The Overthinking Trap & How to Break Free
Stuck In An Overthinking Spiral? Here’s How To Break Free
Your brain won’t shut up. You’re replaying past conversations, obsessing over worst-case scenarios, and struggling to make decisions because you fear making the wrong choice. Sound familiar?
You’re trapped in The Overthinking Trap—but there’s a way out.
In this episode, I break down why your brain overthinks, how to recognize when you're caught in a loop, and 3 science-backed techniques to help you stop anxious thoughts fast.
🎧 Listen now & reclaim your peace!
📌 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
✅ Why overthinking happens (the brain science behind it)
✅ How your amygdala & fight-or-flight mode create worst-case scenarios
✅ The Overthinking Test to recognize when you’re spiraling
✅ 3 simple techniques to break the overthinking cycle—FAST
✅ How to use the 5-4-3-2-1 Power Pause to instantly quiet your mind
🔹 Want more tools to stop anxious overthinking? Grab my free Stop Anxious Overthinking Mini-Book—your step-by-step guide to rewiring your thoughts. Download here 👉 https://www.megan-nolan.com/mb
Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!
Welcome back to another episode of the
Movement, Mind and Meaning podcast. I'm
00:00:04,1000 --> 00:00:07,1000
your host, Megan Nolan, and that is what
00:00:07,1000 --> 00:00:10,760
we are talking about today. How to break
free from the pattern of
overthinking that can happen so
often when we are feeling anxious or
depressed. And so this overthinking
series is in honor of my brand new free
mini book called Stop Anxious
Overthinking 11 Techniques to Break the
Spiral and Reclaim Your. Mental
freedom. It is totally free. You get
instant access by heading over to the
link in the show notes and grabbing it.
00:00:37,1000 --> 00:00:40,720
Literally tools that are going to
change the game for you if you are ready
to reclaim that mental space and
ease and feel like you're in control of
your life and your energy and your mood
by having these tools literally at your
fingertips. Is what's available for you
is what's waiting for you inside this
free mini book. So make sure to head over
to the link in the show notes of the
video or the podcast and grab this free
mini book. So let's
talk about it. Have you ever had the
feeling of?Your brain just
going and looping over the same thing
over and over. Maybe it's something that
you have coming up. Maybe it's something
that you did and you feel as though it
just won't stop replaying these
00:01:21,1000 --> 00:01:23,760
conversations in your head, literally
going over in minutiae
detail, the what you were doing, how you
were standing, how the person was looking
at you, whether they're not looking at
you, what you said, what you didn't say,
like obsessing over every.
Freaking detail. Or maybe
worrying about things that you can't
control and just constantly going over
and looping and looping and looping.
Even just talking about it, I can feel,
I can feel it in my body. It feels like
bubbling, boiling water in my body right
now. The thought of what it feels like to
be in those overthinking loops. And the
reality is it's not just frustrating.
To notice when you're in these and just
be in them and just feel like you're on
one of those. Remember those?What was it
like the Gravitron?I think it might not
be called the Gravitron. You remember
when you go to like amusement parks,
maybe you still go and you're you're in
the spot and and you're kind of pinned to
the wall and you're just going in every
different direction or like the teacups
gone wild. I like the teacups at Disney
World. You know, you just like spinning
00:02:30,1000 --> 00:02:32,480
in a circle and then in a big circle.
That's kind of what overthinking feels
like. More like the Gravitron than the.
Teacup ride, maybe the teacup ride if it
went on extra Mach speed. So what we're
going to talk about today is not only
does overthinking lend to anxiety, to
00:02:45,1000 --> 00:02:48,400
stress, to actually decision
paralysis, it doesn't really actually
lend to us making really good decisions.
Why we overthink, you know, the science
behind it. Because you know me, I love my
science. How to recognize when you're in
these loops. And really begin to
shift them, right?And inside the mini
book, there are a lot of different
techniques for you to do, but we'll go
over some of those today. And also
because this show is about mind and body
tools to thrive beyond depression and
anxiety, we're going to talk about it
from those two different perspectives
because it's associated with
both and for different reasons and in
different directions. So why does our
brain love to
overthink?Well, the reality is, is that
it actually thinks it's doing us a favor
because it's very solution based, right?
And So what tends to happen here is that
00:03:36,1000 --> 00:03:39,280
our brain is just constantly searching
for the answer, right?Our brain, your
brain is wired for survival, survival
first, logic second. And when we are
experiencing something that is stressing
us out or is causing us to detect
any sort of problem threat.
Perceived problem, perceived threat. It
00:03:57,1000 --> 00:04:00,160
can trigger emotional responses, right?It
can trigger anxiety. It can trigger fear.
