Stop telling me I 'think too much'!
Believe you me, there are struggles to being a deep thinker in the modern world! I bet philosophers of ancient times had it much easier. It's hard to be a deep thinker as a millenial!
The mind is a thought generator, it is constantly creating an endless stream of thoughts. It’s easy to become caught up in our thoughts, ruminating about the little things of life, attempting to avoid the bigger issues, and perhaps feeling powerless and doubting our ability to deal with things.
Now, don't me wrong but do not teach me about overthinking. I know what overthinking is. And it is very different from thinking deeply.
Over the past decade, various neurological studies have shown that the average person has more than thirty thousand thoughts a day. Of those thoughts, approximately ninety percent are said to be repetitive and eighty percent are classified as negative.
By “negative”, (overthinking) neuroscientists mean that these thoughts do not offer anything beneficial such as support for our ideas, desires, well-being and achievements. Most of these thoughts are your mind worrying or ruminating, or planning to avoid problems. Essentially, this means that the majority of our thoughts are a constant negating force in our body-mind; they rob us of energy and mental peace.
Your initial reaction to this knowledge may be to look for an inner switch that can turn off the negative thoughts and retain the more positive, supporting thoughts. You might imagine that this switch is your intention and that you can will yourself into better thoughts. Try to control your thoughts for ten seconds and you will see just how difficult this is. In fact it is impossible. The mind has to think just as the heart has to beat, that is its function. You cannot and should not turn it off.
You cannot manage your thoughts by thinking about how to manage them. There is a better way and yogis and wisdom traditions have known how to do this for thousands of years. They developed techniques that connect the thinking mind to the knowing mind. If the thinking mind is disconnected from the knowing mind then the thinking mind is your master.
Being a deep thinker is a great gift as it allows you to delve into the very essence of things and be more conscious.
Still, in modern society with its materialistic consumer mentality, this constant inquiry and profound awareness that accompany being a deep thinker can be quite challenging.
1. Feeling of detachment
In a world ruled by greed, primitive desires and material interests, where people’s intellectual, moral and spiritual level is constantly going down, it’s no surprise that deep thinkers often feel like they don’t belong here.
Sometimes, you just can’t understand other people and their actions, which makes you wonder why you are such a misfit and feel like you come from another planet.
2. You have a profound frustration with modern society
Whether you follow what’s happening in the world or not, the only thing is clear – you are quite pessimistic about the future of humanity. It’s all because you deeply realize that humankind is constantly moving away from the true values and the things that really matter. All this ignorance and superficiality of modern people often make you think that the human race is doomed.
3. Others confuse you for being arrogant/weird/absentminded
For the most part, deep thinkers are introverts who remain immersed in their thoughts most of the day and don’t open up to other people easily. For this reason, those who don’t know you well may get a wrong impression that you are full of yourself and are acting snobby, avoiding small talks and group activities.
Some may think you are a weirdo or an absentminded daydreamer who just sits there and has his/her head in the clouds all day long.
4. The necessity to solve everyday problems can be a real challenge
You may have reflected on the questions that most people have never asked themselves and have read more books than anyone around you, but solving everyday problems can make you feel really helpless. The mundane aspects of being have never really interested you and your practical thinking skills are not that good, so you try to avoid dealing with such issues at any cost.
5. Periods of introspection and causeless sadness
If you are a deep thinker, you are probably familiar with the feeling of sadness you may have from time to time for no obvious reason. It can be compared to depression of a sort.
In these periods, you are just drawn into yourself, analyzing your life or reflecting on existential issues. Nothing can really get you out of this state unless the flow of your thoughts comes to some conclusion.
6. Lack of understanding
When you have that thoughtful expression on your face, even your close ones may assume that something is wrong with you and start worrying about you, asking questions like “Is everything all right?” or “Are you OK?”
The problem is that it’s not always easy to explain the cause of this mood. It may be something as simple as a book with a sad ending or a thought-provoking documentary you recently watched – literally anything can put you in deep thoughts.
7. It can be difficult to get out of your head and return to reality
When you are reading a book or are simply immersed in your thoughts, it’s like if you were traveling to an alternate reality. A real struggle is when you have to come back to the “real” world and return to your job, everyday duties and activities. This return is always accompanied by a feeling of confusion and even frustration.
Remember those mornings when you are having a beautiful dream and it is suddenly interrupted by the sound of the alarm clock? This is what it feels like when you realize it’s time to get out of your head and come back to the real life.
