The Tyranny of Overthinking: Paths to Peace of Mind, Part 1
The mind is astonishing.
Its capacity for analysis, problem-solving, planning and abstraction has, in all likelihood, been the engine of much of your success.
But somewhere along the way, something shifted.
The mind that once served you has now become your master.
You notice it in the small moments. You sit down to eat, and your mind is already busy trying to solve a problem. You go for a walk and find yourself in planning mode. You try to rest, and a succession of unresolved concerns pop up, impatiently demanding your attention.
It’s relentless and exhausting.
If this is familiar, you are not alone.
The contemplative traditions have recognised this affliction for thousands of years.
The Buddhists called it "monkey mind" — the restless, leaping, compulsive quality of unrestrained thought.
The Hindus spoke of chitta vritti, the turbulence of the thinking mind.
Christian, Daoist and Islamic contemplatives also warned of the negative effects of these facets of the mind.
They were not wrong.
The problem is not that you think too much.
The problem is that you are captured by thought.
There is a crucial difference between choosing to think carefully about something and being helplessly dragged through an endless loop of rumination, speculation and worry.
The former is one of our greatest gifts.
The latter is the source of much of our suffering.
When the mind runs on autopilot, it tends to follow its well-worn paths:
endless commentary,
comparing and judging ourselves and others,
revisiting past conversations,
imagining future threats,
problem solving and planning
The ordinary mind is, in many ways, a machine built for survival — and survival machines are not built for peace.
Choosing to consider matters thoughtfully is, of course, both wise and necessary, but the cost of the mind running on autopilot is enormous:
It keeps us disconnected from the present moment - which is the only place where life is actually happening.
It robs us of the quiet spaces in which the best decisions are made.
It depletes our cognitive and emotional resources.
And it slowly but surely erodes the quality of our attention, our relationships, and our inner life.
In my work with professionals and founders, I frequently find brilliant, capable people who suffer because they are slaves to their minds.
Many have begun to wonder what it might feel like to be free of that trap.
So what is the alternative?
Well, the first thing to understand is that the mind cannot be stopped by force.
The more we try to suppress our thoughts, the more insistently they return.
This is one of the most reliable findings in the psychology of mental control, and it matches what every meditator has discovered.
Try, for example, not to think about anything for one minute.
Or, try not to think of a pink elephant.
It’s a futile task unless you are a very rare breed of yogi.
What can shift, though, is our relationship to thought.
Many of us use distraction to this end. We watch television, we shop online, we doomscroll through social media. These and numerous other tools may work to some degree for a short while, but when we stop distracting ourselves, the monkey mind returns and we often feel depleted.
Far more beneficial are those activities in which we lose ourselves in a state of flow. This could be anything from playing sport, taking photographs, walking in nature, doing yoga or rock-climbing. What matters here is the sense of being lost in a timeless engagement through the senses.
In my own experience and in my experience with many clients over almost four decades, meditation and mindfulness - when skilfully taught - are the most effective way to go for the vast majority of us.
In the early stage of meditation and mindfulness practice, we begin to notice that we are thinking.
And, when we do, something changes.
A small space opens, and we are a little less caught.
After practising for a while, we are able to go deeper and we begin to realise that, rather than us thinking, thoughts appear to be spontaneously arising in a space of awareness.
And, as we explore more deeply still, we discover that beneath the noise of the ordinary mind there is a quality of awareness that is silent, steady and already at peace.
This is ‘the peace that passes all understanding,’ and it is an inherent quality of the deepest part of our own minds.
This is not a fantasy.
It is an experience available to anyone who is willing to practice.
Through practice, we learn to rest in something deeper than thought, and it makes all the difference.
We are no longer in the tyranny of our minds.
In later newsletters, we will explore practices that help us to experience peace of mind.
If you would like to receive these by email sign up by clicking here.
But why wait?
Why not start with ‘The body Scan’ a mindfulness practice that undermines monkey mind by bringing focused awareness into the body?
You can listen to the guided practice on a separate page by clicking here.
Bill Petrie works with thoughtful professionals and founders navigating midlife transition, loss of direction, and the search for a deeper, more honest way forward.