Overthink only the things that make you happy or excited
is it possible to curate the nature of your thoughts?
Hi friends,
Do you ever notice what kind of thoughts come up when you go through your day? Especially on the subway, where my mind just prowls off in its natural thinking habitat. I’ve taken a new hobby of observing my own thinking tendencies, just to see if I could spot any patterns, and boy did I notice a lot of samey thoughts. Especially any thoughts that are flavoured judgemental, petty, and fruitlessly negative, are all so bland in the exact same way. But these thoughts are also a bit tricky, because they all present themselves to be about other people, and flee before you can analyze them in depth and realize they are, in fact, always about yourself.
I’ve lived for more than three decades. So why is it that these same kinds of thoughts keep coming up amidst all the vast amounts of cool stuff I’ve learned and experienced? I love my curious and overthinking mind; and yet left to its own devices it has decided to focus on the most tiring aspects of the day. Basically, the message I constantly receive and regurgitate is that I’m not good enough. I surmise I get these messages from society and marketing. I mean, I never ever feel this way when I’m surrounded by trees, mountains, or sky. I also work in luxury retail, so I triple get it. If that wasn’t the message then who would ever spend thousands of dollars on a bag? Besides overthinking, I am also completely susceptible to these messages. Basically, I am your best customer, because I have a sponge brain, low defenses.
Computer science can even explain why the more you think about something, the more likely you will unconsciously reach for that thought again and again. It's like caching in a computer. When we are over inundated with information, we need resources to organize that information. One of the most efficient ways to organize is the left-side insertion rule.
The left-side insertion rule: every time you pull out a file to use its contents, you must put it back as the leftmost file when you return it to the box. And when you search for a file, you always start from the left-hand side as well. The most recently accessed files are thus the fastest to find. -Yukio Noguchi, economist
It's a way our mind tries to inject clairvoyance into our complicated lives. If you keep thinking about it, you must really need these thoughts! In fact, human memory isn't linear, it's more about predicting which items are most likely to be wanted in the future. My file box of thoughts was full of these red herrings... thoughts I didn't need at all, for today or the future. There isn't enough time between thought and identifying with that thought. I want to give myself more time.
Let's slow down the pace of my thoughts whenever possible.
❤️chu
11,22 is the embarkment of a new outlet of expression. Do you also love applying computer science analogies to your daily life and try to actively change the structure of your thoughts? Let me know 👨💻