It's basically our body is activating the
survival state, right?So we're in a
sympathetic state. And so when our
amygdala, which is responsible for
survival and is the fear center in our
brain that activates when we're
experiencing something that's either, you
know, triggering for us or potentially
triggering for us. It's sensing danger,
right?And so this is a wired system that,
you know, whether this danger is real,
like a speeding car coming towards us, or
imagined, like, did I say something
stupid in the meaning?Like, why did they
all look at me like that?It's activating
our fight or flight response.
And so we go into go mode.
Right. And typically with anxiety,
a lot of people get activated in the
flight response and in the like get me
the hell out of here and we get the hell
out of there and then we just loop in the
overthinking. But for myself and for
those of you that experience high
functioning anxiety, we tend to go into
fight mode, right. And So what tends to
happen here is that our brain is still
looking for these perceived or very real
dangers like predators or these threats
of, you know, instead of.
Lions, which would be a very real
predator, and depending on where you
live, maybe it's a very real thing for
you. You know, luckily here in Hawaii,
our biggest predator is like the
centipede, and those things are scary.
Don't even get me started on the feels
like fire down your leg when they pinch
you. It our brain is looking for
similar things on a similar scale. Maybe
it's social rejection, maybe it's
failure, maybe it's feeling of
uncertainty and those are the dangers,
right. And so it's looking at those as
potential dangers. Not so much, you know,
looking for the lion, if you will, but
that that feeling of oh, well, I'm going
to do this big promotion in your in your
business or for your job and having it
fall flat and and being worried about
what would happen. Like maybe maybe I'm
going to, I'm going to lose my business.
I'm going to go bankrupt. I'm going to.
Lose my house. I'm going to do and it's
just and you're down the spiral real
quick. What it's doing here is
creating worst case scenarios, right?
So it's potentially
preparing you for
anything and everything. Even if
those aren't real
or an innate possibility,
it perceives it as a dangerous threat.
And So what it's doing here is it's. It's
attempting to solve the problem. It's
attempting to shift this reality for
you. And although you know this
obsession, these thought patterns, these
loops that we get into, we get into these
repetitive thoughts that we're having and
we just worry about the same thing, you
know, and we're thinking, oh, this and
that and you know, like. I really should.
I really should get that get get doing my
taxes because you know what if I what if
I'm late this year and what if you know
and and it just feels like that chicken
with a head cut off. And So what it's
doing is although our brain is is
obsessing about these details of the
conversation or or you know the way that
person looked at you or whatever and it's
just going over it over and over and
over. It thinks that it's
solving a problem. It's looking for a key
piece of information. That you missed
that might be the solution to the whole
issue. But The thing is, is that maybe
you've heard me say this before. Einstein
said that we can't solve the problem from
the same level of thinking. So the
reality is, is when we're active in the
amygdala part of our brain, we're in a
survival state. We have a very narrowed
focus in our pupils. Our heart rate is
elevated, our breathing gets faster,
muscle. The blood flow is
shunted to the muscles rather than
digestive organs. So we tend to we're in
a literal go mode, right?So we're in a
survival state. The active part of our
brain, the amygdala, is not where we get
these beautiful ideas and.
Insirations and creativity flow. It's
just not where that comes from in our
brain. That comes from our prefrontal
cortex. And so The thing is, is that when
we notice that we're in these loop of
overthinking and we recognize these
patterns in ourself of. Of worrying
and and worrying about the same thing and
then look thinking about it this way and
then what about that way and then and
you're just in that same you're basically
just walking around in a circle and we're
00:08:19,1000 --> 00:08:22,760
grooving this pattern in our brain and
and we're not going to find a solution.
00:08:25,1000 --> 00:08:28,320
We're not and and our brain is telling us
that you know yes we got to figure this
out. We got to figure this out right now
and it's just looping around in the same
thoughts and and and then it'll find
something else to fixate on and what
about this and what about this and then
so. What we need to do, what we get to
do when we notice that we're in these
overthinking loops, is to
interrupt the pattern, right?We must
interrupt the pattern. We need that level
of.
Nothing that simple like.
