Secret to your happiest summer

You’re smart and conscientious, but thinking too much can leave you stuck in a ‘what-if ’ spiral. Here, how to stop overthinking to feel more joy every day

Your parents are about to mark their golden anniversary, and you’ve come up with a plan to celebrate safely as a family—but when you text your sister about it, she doesn’t respond for days. Why won’t she get back to me? She must hate my ideas…your mind reels. Truth is, our brain is built for this kind of rumination. “We have five times more fear-based hardwiring than reward wiring, and pay 80% more attention to bad messages than good ones,” reveals Heidi Hanna, Ph.D., author of Recharge. No wonder the brain has been called “Velcro for negative and Teflon for good.”

This tendency to zero in on potential hazards may have helped our earliest ancestors survive, but these days, it can prevent us from living our happiest life. “Constantly being on ‘high alert’ for even minor threats doesn’t just increase our stress levels, it reinforces negative, fear-based neural pathways,” says Hanna. “And over time, that causes the lens through which we see the world—and ourselves—to become hypersensitive to stress and self-doubt.”

Indeed, new research also shows that rehashing negative, fearful thoughts takes up precious real estate in our brains that could otherwise be devoted to “productive worry,” like brainstorming and problem-solving. Thankfully, it’s easy to stop overthinking in its tracks and free up space for fresh uplifting ideas that help you find joy, peace and self-compassion.