Awareness, grounding, curiosity, values, and closure can loosen the grip of overthinking.
Returning to the present moment helps disrupt the rumination loop.
Progress comes from practice, not perfection — small shifts build long-term change.
Are you stuck in a chronic overthinking loop? Ruminating over past choices, words, actions, and outcomes?
There is a way to get unstuck.
Understanding the cycle and patterns of overthinking is an important first step. It gives us a way to start to change behaviors and work toward mental clarity.
In our previous article, we explored what chronic overthinking is, how it develops, and why it persists. While understanding the pattern can be powerful, insight alone is often not enough to change it.
Change happens through practice: small, intentional moments that help the mind shift from rumination to recognition, from repetition to restoration.
This article explores five ways chronic overthinkers can unglue their thoughts from the overthinking loop. They aren’t quick fixes or rigid steps, but rather ways to rebuild rhythms and turn overthinking into understanding, and understanding into calm.
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Overthinking can sneak in quietly, without us even realizing it. But what if we were able to notice the patterns of overthinking earlier in the loop? When we learn to recognize the pattern, we can start to become aware of when it’s happening.
With awareness, we can start to label it. A small acknowledgment, without judgment or criticism, can be a chronic overthinker’s first step in turning reaction into recognition and response.
Awareness alone doesn’t end the cycle, but it can help us begin to change the relationship and progress toward a mind at peace. We can start to move from being inside the thought to being separate from it.
Behavioral research describes this as metacognitive awareness, or the ability to notice your own thinking and step out of it, even for just a moment.
By noticing and acknowledging a thought, we can break the reactive cycle of chronic overthinking and open the door to new ways of responding (Wells & Matthews, 1996).
We don’t have to fix the thought; just see it for what it is: a habit the mind has practiced that we are choosing to change and a thought passing through the mind at that moment.
Ground in the Present Moment
When the mind is busy replaying the past or worrying about the future, it’s challenging to find peace in the present.
In Wherever You Go, There You Are, Jon Kabat-Zinn (2023, p. 4) describes accessing awareness “by paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.”
Intentionally practicing grounding techniques can help us return to the present moment without judgment or critique of whatever might have been part of the pull of rumination.
Grounding techniques can look like many different things. Sensory cues, such as feeling your feet on the floor, noticing the temperature of the air, or pausing and listening to the sounds around you, can be grounding practices that are gentle signals of safety and reassurance.
If you observe your mind veering into patterns of overthinking, that’s OK. Noticing the wandering can itself be a form of awareness, and with awareness comes an opportunity to return the mind from the cycle and loop of overthinking.
The goal is to strengthen the ability to ground in the present moment when we notice overthinking occurring. Once grounded, we can approach with curiosity to bridge awareness and understanding on a path toward peace.
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Reframe With Curiosity, Not Judgment
When we start to notice earlier signals and the frequency of overthinking, the first instinct may be frustration. “Why can’t I stop?” We start overthinking the overthinking. It’s understandable to be frustrated in that moment, but a reaction of judgment or criticism can amplify the loop, rather than address it.
Curiosity can break that pattern. Instead of judgment or frustration, try framing the experience with a different lens. Curiosity can expand awareness and help us see ourselves and our thoughts differently, stretching what we know and how we understand it (Silvia & Kashdan, 2017). It can create a psychological space where insight replaces critique.
Curiosity offers an opportunity to learn something from a thought or an experience rather than trying to resolve it or overcome it. Over time, this small shift from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What might this be trying to show me?” can build mental flexibility and compassion, which can strengthen the understanding of the instigators and patterns of chronic overthinking.
Align With What Matters Now
It’s easy to lose sight when we’re overthinking. The mind gets caught in predicting, preventing, perfecting, or some other kind of hypothetical outcome.
Pausing to return with curiosity instead of criticism can redirect attention toward things like meaning, values, and what matters in the moment.
Values can act like beacons amid uncertainty, directing us when outcomes aren’t clear. Acceptance and commitment therapy (Hayes et al., 2013) shows that when people act in ways that are consistent with their values, they experience greater psychological flexibility and less stress, even in the face of obstacles.
