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Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

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Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#81

Post by hundolo »

hnick wrote: post #74
hundoh wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a night owl living on a 9-5 schedule, and I have the same problem. Most of the day I'm a little tired, then at night I get a burst of energy. It's frustrating. I think the ideal solution would be to find a good job that lets me work my ideal hours, but barring that I've found a useful strategy. After my wife goes to bed, I'll go downstairs for an hour or two and read, write, and think. By letting my brain burn of…

For a while last year, I did just accept it and stay up late until I felt more tired, usually around 1:30am. We were both working from home and I'd sleep in a little bit (which is also getting harder in my late 30s). This wasn't perfect but it was better. But now my wife is back at the office and is out of bed before 8am, which wakes me up and usually I can't get back to sleep easily so I've been struggling since. I'…

I get that too. A couple of things that have helped me with that are a version of "Getting Things Done" (gets tasks out of my mind) and genuine solitude. By that I mean don't read anything, watch anything, etc. No inputs, just your own mind. Just sit there and zone out a little. Nudge your mind with reflective thoughts like, "What's important to me? What do I want out of life? How do I feel lately?" Meditation emphasizes stepping back and not putting judgment on things like that, which I think can be healthy, but this is kind of the other side of the coin and helps get a little more of that closure you're talking about.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#82

Post by 2112 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #58

In chess there's an idiom for this. "Long think, wrong think" because it's a quite common phenomenon that very good players will ruin positions by rather than playing with their good instinct, over-analyzing a position, there's a related situation of the hardest games to win being already won positions because there's so many ways to win that people will on occasion start doing something really stupid akin to the exa…

“In the words of the ancients, one should make his decisions within the space of seven breaths. Lord Takandobu said, “If discrimination is long, it will spoil.” Lord Naoshige said, “When matters are done leisurely, seven out of ten will turn out badly. A warrior is a person who does things quickly.

When your mind is going hither and thither, discrimination will never be brought to a conclusion. With an intense, fresh and undelaying spirit, one will make his judgments within the space of seven breaths. It is a matter of being determined and having the spirit to break right through to the other side.”

Initially from ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagakure

But taken from a site [0] I just found in the process that apparently has nothing to do with the OS and informs us that ;

"Ubuntu is a concept that we have in our Bantu languages at home. Ubuntu is the essence of being a person. It means that we are people through other people. We cannot be fully human alone. We are made for interdependence, we are made for family. When you have ubuntu, you embrace others. You are generous, compassionate. If the world had more ubuntu, we would not have war. We would not have this huge gap between the rich and the poor. You are rich so that you can make up what is lacking for others. You are powerful so that you can help the weak, just as a mother or father helps their children. This is God's dream.”

- Ubuntu, as explained by Bishop Desmond Tutu

[0] https://ubuntutheory.blogspot.com/2008/08/7-breaths.html

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#83

Post by 2112 »

hnick wrote: post #66

Thinking keeps me awake. It's getting worse as I get older. Maybe it's anxiety or something related, and sometimes it's worried thoughts, but often it's just running through scenarios. Video games, media plots, what I need to do next week. My brain is far more active after 10pm, and I am personally more motivated. I get a burst of energy but it's not really the right time to clean the house so lying in bed has it all…

You might want to check that thread from 1 week ago or so ;

"Me and ADHD"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25992390

I'm not diagnosing you or anything but that thread put me on to the fact I might have that type of wiring too ... it would explain a lot ( for me ) and possibly some of that ^ ?

[ EDIT ] Anxiety is hands down my primary problem, but sometimes some issues can obfuscate others, and cause deductive fallacies by encouraging you to explain everything away under the umbrella of that first cause.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#84

Post by seankimdesign »

float4 wrote: post #69
hnick wrote: post #66

Thinking keeps me awake. It's getting worse as I get older. Maybe it's anxiety or something related, and sometimes it's worried thoughts, but often it's just running through scenarios. Video games, media plots, what I need to do next week. My brain is far more active after 10pm, and I am personally more motivated. I get a burst of energy but it's not really the right time to clean the house so lying in bed has it all…

I'm exactly the same, only I've done it ever since I was very little and it simply never went away (I'm in my early 20s now). Usually I'm awake in my bed for at least an hour. Sometimes two. I just really can't stop thinking. It's not anxiety in my case. Any people here who were in a similar situation and were able to get rid of it, or make significant improvement?