Do you notice the shift?That's like, ooh
I'm paying attention, right?You've you've
stopped yourself. It's like when the
coach at school would blow the whistle,
blow the whistle, and everyone would pay
attention. You realize what was I just
giving my attention to, right?What were
you just feeding in that moment?Because
what we focus on growth and what we're
doing here is when we're in overthinking,
our ability to make decisions and come up
with new ideas has been hijacked. And
so it's not only going to lead to that
feeling of anxiety, that worried quality,
that mental exhaustion, because you're
using glucose to just loop around in
circles. We're replaying the past
conversations. We're analyzing every
word, right?We're struggling to make
decisions because you're worried about
making the wrong choice. You're assuming,
you know, all of these things that
you're, you know, unless you're psychic,
that you're just a mind reader. It's it's
do you see now it's really
a. Self-defeating
pattern and we all do it. And and
when I share this with you, I share this
from a place of like I do this and I
recognize this, you know, but I just
catch it sooner because I've learned this
about myself and about the human brain
is that this is our pattern. And so when
you notice yourself in these overthinking
loops or you're getting really
self-critical or you're hearing yourself
in that pattern of. of going back into
the past and and looping back in in a
sense of rumination if you're feeling
sad, then we want to ask ourselves, is
this thought helping me or hurting me?
Is this thought helping me or hurting me?
Because when we're in that overthinking
loop,
most of the time it's very self-critical.
Not always, but a lot of the
time. So is this thought hurting me or
00:10:53,1000 --> 00:10:56,400
helping me?Next question,
am I dwelling on the
problem or am I looking for a solution?
That to me was a kicker because I had a
tendency to really beat myself up for
mistakes and dwell on the problem
and. You maybe have heard me talk about
how if we go back and we repeat the same
thing over and over in our head and we
see ourself making the same mistake and
Oh my God, and we rethink it, we're just
looping that pattern even deeper. We're
just walking that path in in our brain
even deeper, right?We're fortifying that
neural pathway and we're making it more
likely that we will make that
mistake again in the future because
you're repeating it and your brain's
saying, oh, OK, this, this is what this
is, they're practicing this, they're
00:11:39,1000 --> 00:11:42,320
mentally rehearsing this. Right. And and
you know, Olympic athletes and other
people, musicians and such, they use this
to their benefit. They mentally rehearse
taking that last winning shot. They see
themselves on the podium. But
that's when we are doing this practice in
a beneficial way to move you towards your
goal and your vision. If you're mentally
rehearsing the time you screwed up and
you, you know, you said the F word in the
middle of your presentation to like pitch
to the CEO, whatever, and they don't like
swearing, you know, like whatever it is,
worst case scenario, you know, or you
fell flat on your face or whatever.
Hopefully not. But if we repeat that same
pattern, we fortify that pathway and that
behavior. OK, so is this thought hurting
me or helping me?Am I
problem solving here?Am I?Or am I just?
00:12:31,1000 --> 00:12:34,800
Dwelling on the issue, right?Or am I
looking for a solution?OK, I think I said
it slightly differently before, but
am I stuck in the problem or am I am I
finding a solution?And then finally, will
this matter in
a month?Will this matter in a year?Will
this matter on my last day?What you're
doing there is you're taking yourself out
of it and you're getting a different
perspective and you're recognizing. OK,
probably not, right. And and so or maybe,
you know, and so those are really
00:13:01,1000 --> 00:13:03,1000
important to how to recognize when you're
00:13:03,1000 --> 00:13:06,360
in an overthinking loop, questions to ask
yourself to interrupt the pattern. And
that's really key, right?That's super key
because when we are catching
ourself in this pattern and you're
recognizing it, the brain will say no,
no, no, no, we we are, we're solving
problems here. We need to figure this
out. And it can feel really hard
to do anything else.
Because we have been hijacked by
that part of our brain that's looking for
00:13:29,1000 --> 00:13:32,480
a survival solution here, right?It's it's
trying to solve the problem, but we
are not available for other perspective.
Remember, so your pupils are narrowed.
You're very, you're very hyper fixated on
what's in front of you. So when we take a
step back, when we take a power pause,
when we widen the lens, when we shift our
state, when we come back, when we pause,
when we practice that level of
grounding yourself. After you catch
yourself in that pattern, you're able to
formulate a response rather than
reacting, and you're able to access more
wisdom, more guidance, more perspective.
You're widening the lens. Literally, your
pupils will dilate. You'll see more.
00:14:09,1000 --> 00:14:11,920
You'll see you'll have a wider
perspective physiologically, like
meaning in your body, but also
from the whole situation. OK,
so. This is just really
interesting, right?Because what's
happening here is the that
searching for the solution is
is really, it's so beneficial. And of
course we want to look forward and of
course we want to imagine and and be
creative. But The thing is, is that when
the overthinking has taken hold, there's
a fine line between looking for a
solution and obsessing over the problem.
And we know that one of the indicators of
that is how you feel.
