87. Caught in Overthinking? Try Changing Your Perspective.
This one's a short and sweet episode with an invitation to shift perspectives when it comes to overthinking.
I share a tool to find the answers inside you when it feels like you don't know the way.
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Instagram: @meghanljohnston
Email: hello@meghanjohnston.com
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00]
This is episode 87 of With Heart and Wonder. I am so, so excited to have you here, whether you are a long time listener or tuning into your first episode. This one today is going to be a little bit of a short one. And I just wanted to speak. I've been feeling pulled to talk to this idea of over thinking.
Now it feels important for me to share that I am someone who is constantly, in a relationship with my own pattern of overthinking. And sometimes that feels like a struggle, and other times it feels like an invitation to find a new way of being in the world. And I hope that this episode today inspires you to think a little bit differently. About your own relationship with overthinking or decision paralysis, or really. What I'm talking about when I say overthinking is like that kind of swirling around and around and around, that can happen inside of our [00:02:00] heads. And I was thinking a lot about this because I say a lot. So often I say that, you know, I truly believe, and I really do believe this was my whole heart, that the answers you're looking for are inside of you.
And I also recognize that like, if I am in a place of overthinking and somebody is saying that to me, my reaction is going to be, um, if the answer is where inside of me, I would have found them by now. Like I would have come to them. Like don't, you know how hard I've been trying to find a dig and search around for those answers. And so I have been thinking about this disconnect between like truly believing that the answers are inside of you, and then also being in that really swirly place where your head is just spinning and you are trying, and you are searching to find answers and feeling like despite all of your effort. It's still out of reach.
What I have been thinking about. Is this image of when you're at the eye doctor and hopefully this is an accessible enough image. Um, if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll do my best to describe it. But like when I go to the eye doctor, I sit in a chair, and I look at the wall in front of me and I'm reading all of these different letters and there's this machine that kind of comes down. Where they're changing the lenses. And some of the lenses make things look blurrier and some of the lenses make things look really clear and sharp. And they've been thinking about how, when I go to the eye doctor and as someone who wears glasses, I go [00:04:00] quite frequently. When I go to the eye doctor and they're changing the lenses for me.
When I can't see the letters that are in front of me. It doesn't mean that there's something wrong with me. It doesn't mean that there's something wrong with the machine or even wrong with the lenses. It's just that I need a different lens. That there are some lenses that make things blurrier and harder to read and some lenses that make things easier to see.
What I've been thinking about is how inside of us. There are these different lenses. And how so often when we are getting really stuck and we don't know which way to turn, perhaps it's not so much that there is something wrong with us, which is often where our mind goes. But it's just that we need to change the lens. And it doesn't even mean that there's something wrong with the lens that we were using. It could just be that that's not the right lens for this moment in time, you know, as a glasses wearer, my prescription has changed over time. And I also see very differently when something is far away versus when something is is is close by.
Now as someone who is an overthinker. One of the things that I know is always really helpful for me is talking through things or writing through things. Um, both of those are strategies that I use all the time, but here's why I think they work. It's not necessarily that the other person is providing great insight. It's that as I'm writing, as I'm talking to someone, it's letting me access a different part of myself. A different lens. Where all of [00:06:00] a sudden things can become clear. And this is what I see all of the time when I'm in, in more of a coaching conversation with someone.
And I've been reflecting about how I truly believe that so much of my work as a coach, is actually just about helping people shift between different lenses or different parts of themselves so that if somebody is really in their head, I'm just providing opportunities and invitations for them to shift into their heart or to shift into their body, or to shift into another perspective. Now that other perspective is still inside of them.
It's still coming from within, it's still an answer from inside. It's just a different part of themselves. I have no idea if this is making any sense at all. I would love to hear from you if this idea is resonating with you. But really what I have been playing with is just the reality or what feels like the reality that there can be these multiple ways of looking at things and these multiple parts of ourselves. That can all be equally valid. And that perhaps when I'm stuck. When I'm working with a client and their stuck it's not that there's anything wrong. It's just that it's time to change perspectives.
This has been a way of thinking lately, obviously I'm still thinking through it, but that has been really landing with me. Because it's helping me think about and talk about this idea. That the answers can be inside us, that we can know the way. I think that is such an [00:08:00] empowering way to move through the world. And it can also feel real intimidating because if the answers are inside of us and we can't get to them, that can feel really challenging.
So, where does this leave us?
I think if you are in a moment, where you are overthinking or struggling to figure out what it is that you really want.
When you're feeling like you just don't know.
Here's a question you can try asking.
What if there is a part of me that actually does know?
You can play with that question. That question itself could be enough to help you shift and see things differently. Or you can get curious about how you can access a different part of yourself. A different zone of wisdom, a different way of knowing that is already inside of you, but maybe isn't the lens that you are using.
We're going to keep it short and sweet today. But I'd love to know how this lands for you. Please, please feel free to send me a message on Instagram @meghanljohnston or you can send an email to hello@meganjohnston.com. We'll be back in two weeks with our next episode. I'm so excited to share this one with you.
It is with my new friend, Kim, and we are going to be talking about how you are never too old to ignite your spark. And even just like how age doesn't have to be a thing. Whether you're feeling too young or too old, Kim is, is such, such like, when I'm around her, I just feel this like buzz of energy.
She's got that zest for life and I know you're going to love it. [00:10:00] Until then keep living With Heart and Wonder.