Aligning with what matters can begin with a single step. It could be as simple as asking yourself, “What’s one thing within my control right now?” Maybe it’s stepping away for a moment of fresh air, or maybe it’s saving a draft of that message you’ve been writing, stepping away to break the cycle of ruminating on it and revisiting it later with fresh eyes and a clear mind.
These actions may seem small, but they can restore a sense of agency for chronic overthinkers.
Over time, purpose begins to replace perfection, responding replaces reacting, and motion replaces mental looping. Each value-aligned action sends a quiet message to the mind that we’re moving forward and that overthinking is not needed in that moment. Peace can begin to replace persistent overthinking.
Close the Thought Cycle
Chronic overthinking can feel like a cycle of unfinished thoughts draining energy. Closing the thought cycle can allow the mind to set things aside rather than forcing an incomplete resolution.
Simple practices, like pausing to reflect on what was learned rather than what went wrong or planning out what the next steps might look like, can be signals to the mind that the loop can close.
For those late-night overthinking cycles where incomplete to-do lists run wild, put pen to paper. Writing things down tells the mind, “We don’t have to hold this right now. They’re saved. We can come back to them later.”
When we create even a simple plan for an incomplete goal, like identifying a next step or writing a reminder for later, mental tension decreases (Masicampo & Baumeister, 2011). The mind doesn’t need the task to be completed for the cycle to ease; it just needs to know there’s a plan.
This kind of closure can restore perspective and create space for positive emotions to return. Positive emotions can help us recover mental flexibility and reconnect with what matters in that moment (Fredrickson, 2001).
If the mind knows there’s a plan, it no longer needs to keep the thought active. The cycle of overthinking can close.
A Take-Home Message
We can’t control every thought that arises. We can control how we choose to meet it. Naming, grounding, staying curious, aligning with what matters, and closing cycles of overthinking are practices that can strengthen the relationship with our thoughts and offer a better rhythm and peace.
Chronic overthinking loses strength and persistence when awareness grows. It isn’t about how rarely we overthink, but by how we respond and return when we do.
Earlier awareness can remind the chronic overthinker to stay grounded in the present. Grounding can provide the foundation for reframing with curiosity and realigning our thoughts with our values. Closing the cycle of overthinking can open the mind to think again, with a little more peace and greater wellbeing.
Overthinking can be hard to stop because it often comes from the mind’s attempt to feel safer, more certain, or more prepared. When we’re stressed or unsure, the mind leans toward rumination as a way to solve or prevent problems, even when it isn’t helpful. Over time, this pattern can become a habit: the mind keeps returning to familiar loops because they feel protective. Breaking that cycle takes practice, not force.
What can I do to break the habit of chronic overthinking?
Overthinking eases when the mind learns alternative ways to navigate uncertainty, stress, or self-criticism. Helpful approaches can include mindfulness practices, reframing exercises, journaling, or speaking with a supportive person. There isn’t one single technique that works for everyone, but consistent, simple habits practiced over time can gradually retrain the mind to adopt healthier, more flexible thinking patterns.
Hayes, S. C., Levin, M. E., Plumb-Vilardaga, J., Villatte, J. L., & Pistorello, J. (2013). Acceptance and commitment therapy and contextual behavioral science: Examining the progress of a distinctive model of behavioral and cognitive therapy. Behavior Therapy, 44(2), 180–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2009.08.002
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2023). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation for everyday life (30th anniversary ed.). Hachette Books.
Masicampo, E. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (2011). Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 667–683. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024192
Silvia, P. J., & Kashdan, T. B. (2017). Curiosity and interest: The benefits of thriving on novelty and challenge. In C. R. Snyder, S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards & S. C. Marques (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (pp. 482–492). Oxford University Press.
Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1996). Modelling cognition in emotional disorder: The S-REF model. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34(11-12), 881–888. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0005-7967(96)00050-2
Are you stuck in a chronic overthinking loop? Ruminating over past choices, words, actions, and outcomes?
When the mind is busy replaying the past or worrying about the future, it’s challenging to find peace in the present.
It’s easy to lose sight when we’re overthinking. The mind gets caught in predicting, preventing, perfecting, or some other kind of hypothetical outcome.