Because if you notice that you're
starting to feel, and you know now that
feeling the feels that that is the cue
from your nervous system of the state
that you're in. And if you notice that
you're in this thought pattern and it's
making you feel really worried and you're
starting to feel sick to your stomach, or
00:15:07,1000 --> 00:15:09,760
you're feeling really regretful or you're
feeling really shameful, then that
will be an indicator of being in
that overthinking pattern. Right.
00:15:17,1000 --> 00:15:20,560
Whereas when you're in that creative
exploration, open-hearted,
open-minded state, it's a much different
feeling, right?It's it's excited,
it's playful, it's creative. And so
just really looking at it from that,
maybe you hear the thoughts you're
thinking and you, you notice, oh man, I'm
like obsessing over this. It's a level of
self-awareness, right?And that's this is
really. The depth of this work, and this
is yoga in action, is the level of
00:15:47,1000 --> 00:15:50,320
self-awareness that a lot of people don't
have and they just loop. They just loop
over and over and over. So you might
notice it, you might hear yourself, or
you might hear yourself saying the same
thing to the 4th person this day and
you're like, oh, I'm really worried about
this and you're having the same
conversation with multiple people.
00:16:07,1000 --> 00:16:09,400
That could be a cue. That could be an
indicator, right?Or maybe it's I've been
thinking about this all freaking day. I
woke up thinking about it. I'm still
thinking about it. You know, you you hear
yourself either out loud or in your head.
And to go deeper, when you're thinking
those thoughts, notice the feeling in
your body, right?Is it an expansive
feeling?Is it an uplifted feeling?Is it a
a joyful, lighthearted, higher
vibrational feeling?Or is it not?
Right. Because when it's not, when we're
in those tighter, restrictive,
uncomfortable,
painful feelings in our body,
then it's a really powerful
indicator of where we are at
and is this something that we want to
continue, right. And that's The thing is
that learning to interrupt this, learning
to recognize, to witness yourself in
these patterns, you are developing a
level of agency that is. Next level like
this is ninja status that you are being
able to recognize this because your brain
is going to do everything. But I I can't.
I can't stop right now. I need to think
about I'm so close to, you know, and like
it will, it just takes its hands and just
holds on just a little bit tighter
because The thing is, is that. Your
brain is in survival mode, and that's
what it's wired to do. But we cannot
think our way out of overthinking. And if
you're you notice that you're
00:17:31,1000 --> 00:17:34,200
overthinking about something or you're
obsessing about something, that's when we
get to do a pattern interrupt. That's
when we get to break the cycle. And
that's where inside the Stop the Anxious
Overthinking mini book, there's 11
different ways for you to do that, right?
And so I already shared one of them, and
it's that that
00:17:52,1000 --> 00:17:55,480
Perspective shift of will this matter in
a month?Will this matter in a year?And
you're zoning out, you're zooming forward
to see is is this really worth you
fixating on?Are you making progress
or are you just digging the hole deeper?
And so this is again, this is a
protective pattern. Right. This is a
protective pattern. So anxiety is a
stress response. And if we tend to go
into overthinking and we tend to get into
those patterns of being self-critical or
being very judgmental of ourself, that's
a pattern. That's a pattern in our brain,
right?And and that's our brain's ability
of attempting to control the situation
and showing you that you made these
mistakes so that you don't make the
mistakes again. And so it's important
when we notice that we're beating ourself
up over something, it's really important
that we have that level of
self-compassion so that we can begin to
recognize that, honor that, hold space
for that and begin to move
beyond it, right, move beyond it. And
so I don't know if you can hear that
gurgling sound, but.
It's my new water feature. Just kidding.
I think something's gurgling
in the pipe. Not my stomach.
I'm right beside my kitchen sink. I don't
know if you can hear it anyways. I'm like
super sensitive to sound, so I feel like
anytime there's a sound, I need to
explain it to anybody. OK, so
let's talk about how
overthinking shows up a little bit
differently when we're
experiencing anxiety.
Compared to when we are feeling sad or
depressed. So in
anxiety, overthinking tends to be
really future focused,
more of the what if spiral, right?And
so at least in my own
experience, anxious overthinking tends to
be really fast-paced. Like what about
this?What about that?What about this?And
very obsessive and oftentimes filled
with a lot of worry about the
future. And
typically when we're experiencing anxious
overthinking is the worst case scenarios,
right?And so that's the again is the
brain's way of preparing for potential
threats, even when none of them exist,
right?And so sometimes very real threats
and problems and possibilities exist and
our brain goes into the worst case
scenario like a lot of people are having.
Anxious overthinking around climate
change or the state of the world, like
that's very real and very alive for a lot
of people, myself included. And so it's
one of those things that we can begin to
watch for, right?So endless what if
questions like what if, what if I
00:20:39,1000 --> 00:20:41,680
embarrass myself?What if this never works
out?What if I never make it?What if no
one ever, you knowFinds
my website or whatever it is, right?
Whatever it is for you. And so again,
that's that's something to watch for. If
you notice that you know you're
overthinking simple decisions and you're
you're crowdsourcing all of your
decisions, you're going and asking 800
people before you make a decision because
you're worried about making the wrong
one, right?And so this is again
very, very common. And then what about
in social situations, right?Maybe it was
a time when you spoke at an event or you
went for a drink with somebody and you
said something that they kind of
responded to and you know, then you're
overthinking about it. And The thing is,
is that, you know, when they
responded, maybe they were thinking about
something totally different and that's
why they made a face or whatever it is,
right?We have no idea. So we also want to
notice that when we're in these patterns
of anxious overthinking, there tends to
be that kind of frantic,
restless energy of, Oh my goodness, I'm
just so worried and like, oh, you know,
and you can feel that in your body
as well as notice that pattern. It often
feels really urgent. It feels like it's
out of your control, like it's trying to
solve the problem. That's what I call
anxiety OverDrive. It's that that go push
more, do it, figure it out and that. That
that very intense
anticipatory energy. OK, so that's
the what of spiral of the anxious
00:22:09,1000 --> 00:22:12,800
overthinking. So it's similar
in depression, but it's more past
focused, right?It tends to be more of a
what's called rumination. And so
00:22:19,1000 --> 00:22:22,280
rumination is to
go back and ponder, especially with an
intense emotion. And so it tends
to be. Slower. It tends
to be very
almost more focused on regret, self
criticism, feeling hopeless, right. Going
back and I can't believe I did
that. Why did I do that?Oh my goodness,
it's so stupid, you know. And instead of
going forward, it tends to be going back,
reliving past mistakes over and over and
over and having those negative
experiences over and over and over. And
00:22:55,1000 --> 00:22:57,720
The thing is, is that your your mind
doesn't know that you're. Just reviewing
00:22:59,1000 --> 00:23:01,1000
it in your head, it thinks that you're
00:23:01,1000 --> 00:23:03,1000
literally your body, your nervous system
is experiencing it again, right. And so
we talked about that mental rehearsing.
And so you know, it's it's very common to
go back and replay past mistakes. Why did
I do this?I always mess things up. I'm no
good at this. And having a really harsh,
critical inner dialogue and.
It's one of those things that's, you
know, feeling very deeply and wanting to
do your best and wanting to really show
up fully and having very high standards
for yourself that never are
met. Or if you get anywhere close, it's
like, OK, I did that. OK, what's next?You
know?And it's this sense of
almost, at least in my case, you know, I
I noticed and I would say that there was
a feeling of like. Even if I achieve the
goal, almost a feeling of inadequacy of
like, yeah, but I could have done it
better. I should have done it faster. I
should have done it this way. Or if you
didn't achieve the goal, it was just
proof that, you know, it was a fluke
00:24:01,1000 --> 00:24:03,760
and you know, you're it's not going to
happen or whatever and and it's never
going to happen. And so that spiral, that
negative, very intense, you know, and at
times awful, like horrible and and things
that I would never say, like never
say to anyone else. But
was just letting go on
autopilot and repeat over and over. And
so that's The thing is like learning
these things, hearing these things, have
compassion for yourself because again,
it's hardwired behavior. And so it's
really important to practice this level
of non-judgmental self-awareness and
recognition that, you know, this is just
what your brain thinks it's supposed to
do and it's doing to keep you alive.
And so these hopeless thought patterns,
you know, and feeling frustrated and
feeling really defeated and feeling like
it's never going to change and pulling
away from people and feeling really
drained, it's it can feel very
exhausting. And it almost felt like
it was just my destiny, you knowAnd so
maybe you can relate to that and or maybe
you can't, you know, and I know some
people just can't relate to that if they
don't experience depression. And so, you
know, on the anxious side, it might just
be completely different for you. But for
me, luckily, you know,
getting a little column A, column BI got
a little both so I can speak to both
sides of this coin. Worried about the
future, regret about the past, I did it
all right. And so the replay
mode, being stuck in replay mode, but not
getting anywhere except for deeper into
the feeling. That's where I got
right. And it it got, I felt even more
hopeless cause then when you had a
mistake or a fault, it would just be fuel
for the fire. Right. Or if you're worried
about something and you you make a
mistake, same thing, right?It can
cause even more like or if something goes
well, it can cause that anxiety of OK,
well, are you gonna be able to do it
again?I don't know, probably. Maybe you
just like were had a lucky day and
Mercury was in retrograde and you know,
all the stars were aligned and you
finally got it and but it won't happen
again, you know, and so.
Again, I speak this to you because
this was very real for me for a long
time and so a lot of people,
myself included, who experience.
A&B or A&D, I guess I should say
anxiety and depression, you know, at
times it's it can be a really painful
cycle, right?Pushing us into that fear of
the future. Then we get tired, then we
get overwhelmed and then we get, you
know, feeling defeated or make a mistake
and then it just we ruminate on the
mistake and then worried that it's going
to happen again. And so it's it's this
cycle, you know, or maybe you're just
on one side or the other and none of
it's. None of it's any better than the
other or none of it's wrong. It's
again, it's just the wiring of the
human brain. And so, and
especially for those of us who have these
challenges, there's more of a
tendency for this to happen. So
what can we do, right?How do we
interrupt this pattern?Well, first and
foremost, it's that non-judgmental
self-awareness. It's becoming a witness
to your thoughts. Where is your
focus?What thoughts are you repeating
00:27:17,1000 --> 00:27:20,840
over and over to yourself, right?And and
when you catch yourself in those worried,
anxious loops or those patterns of
rumination and going back and beating
yourself up again, is this thought
hurting me or helping me?Is this gonna
matter in a year?How is this making me
00:27:35,1000 --> 00:27:37,1000
feel?Am I beating myself up or am I
00:27:37,1000 --> 00:27:40,400
looking for a solution right?And so those
are the questions to ask yourself, but
it's. It's so important to, first
and foremost, have this level of
awareness, of recognition, and that
compassionate curiosity that I you've
probably heard 400 times from me already.
If you've listened to at least one or two
00:27:55,1000 --> 00:27:58,640
episodes, is that that's where it's so
important for us to begin to
witness these patterns and begin to
see them just as such, that it's a
learned behavioral pattern that you've
practiced so much. that you might,
and I did, associate this as part
of your personality and who you are.
But it's not. It's a pattern. It's a
behavior. And when
you learn to witness that and
observe it with love and
appreciation for the fact that it's part
of your neural patterning and your your
heart, you've been wired for this,
you've practiced this, but
it's not who you are. You are
the awareness behind it. You are loving
awareness. You are the witnessing
consciousness that is observing that
pattern.
That's who you really are. You're a
spiritual being having a human
experience. And these are very human
realities, right?This is wiring of the of
00:28:59,1000 --> 00:29:02,520
the biology of survival, and this is the
the biology of fear. And so it's
so important to just look at it from that
lens of oh, wow, OK, well.
Yes, I might be have practiced this for a
00:29:14,1000 --> 00:29:17,600
long time, but is it something I want to
continue to practice?Do you want to
continue to pattern that behavior?Are you
grooving that pattern or that path deeper?
Do you want to right?And this is the
level of agency and decision
of recognizing these patterns, learning
this about yourself so that you can begin
to carve out a different pattern
you can begin to. Go a different way and
make a different choice for yourself. But
literally I'm not lying. This is for the
many of us, like a moment to moment
decision. I this is not like I'm going to
00:29:49,1000 --> 00:29:51,600
be a different person now and then you
just are there to a
00:29:53,1000 --> 00:29:56,200
degree. Once you make a decision, things
start to shift. But these neural
patterns, these behaviors are wired in
there. So you get to practice this. You
get to practice this level of
compassionate curiosity and
non-judgmental self-awareness. Throughout
the day. That's why we practice it in a
very safe space on the yoga mat. And
you're like, what am I doing now?Am I
thinking?Am I breathing?Am I doing this?
Because throughout the day, you got to
keep asking yourself, what am I focusing
on now?Oh, am I anxiously overthinking
about what's happening in the future?Or
am I beating myself up for a past mistake?
Oh, there I go again. OK, come on back
over here. We take a power pause. We
reset your energy. We come back to that
place of connection and commitment and
decision and embodiment and power and
presence that you truly are. That's
who you truly are. You're not those
patterns. You're not anxiety. You're not
depression. They might be things that you
experience, but they aren't who you are.
No, no, that's not who you are.
You are the witnessing presence behind
00:30:51,1000 --> 00:30:54,360
all of those things. You
are a powerful force that is the
creator of your thoughts. You get to
decide. When you notice yourself in those
overthinking patterns, you get to decide,
are you going to allow them to continue
or are you going to interrupt the pattern?
Take a power pause, get up, move your
body, get into your body, shake, use one
of the 11 tools inside the free mini
book. Whatever it is, right?Whatever it
is, what are you going to do?
00:31:24,1000 --> 00:31:26,560
Are you going to allow it to continue
because you're so addicted to?That
feeling of defeat and sadness and worry
and anxiety like I was for a long time.
We we get addicted to that pattern. It
becomes so familiar that we just practice
it over and over. Even if we get really
frustrated with them, we're like, why is
this still happening?Because
00:31:43,1000 --> 00:31:45,600
we're addicted to that neurochemical
cocktail of stress and we just think it's
who we are. But it's not. It's
not. We get to shift it, but it's a
moment to moment decision, right?It's we.
We got to keep training the puppy. Who's
the puppy?What's the puppy, Megan?I
didn't know we were training a puppy. The
puppy is your brain. The puppy is your
focus. We got to keep bringing it back
over here, right?Sit down, focus.
Use one of the tools. Breathe, move,
stretch. You know, do a brain dump. Do a
heart dump. Ask yourself some
thought-provoking questions. Whatever it
is, right?Train the puppy.
Because guaranteed 2 1/2 seconds later,
when you're like, OK, the puppy's good,
puppy's having a nap, you walk away, you
look back and the puppy's like chewing on
the leg of the table. Remember, the puppy
is your brain. So we get to train your
focus. Learn to take command of your mind
and run your mind rather than having your
mind run you because it will.
And until we begin to make these shifts
and change at the deepest level of our
nervous system and rewire our system. To
00:32:45,1000 --> 00:32:47,1000
be more embodied in that powerful
00:32:47,1000 --> 00:32:50,880
presence of being in control of where
your energy and your focus is, rather
than having it just run amok and go back
into the default patterns, which it will
because these are stress responses. But
we can begin to learn to witness those
patterns, take a power pause, shift
the patterns, create a new pattern for
yourself. But it takes time. Right. It
takes time. It took time for you to
develop these patterns. Initially, it
takes time for you to learn to stand on
one foot and open your chest and not grip
your face and grip your neck and do 800
other things while you're trying to do a
yoga pose. It takes time. It's a
practice. It's a practice of evolution.
It's a practice of self discovery. It's a
practice of growth. It's a practice of
learning. It's a practice of you
becoming even more authentically
who you truly are. At the deepest
level of your being, as you remember
that you are not your thoughts.
Oh, that was good. I feel like I could
end there, but that might be an abrupt
ending to the podcast.
Yes. So I will tell
you, you know, it's it's the
most important work that we can do.
And learning to catch yourself in these
patterns and
intentionally choose who and how you're
showing up as who you're
going to be in every moment. How are you
going to walk on that proverbial stage of
life each and every day?
Your energy is a co-creating factor. The
state of your nervous system impacts your
thoughts and your emotions, your actions,
your deeds, your results. So are you
going to stay in that conditioned
pattern or
have you made the decision that you are
more powerful than you give yourself
credit for and you are going to choose a
different way?
00:34:49,1000 --> 00:34:52,960
That's your call, right?That is your
call. So that
is what I wanted to share with you today.
I really hope that you found this
insightful. I hope that you grab the
Stop Anxious Overthinking mini book that
is linked in the show notes. I know
that these tools have literally
transformed me at the deepest level of my
00:35:13,1000 --> 00:35:16,640
being and shifted it so that
that heavy cloak of sadness is not
one that I wear very often anymore.
And you know, there were many days where
I wore the heavy cloak and on the
inside felt like a tornado of anxiety.
And that's a weird feeling to be both
in a
fight and a freeze
almost simultaneously or kind of
alternate back and forth.
And it was exhausting and it was draining
and it I feel like stole a lot of my joy
and or I gave it a lot of my
joy. I guess is probably more accurate,
but yeah, probably more
accurate. But that's OK. It's all part
of the journey. And it helped me to learn
and grow and get to where I am now and
really is the driving fuel behind this
work and this movement. Because so many
of us navigate these challenges and
there's, you know, for a long time, a lot
of stigma and a lot of shame around
00:36:17,1000 --> 00:36:20,480
mental health challenges. But the reality
is, is that most people in their life
will experience some
flavor of that
and. A lot of people, especially a lot of
people that I know and that
I work with in the entrepreneur
community, is a very high prevalence of
anxiety. There's a very high prevalence
of depression. And so, you know, women
are twice as likely to experience anxiety
and even more consistently high
functioning anxiety because of the
demands placed on us and on a
societal level. And so,
yeah, it's real.
These challenges are very real. They're
wired into our biology, but that is
00:37:05,1000 --> 00:37:08,1000
not your destiny. You can change
00:37:08,1000 --> 00:37:10,720
that. You can shift that. And it's a
practice, right?It's a practice of
becoming. It's a practice of embodiment.
It's a practice of intention. It's a
practice of a willing
commitment to yourself, of peeling away
the layers that aren't you and
truly allowing those. That
true essence, the loving awareness that
is your heart, that is your spirit to
shine through and not be clouded
by anxious overthinking or or
depressive overthinking and all of these
patterns, right. So I hope that
this was really helpful for you. I hope
that this was insightful if you know
anybody that navigates these challenges
or that you know you hear them. Kind of
beating themselves up for things. Or you
you hear them kind of looping about
frustrations or disappointments or
regrets. Send this episode to them,
please, because I am willing to bet there
will be at least one golden nugget in
there for them. And I know that, you
know, these tools have been so impactful,
so transformative, so. Life
changing for me to be able to share them
feels like such a gift. And so I
would love to know what landed for you. I
would love to know what you know you're
working with, what you're navigating. I
would love any suggestions that you have
for future episodes. I would love to hear
what you think of the Stop Anxious
Overthinking mini book because it is free
00:38:33,1000 --> 00:38:36,400
and it's in the show notes. So grab it,
grab it and I hope you have a
beautiful rest of your day. Thank you for
being here. Thank you for sharing this.
Podcast. I'm so excited that it is a
it's growing every week. And so thank you
for doing the downloads. Thank you for
sharing it with your friends. Thank you
for showing up and and sharing your heart
with the world and however you are doing
that in the world. And thank you for
allowing me to be part of your week
00:39:01,1000 --> 00:39:04,480
and have me in your ear,
hopefully making you smile and giving you
some hope and and reminding you that
you're freaking amazing and like, I mean
just. You are. You areAnd
really just let that land for a minute.
And you know, I know this life thing
ain't easy sometimes. Believe me, I know
that. And I know that
it's really important to have people in
your corner cheering you on. So just know
I am. And I'm really proud of you for
doing what you're doing. And I know that,
you know, learning to do these things,
learning to catch yourself in these
patterns and and lovingly
redirect. That's the work.
That's the work. It's it's the work. It's
the human. It's the human experience, my
friend. So not making it wrong, not
making it bad, not making it anything.
00:39:49,1000 --> 00:39:51,840
It's just neutral. It's just how we're
wired, right?And it's like kind of it's
great that we're wired for survival and
we don't have to, like, intentionally,
you know, make that decision. But the
decision that we get to make is, is this
working for me?Do I want this to
continue or not?
Because that's where your level of agency
00:40:10,1000 --> 00:40:13,640
and your power and your ability to
reprogram your mind, literally rewire
your mind, literally create new neural
pathways in your brain. Literally
practice something until you become it,
because that's what you did and that's
how you got here. But you get to choose
the person that you're being, the level
of being that you're at, the level of
mind that you're operating from, and the,
you know, essentially the frequency that
you are emitting because of how you're
feeling in your nervous system. So
that impacts what's happening in your
outer world, right?It starts from within.
But if we have these these patterns that
for many of us and for a long time, you
know, I was like, I'm just, I'm just
destined to be like this. I guess this is
just how it ends. But no,
neuroplasticity is a real thing. You can
change your brain, you can change the
patterns, you can update the operating
system. That's how amazing you are. You
are bad freaking ass man or human
woman. Being
you're badassOK,
anyways, I'm well past my 20 minute
timeline limit, but hopefully I'm still
saying things of value. I need a
snack. I love you a lot. I'm going to
just sign off right there. Please let me
know if this landed. If you are listening
to this podcast and you smiled and you
got some sort of nugget and you were
00:41:30,1000 --> 00:41:32,680
like, hot damn, I need to start doing
that, please send me a message. Please
send me a message. It would literally
mean the world to me. I would love to
know that you're listening. Please,
please, if you got a little bit of
something out of this episode to say
thank you to me, please just send me a
message. I literally would love to hear
it. I literally, I could like it might
even make me cry. And if and I I'll take
a photo and I'll send it to you to prove
that your message touched me in the heart
because. You know, sometimes you're
recording podcasts and yes, there's
people downloading it, but I'm like, are
there people actually listening to this?
Or am I just sitting here talking to my
refrigerator?Cuz that's what I'm looking
00:42:05,1000 --> 00:42:07,800
at behind the camera. Anyways, I really
need to go now because now I'm just
talking all sorts of crazy stuff. But I
would really love to hear what landed for
you. And on that note, gotta go. Love
you. Bye.
