Your Constant Overthinking Ends With This Video

in ancient japan sometime between 1550 and 1600 there lived a boy named kintaro kawasaka kintaro was an 18 year old aspiring samurai from a small village in the ichigo province whose bloodline had produced some of the most powerful samurais over the past several hundred years but for quintaro his skill with the sword was lagging far behind that of his predecessors it wasn't that he was physically incapable of being one of the greats in fact he was stronger than many of the samurai that were already in their 20s what kintaro's greatest weakness was was the regulation of his own mind this massive setback which is so crucial for the development of any practice of the sword caused him to move rigidly with much more force than others his age and the constant overwhelm he would feel from his thoughts would often leave him vulnerable to attacks from his fellow students what if i never get better what if i end up dying out there one day where is his next move coming from those were the types of thoughts that would cloud his mind during training for as long as he could remember kintaro's mind operated this way his mother died when he was little after an attack from a neighboring village and his relationship with his father suffered because of it after the attack kintaro's father constantly put the blame on himself he too would overthink and worry about every little thing that happened to him and how he wished he would have been home that evening to protect his wife when kintaro saw the state of agony in which his father was left in on a daily basis he unintentionally absorbed that same sort of thinking from him for years growing up he'd watch his father pace back and forth at night wondering if another attack would strike their village once again his father couldn't bear the thought of potentially losing his only son too and so he was constantly hyper vigilant he tell kintaro always watch your back always anticipate the next move you never know what's going to happen you need to be constantly evaluating your environment and looking for any signs of danger catastrophe could be only one second away be prepared for it that is the way of the samurai this shaped kintaro's developing years drastically anytime he would make a mistake he'd dwell on it for the entire day until he was finally able to fall asleep he'd think out every other possible scenario he could have done in that moment and go around in circles until he drove himself mad then he'd overthink about the fact that he was just overthinking for so long and think more along with overthinking the past the uncertainty of his future made him paranoid as well he would try to overanalyze each potential next step he could take in his life and whether it was the right one or not and in his training he tried to predict his opponent's next move with too much effort one day during a training session while kintaro was clashing wooden swords with a student that was on par with him in skills his blood was boiling more than usual his rage came from a particularly bad argument the night before with his father that conversation kept replaying over and over as he was swaying back and forth dodging the student's swings until eventually his mind got the best of him under the hypnosis of extreme anger he grabbed the student threw him to the ground and began beating his face in until his instructors pulled him off what the hell is wrong with you one of the instructors said this is the third time this has happened this month no true samurai would have fits like this hasn't your father taught you how important the nurturing of your mind is before kintaro could respond with a resentful discourse explaining all the reasons why he disliked his father a figure appeared in between his two instructors he was a bald man dressed in robes of brown and orange takeshi one of the instructors said why are you here i just so happened to be walking near the dojo when i saw this young man's fighting skills the elderly man said immediately i could tell he lacked a discipline of the mind with each over-calculated stroke of his sword but i can see something in him why don't you let him come with me for a bit the old man speaking was takashi kagawa one of the most respected elders of the village for the past 80 years of his life he had been studying and practicing the art of zen buddhism it was even rumored that he went 100 straight days meditating in the same position on top of the village mountain in the heart of winter with no food if anyone was going to fix kintaro's incessant overthinking it was him if you truly want to take him under you then by all means one of the instructors said excellent come with me young man as kintaro and takeshi walk through one of the village's gardens the old man asked kintaro what his upbringing looked like as he explained what happened to his mother and his relationship with his father it all became clear to takeshi yes that does not surprise me now tomorrow at dawn you are to meet me at the river next to the residents of the takahashi family there i will explain to you the cause of your suffering the next morning kintaro made his way to the river when he arrived he saw takeshi there waiting for him with a small bucket in his hand good to see you here kintaro let's begin first i want you to take this bucket and fill it up with water from the river after giving takeshi a confused look kintaro grabbed the bucket and filled it up after he done so he asked okay what now now i want you to try to understand the river by looking at this water after you've done that let me know what you find kintaro looked at the water in the bucket his face started to tense up he squinted his eyes and wrinkles appeared on his forehead as he thought about every possible explanation to the old man's request his brain started to irritate him but after several minutes he turned to takeshi well i guess the river is a flowing stream that eventually leads somewhere and when the water is no longer a part of the stream it can no longer be considered part of the river that's why you put it in this bucket right the old man laughed a wise observation but not the point i was trying to get across you see i made you look at the water as a way to expose how your mind works you endlessly strain your brain trying to look for answers to things like what you could have done better in the past or what your opponent's next move will be but trying to understand each little thing that happens has happened or will happen to you is like trying to understand a river by scooping out a bucket of water and analyzing it you truly understand a river simply by just experiencing that river not thinking about it kintaro you must become more like water it flows and nurtures all without second guessing itself do you think the water thinks about where the stream is taking it no it trusts the guidance of the river and simply just is before you were conditioned with your current state of mind you too occupied this same sort of being before you were taught a language and the words in that language to attach onto you are simply just a conscious being riding a stream of different sensations experiences and feelings this is why babies do not feel guilty when they cry laugh or make a mistake they have no conception of a self that can make a mistake in the first place crying is not bad to them it's just crying laughing is not good it's just laughing babies are what they are at that moment but when the word was instilled into you you had a way to attach to those things and judge them you were given a name and identity and meanings behind things through words your father instilled his beliefs into you through words and conditioned you to react to things and behave in a certain way he told you feeling this way is wrong and feeling this way is right do things like this and not like this and worst of all that you should always think your way out of unwanted situations and feelings eventually you got so deeply attached to these words