Q&A: Move from Thinking to Experiencing

A student asked: What do we do when we can't stop overthinking?

We all have an overthinking problem. Most of the time, we are living inside it without realizing it. But the deeper issue isn't simply that we overthink; it's that we've never clearly seen what it is doing to us. The consequences, the pain, the inner difficulty are all there, and we haven't stopped to look.

We feel that we are suffering, that overthinking is making us hurt in one place and another. But we have no real detail of that pain, those difficulties. How does it affect the heart? How does it change the breath? How does it alter what's happening inside? We haven't looked closely at any of this.

So whenever we find ourselves overthinking again, we can immediately shift the ratio: 50/50, or 40/60. Maybe we can't reach 50/50 yet. Maybe it's still 60% overthinking. But the weight we give to the consequences must be higher. Ask: I feel pain. Where? In the heart. What does the heart feel? Very tense. And then? More tense, heavier, more painful. We go in layer by layer.

Once we have those details, a clear picture of exactly what we are suffering, we can see directly: this thought, this overthinking, is making things worse. Those details are our treasure. They are what will genuinely teach us how to overcome. This is our greatest asset.

There is always knowledge, understanding, and experience, but experience speaks louder than all theory. Once we begin to witness ourselves, to witness everything we are experiencing, that is experiential witnessing.

The first step is recognition. I feel something around my heart. When anger arises, my hands start to feel like they want to act. We have to recognize this first. That is the first step.

Then, in that same territory, we go a little deeper. My heart feels tense: how tense? What is the quality of that tension? The more detail we bring, the richer and more genuine our response to ourselves becomes.

We need those details to keep growing richer. The more precisely we can name what we are experiencing, the more clearly we find the way through. This heart feels like this, like that, and then we go to AI, to Google, bring in new angles, look again, and find we can see even more.