There he sits with Beau his old and faithful companion watching the sea.

"How long will you sit here?", my friend asked. The old man with the old dog on the beach merely shrugged his shoulders. "Well, how long have you been sitting then?", she persisted. "About two peppermints" he replied with a smile.

I meet this man often on my beach. He walks with a stick and doesn't walk far. His old dog stays very close to him and tolerates the other dogs that congregate around him while he passes time with their owners. The man has his pockets full of dog treats which my dog refuses and barks to move me on.

As we walk on I continue to think about time measured by peppermint consumption. What sort of peppermint and how long does one last? Yes I am overthinking this and perhaps it was a euphinism for 'does it matter how long' or 'time is immaterial' or ...

My walking companions laughed when I said I over think things and the conversation flowed into whether the term "over thinking" was a new way to describe what previously might have been seen as analytical and deep thinking. Had social media rebranded a positive attribute into a negative? Did society no longer value philosophical debate and intellectualising? Did we no longer value thinking that was not outcome focussed...where were Arts Degrees in all this and so on...

This got me thinking about when a person sits on a beach - or anywhere - just sits - thinking - at what point are they thinking too much. There I go again...over thinking and I love it :)

My partner constantly warns me against over thinking. Never one to take a response on face value or accept a behaviour without scraping the surface to find out why, my head is a busy place. I deny this interest in human interaction is a negative though.

People fascinate me. Relationships intrigue me. Human dynamics; functional, dysfunctional, what defines normal, how perceptions differ, endless research observed in cafes every day.

I agree there is a difference between anxiety producing "over thinking" and what I would describe as "sorting sifting and refining thinking" (SSRT). I am experienced at both.

For some of us the worry and make worse catastrophising consequences of over thinking result in stress induced ill health and relationship breakdown. This isn't to say the thoughts are irrational or ill conceived - often far from it. No, it's how we respond to the thoughts and behave as a consequence that leaves us feeling powerless to change something. This is the over thinker's challenge. When you work through the scenarios and come up with one or several possible rationales for real or imagined consequences what can you do to control or change the situation?

Is thinking too much causing you to worry? Are your worries based on your construct of reality?

An article about over-thinking and a creative image popped up in my Facebook newsfeed one morning. The research suggesting maybe I wasn't just an over analyser after all, and that the "working comments and behaviours from all angles" tendency I have could be my creative nature finding an outlet. Maybe...

There is much to continue to think about, ponder over, ruminate on....Yet even as I write this I am thinking of other possibilities.

What if my partner is right? What if it's all in my head? What if I DO think too much?

What if I entirely create my own reality?

The questions lead to endless possibilities with more to come.

KarenPS~

Over Thinking Again