Overthinking Archives -

Your thoughts aren’t what you think they are

September 27, 2026June 29, 2025 by John Eaton

Your thoughts are not yours No one, not even the boldest scientist, has yet explained where thoughts come from. They arrive like uninvited guests at a wedding, and disappear just as mysteriously. One might say they belong to no one in particular, though most people claim ownership. To think a thought is to assume it … Read more

Letting go of negative thoughts

September 27, 2026November 19, 2023 by John Eaton

Negative thoughts and the mind Unhealthy thoughts come in many different forms: depressing thoughts, anxious thoughts, guilty thoughts, painful memories, dread of the future, self-judgments, obsessions and suicidal thoughts. Their variety is, in fact, endless. And this fact points to something important about the human mind: that it is a thought-generating machine (it is estimated … Read more

Overcoming intrusive thoughts

September 27, 2026August 15, 2023 by John Eaton

Where do intrusive thoughts come from? Our brains generate thoughts constantly, bringing them up into consciousness for the mind to inspect. Some estimates go as high as 6,000 non-repetitive thoughts a day. Yet the majority of these thoughts are entirely random, some brought up by chance, some by association. The association often goes unnoticed, as … Read more

Beyond worry

September 27, 2026September 30, 2022 by John Eaton

Going beyond worry

In this article I explain one simple way to reduce the power any single worry might have over you. The technique involves defusing from the worry and focusing on the underlying concern instead.

What is a worry?

A worry is a catastrophic judgment about future events that creates anxiety. Most worries are simplistic, selective, exaggerated ideas that paralyse the listener from taking action.

The difference between a worry and a concern

A worry is something you can’t do anything about. For example: I worry that my children won’t be happy. A concern is something specific you can do now (or decide upon now) to influence the issue. For example: I can talk to my children about the things they want to do this summer.

Defusing from Thoughts

September 27, 2026November 28, 2021 by John Eaton

In my last post I referred to the flaw in our minds through which we become entangled in anxious, depressing, obsessional ideas. In this post I explore ways we can disengage by defusing from thoughts.

Thought control

The time-honoured approach is that of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, in which we identify the thought, write it down and hammer it with facts, logic and counter-evidence. Exposing it for the nonsense that it is. A simpler, but similar approach is The Work developed by Byron Katie, in which you go beyond the thought by addressing four questions to it:

Is that thought true?
Can you absolutely know that it is true?
What happens to you when you hold that thought?
Who will you be without that thought?

Both these approaches work well for the majority of people, as I can testify from years of using both.

Dismissing negative thoughts

September 27, 2026June 17, 2012 by John Eaton

This is the fourth in a series of articles which teach you how to cut out worry, obsessions and any other kind of negative thinking which triggers anxiety, panic, stress, depression or addictions in you.

8 ways to eliminate worry

September 27, 2026October 31, 2007 by John Eaton

Understanding worry Worry is the prime cause of anxiety for most, and can be hard to pin down as it can appear innocuous. To eliminate worry you have to understand how it works, and how it differs from concerns and fears. Fear is an emotion, while anxiety is a state of distress created in thought. … Read more