if you're taking a little while and make the decision, opportunities are time-limited.

Practical Thought-Defusion Techniques 6:27

So you don't have forever. And so you've got to have ways, things that you can do to really, really get at that. And then the other thing to remember is that this overthinking, and I'll put just a little real research nugget, that there are studies that show that overth thinking differs in different populations. I will say this, some studies have shown that women overthink a lot more than men. and really trying to make sure they go through everything. And then there are also studies that have shown that younger people overthink more than older people.

When you think about that intuitively, it makes sense because I think we all go though this journey of life. We go thru it and as you go thro it, you pick up a couple gold nuggets You get a little wiser hopefully. You start okay with making decisions and many times you start really trusting yourself, looking into yourself seeking your own wisdom and really stepping into your soul power. So I want to get into like the practical the practical tips, the things that are really, really helpful. But before I do that, I want to say this.

When you think about overthinking and you're thinking about intuition, a lot of times intuition can be very subtle. It can mean you get a gut feeling. getting a just a sudden knowing of something. It can be subtle and whereas overthinking is is loud and so easily drowns out the the knowledge that the soul has. And I will say this that I'm a mom, so prior to becoming a mum, I think it was a little bit easier to make decisions. But once I became a mother, my thinking ramped up because I was thinking about this little person that I am responsible for.

And I will say that motherhood changes. It changes your thinking pattern. So I've had to implement some of these strategies. You know, on my own, you know? And so some of the tools that I want to talk about are fairly well known. The first tool I wanna talk is called cognitive diffusion. So what's cognitive diffuse? I'm gonna paint you a picture. So overthinking is like, I want to go old school. Like for those of you who grew up in the eighties, right? There are lots of cartoons where there's like a cartoon bomb that had like taking time, or right.

So that picture of overth thinking is that, like that cartoon ball. And so this technique is like that little plier that cuts, snaps the wires so that the bomb doesn't come off. This is what this take technique does. So there are different types of finding ways to diffuse these overthinking thoughts, right? So one technique that some people use. Let's say we have a thought, I'm going to use an example. I am unlovable. Instead of saying I'm unlovable saying, I am having the thought that I Am unloveable puts a little bit of distance It's not as potent It gives you a bit space to have some perspective The other technique that i love to use that.

I found to be really really helpful is um using music Let me tell you something music is powerful Music can help really shift the energy of things.

Grounding Exercises to Return to the Present 10:57

And so putting a thought that you don't wanna keep thinking over and over again, putting it to a melody, a tune. I mean, for example, right? You could put it the tune of Happy Birthday, Right? I'm unlovable. I'm unlovable. You know, I am not a singer, then you can tell. But putting a thought to a tune, you pick the tune. If you do it, You will find that it starts to lose its power. The melody breaks its grip. And being strategic and putting it to A tune that you find funny, can really, really disarm overthinking.

So think about that. The other way, another way to diffuse a thought is to say it really, really slow, like slow it down, say I'm unlovable. There's something about switching it up, switching the pace, slowing it When you are having a thought, when you're overthinking over and over again, think about these three techniques. Think about doing that, either labeling the thought with the preface, I'm having the thoughts that whatever thoughts you having or singing it and doing it in a funny melody or really slowing things down.

can really help diffuse the power that those thoughts or the grip that these thoughts seem to have over you. Those are some practical things. The other thing I will say is that what really helps is with overthinking, right? You go outside. You are outside, you're focusing on the future or even the past. you can overthink the passed. But what's going on is you're not here in the present moment. And the exercise, the thing that really brings you back to the at grounding, grounding techniques. We talk about this a lot in different areas of psychiatry, right?

So things like grounding technique can be mental, so things you do in your mind, using your intellect, or grounding technics can very physical. So going outside and rolling down a hill in the grass or something, I don't know, something like that. can be really grounding because it gets you out of your head and into your body. Some of the techniques that we like to talk about that are often recommended to help bring you back to the present moment is I'll give you one that's frequently used and then I will give another that is less frequently.

So one we frequently use is the 5-4-3-2-1 method, right? So take a deep breath, look around you, so name five things you see. and then name four things you feel, and name three things that you hear, then go on to name two things, you smell. And then the last is name one thing you taste. So you go through that. Because it makes you pay attention to what's going on, paying attention your physical senses, it helps get you out of that overthinking state. And then the other technique that sometimes I use is the three, three three.

It's easy to remember. Three, Three Three. Name three things you see. So look around the room, name three you things that are touching you, right? And take three deep breaths. And the beauty, what I love about this, taking three breaths, I will tell you that the breath is powerful. A lot of times when we get into an overthinking state, especially when there's some worry involved, we aren't breathing deeply. There's a lot, there is that. And those are shallow breaths. To activate the part of the nervous system, that where we are able to relax the parasympathetic nervous system, we need to breathe deep.

