The power of noticing the 'gone'

Are you a habitual overthinker? An entrenched ruminator? An expert ‘what if’ person? Or even an emotional rollercoaster kind of person that seems to be on a never-ending ride that is exhausting!

We can sometimes get stuck in thinking that our thoughts are a permanent cycle of unhelpful thoughts that seem to take up a huge amount of space in our day - and sometimes night too.

‘I can’t stop thinking about…..’ is a comment I often hear.

‘How often do you overthink/ruminate?’ The answer is frequently ‘all the time’

If this sound familiar to you then I might have just the solution that you are looking for.

Our thoughts, feelings and emotions are a process, they have a beginning and an end. They are not static and are not a ‘thing’ (they are a nominalisation for those of you who are interested).

However, even though our thoughts, feelings and emotions are continuously ending, we don’t notice.

Instead, our focus is the next (negative) thought, feeling or emotions - it’s like waiting for the next disaster to happen. This creates the seemingly perpetual state of ‘it’s always bad’.

So here is a solution that will start changing that narrative. The narrative that you are ‘always’ an overthinker, ‘what if’ or the rollercoaster of thoughts, feelings and emotions:

Notice the ‘gone’

Every time you have a thought that is overthinking, the moment it passes, say ‘gone’.

The next time you find yourself ruminating but get distracted by your phone pinging, say ‘gone’.

If you catch yourself the familiar ‘what if’ and think of the solution, say ‘gone.’

The power of noticing the ‘gone’ ends the cycle of focusing on the thought, feeling or emotion and instead turns your attention to its ending, passing and that it ceases to exist.

The power of noticing the ‘gone’.

That is all you have to do, notice the ‘gone’. Easy!

Noticing that your negative thoughts feelings and emotions are just temporary empowers you to free up your mind to focus on what improves your health and life. Using the power of noticing the ‘gone’ to label and acknowledge that those thoughts feelings and emotions have gone, is liberating!

This technique was taken from the book Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers