How to stop overthinking and negative thoughts

This has become a pressing issue in this age and time. People of all ages are facing these issues and find themselves helpless. The reason behind that is they never learnt how to tackle these situations. So when the situation gets worse, most often people turn to psychotherapists and neuro-surgeons and take medicines that balance their hormonal level. In brief, just know that cortisol, adrenaline are stress hormones that are released when we feel anxious, whereas dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin are happy hormones that are released when we feel happy or excited.

So to balance these hormones, doctor prescribes medicine to a person suffering from anxiety and depression. However there are certain alternatives to deal with these issues. The major thing you need to know is that human is a creature of habits. You can change them for sure. You just need to take 100% responsibility of your thoughts, actions and reactions. You have to take the charge. Because its also a part of our habit of how we cope with stressful situations. Every person goes through a rough or problematic phase in life where he experiences stress. Initially it seems difficult to uplift mood and control thoughts in a stressful situation. But with knowledge these things could be dealt in a better way. Now I would discuss some measures to control stress

Stop labelling your thoughts- Many a times, we get into habit of overthinking. We experience something bad and now we get stuck to that which make things worse than the reality. We don't accept the things. We feel burdened with insurmountable thoughts. More negative thoughts come and go, one after another. We try hard to get rid of them and end up feeling miserable. The reason behind is we label our thoughts as good and bad. This is the root cause of overthinking. Why to label thoughts? Let them come, they'll pass away once you stop labelling them. Understand that thoughts are just thoughts. The probability of something happening in future is equal. Things can turn out in your favor or go wrong. And the fact is you are just assuming negatives and positives out of past experiences. 

Deep breathing- Immediately switch your breathing pattern. In case you are confronting highly stressful situation, start taking deep breaths. Its an instant solution to stress as you'll come to rest and you'll respond instead of reacting. Your focus would automatically shift to your breathing and the stress level would come down.

Meditation- Make it a part of your daily routine. Things would become much more clear when you would meditate regularly. Just sit in some quiet place for 5 to 10 mins. Focus on inhalation and exhalation. Nothing more. Just do this and soon you'll feel relaxed. Initially your mind would be occupied by thoughts and you'll be uncomfortable in maintaining the focus. However, things would come to ease. Now you observe your thoughts, you don't label them. After a month, you'll notice that thoughts would start fading away. Positivity would come to you naturally. Now the focus is in your hands, you can either think negative or positive. You are owner of your mind now. 

Journaling- Write down every single thought on a piece of paper or have a diary in which you pen down everything you feel. It would help you to vent out negativity from your head. You'll feel much lighter. Try it and you'll see the difference for sure. Just jot down everything inside your head. Your fears, your anxieties, negative thoughts, everything. I assure you that this habit will bring clarity into your thoughts and you'll notice that there is thought pattern in your head. 

Mind is a tool- Your mind is a tool. Don't use it unnecessarily. You are not your mind, rather its a part of your body. You are the owner. You can choose your thoughts. Its just the lack of knowledge and your habit of getting into grips of overthinking. Acknowledge your emotions and feelings, accept them and let them go. Its about how you train your mind.

At last, I would recommend seeing things from different perspective. Change the lens through which you see the world. Your perception plays a significant role on how you perceive the things. Believe that everything happens for your highest good. Trust the universe. If you can solve the problem, then there is nothing to worry and if you can't change the situation then worrying is a waste of time. What change would you make by worrying about things.