I've been dealing with a similar condition for a while. I've learned that it's impossible for me to "not think". Any attempts at emptying my head will only invite more anxieties and problems to be solved. Instead, I've learned to fill it with trivial, creative challenges that occupy keep my brain busy enough to ward off negative thoughts yet introduce no stakes.

Some examples include:

- If I found myself stranded on an island, what kinds of challenges would I have to overcome and how?

- If I could improve the magic system of Harry Potter, what changes would I introduce?

- If I were given a device that I could use to turn back the time to 6 am once everyday, how could I use it to my best advantage while avoiding any pitfalls?

- If I were given a small 12x12x12 room with an unlimited budget to create a living space for me to be confined in, how would I use that space?

These would be the kinds of things that I could think about for a while before finding myself fast asleep. Not sure if this would work for anyone else, but maybe you can give it a try?

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#86

Post by king_phil »

hnick wrote: post #74
hundoh wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a night owl living on a 9-5 schedule, and I have the same problem. Most of the day I'm a little tired, then at night I get a burst of energy. It's frustrating. I think the ideal solution would be to find a good job that lets me work my ideal hours, but barring that I've found a useful strategy. After my wife goes to bed, I'll go downstairs for an hour or two and read, write, and think. By letting my brain burn of…

For a while last year, I did just accept it and stay up late until I felt more tired, usually around 1:30am. We were both working from home and I'd sleep in a little bit (which is also getting harder in my late 30s). This wasn't perfect but it was better. But now my wife is back at the office and is out of bed before 8am, which wakes me up and usually I can't get back to sleep easily so I've been struggling since. I'…

Reading Tolstoi for an hour helps me a lot.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#87

Post by cocoto »

float4 wrote: post #69
hnick wrote: post #66

Thinking keeps me awake. It's getting worse as I get older. Maybe it's anxiety or something related, and sometimes it's worried thoughts, but often it's just running through scenarios. Video games, media plots, what I need to do next week. My brain is far more active after 10pm, and I am personally more motivated. I get a burst of energy but it's not really the right time to clean the house so lying in bed has it all…

I'm exactly the same, only I've done it ever since I was very little and it simply never went away (I'm in my early 20s now). Usually I'm awake in my bed for at least an hour. Sometimes two. I just really can't stop thinking. It's not anxiety in my case. Any people here who were in a similar situation and were able to get rid of it, or make significant improvement?

I was in the exact same situation when I was a kid, I could stay awake in my bed for hours. It was extremely frustrating waking my mother at 3am to tell her that I can’t fall asleep. Nowadays, in my early 20s I can basically fall asleep in less than 3 minutes. I have no clue how this condition disappeared from my life. At least for me physical activity was not a factor in this condition, maybe I’m eating healthier than before (less sugar).

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#88

Post by plumsempy »

tracyhenry wrote: post #51
plumsempy wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I entirely agree: curiosity and discovery can be very enjoyable; which means it is more about openness -- personally I over analyze when I am contracted and anxious, which figures.

The question is still there: how do you maintain openness in a high-stake situation? When you play an instrument in front of a large audience, without enough practice it's hard to be open because all your attention will be directed to get things correct. With enough practice, your muscle memory will handle the basics, upon which openness/enjoyment can be built.

I think a person who overthinks does it regardless of the stakes. Focus is very closely related to not getting interrupted by your own thoughts. I agree with you that you need to have the skill to be able to perform well, but I'm suggesting that even in a low-stake one, one who can't focus won't focus, be it overthinking or distractions.

I learned this from this brain exercise game, Peak. I started leveling up like crazy when I stopped thinking and speaking to myself and let my brain do what it does best, which learning.

Re: Thinking too much can be bad for you (2012)

#89

Post by rcoveson »

Barrin92 wrote: post #58

In chess there's an idiom for this. "Long think, wrong think" because it's a quite common phenomenon that very good players will ruin positions by rather than playing with their good instinct, over-analyzing a position, there's a related situation of the hardest games to win being already won positions because there's so many ways to win that people will on occasion start doing something really stupid akin to the exa…

Keep in mind the expertise required to build that intuition, though. The average person who merely knows how to play Chess should probably think before they move, or else blunder away the whole game by putting their queen on a square threatened by a knight they didn't look at.

That said, most people are probably "experts"--in the sense that their intuitions can often outdo their conscious trains of thought--in more than a few things. I'll bet that drivers in their 40's make better decisions with instinct than conscious thought. The same probably goes for middle aged home cooks. But teenagers should go over their driving lessons in their heads, and stick to the recipes.

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