There is a current trend in self help that we need to harness our thinking power. The message is “Stop Overthinking,” but I want to flip the message to “Start Overthinking.” They both have value because the core message is “Think.”
What is the set point of a proper amount of thinking, anyway?
This moment, that moment, every moment; it’s the space in time between being alive and not being alive. And thinking is just awareness of the thoughts in your brain that moment.
Your brain is an old TV
I’m not always great at metaphors, but hang with me here.
When I was a little girl we had an old TV with a turn dial. It had no remote. So once you got to a channel you stayed there unless what was on was so intolerable that you wanted to get up to change it. Back then (feeling aged incoming) there was a channel 0/1, that was the static station you had to allow all the other channels to come through. This channel was just fuzz and static but was somehow comforting in its emptiness.
So to get to channel 0/1 you have to have a TV. To get to channel 0/1 in your mind, you have to have awareness. Change of channels (or thinking) requires an observer (or a thinker). To watch TV you have to have a functioning TV. To think you have to have a functioning brain.
“I think therefore I am…”
I bet people would have described Descartes as an overthinker. Which is sad because he used his brain to come up with so many good thought seeds.
Eat cake and celebrate your entrance to the world
Congratulations! A baby was born into the world (that was you). This baby had a working brain (because you are reading this). That baby has turned into an adult. And the observer of all of that progress in time is you!
For something to exist in your mind it has to exist, also, outside of your mind.
I’m getting all amateur sciency here, so I’m going to redirect. But a fun trail to traipse down is the question…What is mind? Is it a part of space, time, or both? It’s also fun to eat cake and be happy, so do a lot of that as well.
Why Not Join Them?
Hey, I’ve decided that if Descartes was an overthinker, I can be one too.
I can take a breath. Go outside. Sit in the grass. Look at the stars and think what a beautiful night it is. I can say to myself…”I think, therefore I am.” And I can relax into the flow of the moment.
A Disclaimer…Feed Me Seymour
What content are you giving your brain to think about?
To be fair, the overthinking books out there seem to be aimed more at anxious thinking, which is an unhealthy pattern. It’s a great message, overall, if taken the right way.
Divisions and Distractions
Religion, Politics, Metabolism, Porn, Gossip…these are all channels that our mind can journey in and out of. I used to have 12 channels and now I have an infinite number of channels. Choose what you observe.
The goal is to not get stuck on a channel. Beyond all the differences in mind and opinion, humans are the same at the center. They have the ability to think. My advice, that I try to take myself but sometimes fail miserably, is to return to channel 0/1 for a significant portion of your day.
Why I Enjoy Existentialist Thought
Perhaps the questions about life aren’t about who is “running the show” (supernatural or natural) and why they feel the need to run it at all; but instead the question is why do I choose to participate?