We gotta let the breath go down into the diaphragm, diaphragmatic breaths. That helps activate the part of our nervous systems that helps us feel a little less stressed. So those are a couple of different grounding techniques to consider. And then the other thing I will say that I think is helpful is if you know, let's say this, right? Let's you say you were an over thinker. I'm a big believer in setting yourself up for success. And what I mean by that is thinking ahead of the things that help center you, the thing that helps bring you peace.

And when I like to tell people to think about is even to have a box, a grounding box. It contains things help bring back to center.

Visualization and Nature Sounds for Calm 17:03

You can even put fabrics that you love or scents that love to smell. because our senses are particular. And there's some things, for me it's roses. I love the smell of roses or lavender. It can really just help bring a sense of peace into my life. So creating a box where there are fabrics that help center you. There are smells that you really, really find to be calming to you You can even have, if you're a visual person, you can have photos that are within that box that you could be like, okay, I'm going into my overthinking mode.

We gotta do something. You could bring up that picture. It could of a beautiful sunset. I don't know. Or just, so you know you. But preparing ahead of time, putting that together, having a toolkit. You can use this, I'm a mom, so I like to think of things that I can do for kids. You could do this for kid's too, right? If you got kids having a grounding box, they have a little tantrum, you're like, let's go get your grounding boxes. And you can have that for your kid, and you could have it for you, to help with your overthinking so that you come back to your body, bring yourself back and be able to hear the intuitive guidance that is trying to come through.

Okay, so that's grounding. And there's, I guess I could talk alone. I can talk for a long time about grounding! There's some greet. There are many things you can do to comeback to your body. But those are some, that just, you could read about it. Go on the Inners of Net and then see, ya know? I'm a big believer in you testing things out, going into the world, and finding what works best for you. All right. The other thing I will say, the other technique that I really like for people to use in overthinking is computer visualization.

And by that, I mean getting in a quiet space. So like this, getting into a quite space and using the imagination. Your imagination is powerful. You imagination can take you to places and really can be used as a tool to help you cultivate certain states of being. You really can't, like, you really cannot. I'm a big believer in mineral beads, I think that they're great. And I like to use mineral beats with different frequencies, but with like a river, a stream, brook sound. And then, so put that on.

There are lots of free apps that you can use, or even there are YouTube, there is YouTube out there. But all you have to do is put the bubbling stream sounds on and close your eyes and then imagine your thoughts. Like every thought that comes up, imagine it coming up and floating down the river. You don't have to chase it, you watch it go by. Just watch, watch drift down. The beautiful thing about thoughts is no thought lasts forever. And the other reason why I also like this, this exercise is because nature sounds are very calming.

Music in general is so powerful, but nature's sounds in particular, they all, it activates, kind of brings you, can help you bring you back to center. So combining the visualization with you letting, you know, watching your thoughts and letting go and then hearing the water. For many of us, water is very, it just brings us peace. That's why real estate near water, I'm sorry, is so expensive. It's so expansive. Those are some things to think about. I will say this, I really, really want you to know that you don't have to let overthinking bully you.

Closing Encouragement and Call to Action 21:36

You have a lot of power. Your thoughts are just your thoughts and you are not your thought. So much more than that. Really cultivating that relationship between you and your body and using these tools can help you, give you some tools, something to use. when things start to spiral. And the other thing, I'll put it out there, like I said, this is for educational purposes only. If you are in a tough slate, sometimes it's helpful to have someone, a big believer, and if you think that it is a really deep issue, then you need to connect with the right people.

connect with medical professionals, healing professionals that will help you. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Just want to encourage you, overthinking is something that many people do. It is an indicator. that there needs to be a shift, I would say that. Like if that's going on, then it's just like a little alarm bell just saying like, hey, there's something that needs be addressed. We've got to shift things. And you know, the messages that your soul is trying to get you are being a bit covered up by some noise.

You can use these tools to help move you in the direction of really stepping into your soul power. So remember, intuition is a skill. We all are intuitive. It's just like, you can decide for yourself. Like, how good do I wanna get at it? And use some of these tools in order to hear what your inner guidance is trying to tell you. And let me know. Send me a comment. Let me know, like, did this work for you? Did it not work? Like I said, you need to use your own intuition with anything that anyone says on the inners of net.

So I will say this, that I'm going to invite you to, this week, Pay attention to your thoughts and notice if you start going down that road, the rabbit hole, notice when you got a thought that keeps looping in your mind and try. Try a technique, try to diffuse it, diffuse that bomb, defuse it so it's not disturbing your peace. Label it. Sing it out and see, see. See if that provides a little bit of space for your intuition to come through. If you haven't heard it yet today, I appreciate you. The soul in me honors the soul you.

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