You see, the thing is. You just can’t stop thinking about it. That is one thing that you shouldn’t be thinking about right now. That one thing that you know will freak your mind out if you start thinking too much. But you just can’t stop. Not with all these things popping up in your head and forcing it to think about them non-stop. How to stop thinking about breathing? See, there it goes again!
How To Stop Thinking About Breathing?
- You are not thinking about your breath. You are thinking about your thoughts, which are a result of your breathing.
- If you stop breathing for a moment, the first thing that happens is that the thoughts cease.
- When you become aware of “thinking”, instead of “thinking”, you will stop breathing; and when you stop breathing, the thoughts cease as well.
- When your mind is busy with something else, but not busy enough to think, then it is also occupied with your breath. That’s why it seems to be thinking while actually, it is not doing so at all!
- When you think about something else and yet remain unaware of this fact (you don’t notice thinking), then this thing becomes real in your mind; it becomes an object of thought; and when this happens, there is no longer any room for any other object in your mind except that one thought (which was only a product of another thought), which was in reality only a result of another thought! In other words, if you focus on anything besides yourself (and even if you do so by accident), then that object appears real in your mind and hence becomes an object of thought! It has become an obsession! This can be likened to walking along and trying to pick up a stone without looking at the ground where the stone lies hidden underneath; and as soon as you look down at the ground, there it is right under your feet: “Oh shit!”
- Once there is an object in your mind, the process of thinking about it begins. When the object appears real in your mind, you are no longer aware that it is only a result of another thought (which was actually a product of yet another thought); and as soon as you become aware of this fact, this object will disappear from your mind!
- To stop thinking about something and to be able to focus on anything else, you must first understand that you are not thinking at all; otherwise, you will only be thinking about that thing!
- If you stop breathing for even a moment and become aware of this fact (that there is nothing but thoughts in the world), then the thoughts vanish immediately; and if they have vanished completely, then all other thoughts vanish as well! In other words, if there is no “I” to think about and no “you” to think about something else (which are merely results of other thoughts), then there can be no “other” things for you to think about! This is how to stop thinking about breathing: when there’s nothing but a breath in your life; when there’s nothing but thought in your life; when there’s nothing but a breath.
- When I say “stop breathing”, I mean that instead of breathing out loud or silently or with whatever sound means for you ‘breathing’, just let go consciously! Don’t try to control it or force it or manipulate it by controlling your body and mind. Just let go and let it happen; don’t resist or push it away or try to change it in any way. You may even feel a sense of discomfort, but do not resist this feeling; just let go and stop resisting!
- For those who are still not convinced that they are only thinking (and that there is no “I” to think about anything at all), let me give you an example: when you feel thirsty, you may think “I must drink some water”. But if you really want to drink some water, then you will have to find a source of water which is far away from your house; and for this purpose, you will have to walk for at least 15 minutes (or even more). And if instead of drinking water, you think “I must eat something” or “I must sleep”, then the same thing applies: you will have to find a place where the food and sleep can be found without going near your own house!
Why Is It So Hard To Stop Thinking About Breathing?
- When you’re anxious, your brain can actually trick you into thinking that your breathing is affected by anxiety. This is why it’s so important to recognize the symptoms of anxiety and take action as soon as possible.
- The more anxious you are, the more difficult it can be to tell if your breathing has anything to do with anxiety or not. The reason for this is because your brain begins to associate the two and then thinks that your breathing is causing you to be anxious when it isn’t at all. If you’re really struggling in this area, then I recommend a good book called Breathing Anxiety: How Anxiety Affects Our Breathing which goes into much greater detail about this topic than I could ever cover here.
- Your mind will always try to make things seem worse than they really are in order to make them seem like a problem that needs solving so that you’ll take action and solve it! For example, if you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, then there’s a very good chance that your mind will tell itself “I have a problem trying to get out of bed, therefore I need to find something else for me to do instead so I don’t have any time for my problem with getting out of bed!”
- Your mind might also create scenarios in which something bad happens if you don’t take action on your problem immediately (such as: “If I don’t get out of bed, then I might die!”). If this is the case, then you should take action on your problem as soon as possible.
- Your mind will also make things seem worse than they really are in order to avoid taking action on your problem. For example, if you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning and it feels like “Oh my gosh! If I don’t get up right now, then I might die!”, then your mind might create a scenario where “If I don’t get out of bed right now, then I might die!” happens and you still never take action.
- Your mind will also make things seem worse than they really are because it doesn’t want to believe that there is a solution to your problem that doesn’t involve medication or therapy!
- Your mind can trick you into thinking that something bad will happen if you take action on your problem when it won’t actually happen (this is called “catastrophizing”). For example: “I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning and it feels like my life is going to be over if I don’t get up right now! But even though it feels like my life is going to be over if I don’t get up right now, there are no real consequences if I don’t get up in the morning!”
- Your mind can also trick you into thinking that something bad will happen if you take action on your problem when it will actually happen (this is called “minimizing” or “denial”). For example: “I have trouble getting out of bed in the morning and it feels like my life is going to be over if I don’t get up right now! But even though it feels like my life is going to be over if I don’t get up right now, there are no real consequences if I don’t get up in the morning!”
Conclusion
Breathing anxiety is an unpleasant experience that can be hard to get a hold of, especially if you don’t know the best techniques for stopping it. The best way to stop thinking about breathing is to change your state of mind and get yourself out of an anxious frame of mind. That’s where these techniques will come in handy!