Do you open your eyes and start thinking and thinking about all you did wrong the day before? Can you measure your life by the hours you spend dwelling in the future or ruminating in the past? Do you know how it feels to put a lot of effort into thinking about how you need to get things right? Are you familiar with thinking about how to postpone a gathering because you don’t want to be misjudged?

If you just can’t get enough of being stuck in your head, you’re on the right path

There are stacks of self-help books that will promise you love, happiness, and a fabulous life. But do you really know and can you pinpoint those thinking strategies that keep you stuck in your head in the first place?

Sometimes when we’re anxious, stressed, or worried, our mind comes up with so many thinking patterns that push us to focus on the negative, dwell on what we can’t change, spend hours criticizing ourselves, searching for the perfect response, or trying to figure out what’s the best excuse we can come up with without putting ourselves too much out there.  Sound familiar?

In this article, you will find the key thinking strategies – playing-it-safe moves – that help you to get stuck in your head and absent from your life.

But, if you want to be in charge of how you spend your time, how to relate to thinking effectively, and find meaning and purpose in your life, you are free to do the opposite of those strategies. You may be more present than ever with what’s happening in front of you! And, you may even have much more energy to have fun, enjoy yourself and do what’s truly important to you.

Here are three micro-moves you can make to fully be stressed, in despair, hopeless, and overwhelmed at a maximum level.

1. Respond to thinking with more thinking
Every time you have a doubt about your competence, a gloom and doom scenario about a social gathering, a picture about saying the wrong thing at the wrong time in the past, do your best to think more about each one of those matters for hours and as long as possible. Then, see what happens.

2. Take all your thoughts seriously and as the absolute truth.
If you find yourself walking in the street and having thoughts like “What if I don’t get the job? What if my partner breaks up with me? Did I say the right things when submitting my college application?” Make sure that you assume that every single thought is the absolute truth, reality and that’s just how it is. Do not question the usefulness, accuracy, or veracity of your mind. Take all those thoughts as the reality that defines you.

3. Keep thinking as you have been thinking
Instead of stepping back and watching how your thinking strategies are working in a given situation, make sure you don’t change anything and keep thinking as you have been thinking as long as you’re breathing. Why change the way you’re thinking if you have been doing it for years?

After reading this article, I hope you can catch those thinking strategies that keep you busy in your head and discover how you – and only you are holding yourself back from a life of contentment.

Now, in all seriousness, learning to spot the tried-and-true thinking traps that increase your feelings of dissatisfaction and detract you from your quality of life is important!