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Do you know that feeling when your thoughts just won’t stop spinning? When your mind is constantly working, replaying problems, and inventing new “what-if” scenarios, it’s time to return to your own inner steering.
These four exercises help you do just that: pause, re-center, and bring calm back into your thinking. Each one works on its own – choose one or two and practice them regularly. Small steps, big effect.
1) The Worry Window: Park Your Thoughts – Gain Clarity
The goal of this exercise is to ease mental load by gathering your worries instead of chasing them around all day.
Set aside 15 to 20 minutes once a day, preferably not just before bedtime. Whenever a worry comes up during the day, jot it down briefly. Crucially, note when you plan to look at it – for example, “6:00 p.m.” This is your personal “cognitive parking lot.”
At the scheduled time, open your worry window: read through your list and sort the items. What belongs together? What matters today, what can wait? This isn’t about solving, it’s about organizing and limiting the scope of your worries.
End the session consciously – stand up, drink a glass of water, or spend two minutes looking out the window. This gives your overthinking a structure: a beginning, a middle, and an end.
You’ll notice the pressure to resolve everything immediately decreases. By evening, you’ll feel calmer and have a clearer sense of what actually matters.
2) Breath Focus: Return to the Present (with the Mindvise App)
This practice is about intentionally directing your attention – using your breath as an anchor.
You’ll find the exercise in the Mindvise app under “Interactive Breathing Exercise” in the right-hand tab of the menu.
Open the exercise and press and hold the button while you inhale and hold your breath – then release it when you exhale for 8 seconds. You’re following the 4–7–8 rhythm: inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, exhale for 8.
Keep your attention gently on the sensations of breathing – the cool air at the tip of your nose, the rise and fall of your belly. If thoughts arise, notice them briefly and gently return to your breath.
After just two minutes, you’ll likely feel your breathing slowing down, the inner movie pausing – and your focus back in your hands.
3) 60-Second Reset: An Emergency Stop for the Thought Spiral
This mini-intervention interrupts overthinking in moments of acute stress – fast, focused, effective.
Use it whenever you realize: “I’m stuck.”
Set everything aside for one minute. Turn away from your screen. Take two deep breaths in the 4–7–8 rhythm.
Then, focus on just one sound in your surroundings for 30 seconds – a humming appliance, birds outside, distant voices. Do nothing else. Just listen.
Immediately after, take one micro-action that lasts one to three minutes: open an email and write the subject line, start a document, get up and stretch. The key is to move from thinking into doing.
The result is noticeable: tension eases, your mind clears, and action becomes possible again.
4) Mini-Meditation: Let Thoughts Pass – Regain Distance
This short meditation helps you create space between you and your thoughts – not by controlling them, but by letting them pass.
Take two to three minutes, for example before starting work or going to bed. Sit upright with a relaxed posture, your gaze soft.
Bring your attention to your breath – either at the tip of your nose or in your belly. When a thought comes up, label it silently with the word “thought” – and return to the breath.
You can also use the 4–7–8 rhythm here, but with no pressure. This is not about performance – it’s about gently letting go.
Over time, you’ll start to feel: I am not my thoughts. You’ll recognize that you have a choice about where your attention goes. That inner freedom is a powerful resource – especially in busy or stressful times.
In Closing: Small Practice, Big Impact
Overthinking drains energy – but you can learn to step out of it. None of these exercises is a magic fix. But together, they work like a workout for your inner compass: strengthening your ability to pause, gain perspective, and act with intention.
In times of crisis, overwhelm, or constant change, we need tools that reconnect us with ourselves. These exercises are just that – simple, accessible, and effective.
Start today – with just one minute.
Because clarity begins where you take back control.