that you started misrepresenting real life itself with the words that symbolize it this is where the root cause of all your overthinking lies your father gave you his ways of viewing the world which were deeply embedded in attaching to words and overusing them to the point of self-destruction you then started to believe that the solution to your overthinking lied in trying to think about the solution but what you need to do is the exact opposite i am sure that you've gone through and seen many traumatic things in your past and you think about all the possible ways it could have gone differently likewise your worrying and anxiety is caused by an inability to know things in the future with certainty and giving up that certainty is an act of rebellion against your overthinking mind but the first step to controlling your thoughts about the past and future is not trying to control them to become fully one with the present moment is to fully accept that no amount of overthinking will ever change the outcome of what will happen to change to this way of being is no easy task especially since you've been conditioned to act the complete opposite for so long but you will get there through my training every day for at least 30 minutes i want you to come sit here by this river and meditate you will sit upright with your legs crossed with your spine straight and your eyes half open looking down a couple feet in front of you and you will direct your awareness to your breath when you inhale count to one and when you exhale count to two do this with each inhale and exhale up to 10 then start back at 1. only by repeatedly doing this every day will you come to fully understand what i'm trying to explain here through my words kintaro stared at the man in astonishment although his explanation of his suffering helped him to grasp his inner torment he wasn't sure how sitting and breathing was going to change anything after all he did that already on a daily basis but unconsciously i'm not really sure if this will work but all right i'll do it excellent and one last tip takeshi said remove any and all expectations from this practice do not do it to seek some sort of goal for yourself because that will take away from the point entirely i'll leave you bee now the old man walked through the rocks and onto the nearest path when kintaro could no longer see him he decided he would start his practice today at first it was awkward and the setting position was kind of painful he found himself getting discouraged at the fact that still his mind would brace and would never stop racing or sometimes his mind would wander away from his breath and he'd realize it was wandering and then he'd beat himself up for it god damn it he said how am i supposed to be present if i'm still having thoughts this continued on for the next couple weeks but still he refused to give up and by the 15th day he finally made a breakthrough in his practice while doing his daily meditation he became aware of a group of birds chirping just above the river without shifting his eyes away from his meditation practice he simply just allowed himself to listen to each chirp intently and eventually he found himself not trying to categorize what he was listening to he didn't judge the sound or put a name to it the sound just was after that brief moment of bliss he found he had unlocked an insight into his practice he felt his body's contact points with the ground below him he became aware of the fresh smell of flowers growing by the river he heard the gentle flowing of the river stream in a way he had never experienced before all of his senses were tuned to the present moment and his concept of a separate self started to dissipate as a result he found that the chatter in his mind quieted itself naturally and had less of an effect on him and when he finished his practice that day he felt a sense of calm and stillness he hadn't been aligned with in years everything around him felt so much more real and lifelike when he was looking at trees he was really looking at them instead of thinking this is a tree while looking at it and in that way he became the tree the next day he felt even more invigorated he had a constant stream of thoughts come in and out of his mind but he let them be and observed them without judging them he came face to face with the self he had identified with and suppressed for so long but without overly attaching to it he realized that there was no such thing as wrong feelings or wrong thoughts and that he was not his feelings or thoughts but rather the observer of them the only thing he could truly be was this moment he separated himself from his emotional reaction to his thoughts and past traumas accepted them and let them go whenever they felt like exiting his mind this then started spilling into his everyday life he became better at catching when he felt himself getting too overly attached to the words that clouded his head and re-centered himself every time that happened by focusing on his breath and five senses in the present moment and soon he found he could turn on that state of meditation at will almost all the time even without sitting and actively trying to meditate in fact he realized that it was impossible to be anything but the present moment anything else was an illusion created by the words and fantasies in his mind of course he made sure to share all these discoveries with takeshi who made no additional comments on the subject as he wanted kintaro to figure out this state of being himself without more of an explanation with words and of course he had been improving in his abilities with the sword all this time as well 97 days after he began his meditation practice he had a fight against one of the most skilled masters in his dojo when he stepped up to begin the fight he did what he had been doing in every fight since he gained this new ability to let go and be present before every fight he said to himself reality is just this the energy of the present moment gave him strength and vitality he felt his feet firmly planted on the floor the bead of sweat run down his forehead and his chest expand and contract with his long deep breaths he no longer tried to analyze what his opponent would do first and instead followed the flow of his opponent's present movements by not trying to anticipate he anticipated everything he became one with the sword and after a few minutes of back and forth exchanges kintaro found a vulnerability in the swordmaster's attack and without even realizing what had happened the master found kintaro's wooden sword pointed at his neck kantaro had defeated the master and he had finally won the battle over the self that was created by his mind thank you guys very much for watching this short story written by me i hope you enjoyed it and thank you to all the patrons on this channel on patreon who are helping to support me if you don't know what patreon is it's a platform separate from youtube where i'm posting exclusive content that you can't find anywhere else and you can talk to me one on one over the phone on there if you want to check that out the link is in the description and if you enjoy videos where i tell short stories like this and share some wisdom check out this video it is just like the video that you've just watched and it provides another great life lesson thank you guys for watching i love you hope you have a good rest of your day

Channel: Cole Hastings

Views: 1,287,443

Keywords: cole hastings, overthinking, stop overthinking, how to stop overthinking, stop overthinking and anxiety, overthinker, how do i stop overthinking, i cant stop overthinking, constant overthinking, constantly overthinking, constantly overthinking and worrying, how to stop worrying so much, how to stop caring, how to stop caring so much, why do i overthink everything, why do i overthink so much, overthinking relationships, end overthinking, i overthink a lot, how to not overthink

Id: zezNDS9PHRQ

Length: 15min 18sec (918 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 16 2022