After pressing pause, begin by taking your awareness to a physical sensation within your body.


It may be the tidal quality of your breathing, the feeling of your heartbeat somewhere or the sensation of clothing or soft furnishings against the skin.


It could be a sound such as music playing or the feel of an object you have to hand.


Immerse yourself in that sensation without giving words to it.


Feel it but resist the temptation to describe it to yourself.


This exercise helps to immediately break the cycle of overthinking. Once you have learned to rescue yourself in this way, you can develop your skills further. With practise you will find yourself catching the impulse to indulge in the behaviour even before it starts, and you will be able to take action.


You can then begin to invent your own strategies to combat your habit. You can arrange a collection of ‘go to’ activities that take your awareness into the physical world which you can practise mindfully focussing all your senses entirely on the task in hand.


This might be physical exercise, baking, painting, playing music, dancing or playing a game.


Most people know that there are certain times of the day that are more difficult than others. With this in mind, you can plan ahead so that the materials needed for mindful activity are accessible to you should you find yourself needing to press pause.


Of course, as you travel the path towards enlightenment you can explore your needs and agreements and reframe your core beliefs and fearful thoughts. This is all part of your journey and can be done at your own pace, but in the meantime, you can use the above tool to rescue yourself from overthinking.