TED: How to stop thinking?

What are you thinking right now? And how about...now? Are brains are incredibly active but sometimes, you just want that big ball of grey meat to shut the hell up, right? Thinking is good-it's what makes humans special. Without thinking we'd have no farms, no books, no jobs. It would just be reality TV, no thinking required there.

incredibly adv. 難以置信地；非常地

grey adj. 灰色的 n. 灰色，灰色顏料

special adj.特殊的，特別的

require v. 需要；要求，規(guī)定

shut up （使）住口；（使）閉嘴

But often, we over-think, and cause ourselves a lot of unnecessary anxiety. So, today we're going to look at how we can tune out those annoying thoughts and make things quieter inside our heads.

unnecessary adj. 不必要的；多余的，無用的

anxiety n. 憂慮；焦慮；不安；令人焦慮的事

annoying adj. 令人惱火的，令人煩躁的

v. （使）惱怒，（使）煩惱

tune n. 曲子；和諧；調(diào)節(jié)

v. 調(diào)整（為樂器調(diào)音）；（使）協(xié)調(diào)

tune out 無視；關(guān)掉；不理會；調(diào)出

This is todays episode-How to not overthink by Health Chronicle Like most problems, the first step is seeing that there is one. You need to learn to recognise (/recognize) when you are feeling anxious because of your internal problems, not external. For example, being anxious that you might crash when your friend is driving fast-that's fine.

episode n. （電視?。┘?；章節(jié)；一段經(jīng)歷，一段時期

chronicle n. 編年史；歷史 v. 把......載入編年史；按事件順序記載

internal adj. 內(nèi)部的，體內(nèi)的；內(nèi)在的

external adj. 外面的，外界/部的；對外的

n. 外面，外部

crash n. 撞車；碰撞；相撞

v. （使）碰撞，撞毀；（生意或金融體制）倒閉，破產(chǎn)，失敗；（計算機或程序）崩潰，癱瘓

There is a sensible thing to worry about, tell them to slow down. But if you feel the same when you have a presentation tomorrow, then the problem is coming from within. You're overthinking and stressing yourself out. And, let's be honest, you're not thinking about how well it's going to do. No, you are telling yourself you will fail, you'll forget what to say, your boss will hate it, and you'll forget to wear pants.

sensible adj. 理智的，合理的

within prep. 在...里/內(nèi)部（社會，組織或體系；心中，某種情感）

adv. 在里面/內(nèi)部

slow down （使）慢下來

stress sb. out 讓某人緊張不安

stress out 壓力山大

When you realize you're doing this, stop picturing all the way it can go right. You'll charm them like Barack Obama. Your boss will love it and promote you. You'll wear pants! Once you've pictured all these things, write them down. In fact, write down all the worries too.

charm n.魅力 v. 吸引，迷住

promote v. 促進，提倡

It's a well established idea in psychology; writing things down helps you to combat stress. It's especially useful before bed, as a way to help you get to sleep. But the import thing with this type of journal is to focus on what you need to do not what you have done!

established adj. 確立已久的， 早已投入使用的 v. 建立，設(shè)立

psychology n. 心理學；心理特點，心理狀態(tài)

combat n. 戰(zhàn)斗，搏斗；爭論，反對

v. 與...作斗爭；防止，減輕

adj. 戰(zhàn)斗的

journal n. 日記，日志；雜志，期刊，報紙

It's a to-do-list, not a diary. A study published in 2017 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, showed that writing a list of tasks for the next day helped people fall asleep 9 minutes faster.

to-do-list 待辦事項列表

published in 出版于

That may not sound a lot but it's a similar result to a lot of pharmaceutical trials for sleeping aid drugs. The reason you focus on a to-do-list is that these are the type of thoughts that normally keep us awake.

pharmaceutical adj. 制藥的 n. 藥物；制藥公司股票

trials n. 嘗試，努力；審判；考驗

keep sb. awake （使）某人保持清醒

Sure, sometimes you will sit there embarrassed about some stupid thing you did like missing a meeting or calling your partner someone else's name. But normally it's about things in the future; tests, bills, work, the apocalypse, you know, that staff.

apocalypse n. 啟示；天啟；大災(zāi)難

Our mind pays more attention to uncomplete tasks. For example, most of us have one person we were attracted to but we never did anything about it. That memory can stay with for your lifetime.

pays more attention to 更加注意/注重

If you had asked them out and you had dated a while and then broke up, you're much more likely to forget them, the task was completed. So, the process of writing things down will help you to stop overthinking.

date n. 日期；約會；時候；時期

v.過時；注明日期；與（某人）談戀愛

broke up 分手

It's like you have taken some of the weight out of your mind. You're saying ''Hey Brain, I know this is important, I promise I well do something about it. '' Another method is to try to distract your mind. But not just any distraction, something peaceful that requires concentration. If you just watch TV, it's still easy for your mind to wonder.

distract v. 分散(思想)；(使)分心；轉(zhuǎn)移(注意力)

distraction n.分散注意力；娛樂；消遣；使人分心的事

requires v. 要求；需要； (尤指根據(jù)法規(guī))規(guī)定；使做(某事)；使擁有(某物)；依賴；依靠

concentration n. 關(guān)注；專心；重視；濃度；集中；專注；聚集；

So, meditation is an excellent option but if that doesn't appeal, try practicing a new skill. Maybe you learn to point or draw. How about learning a new instrument or teaching yourself to cook.

meditation n. 冥想; 沉思; 深思; 沉思錄;

excellent adj. 極好的; 杰出的; 非凡的

appeal n. 上訴；(尤指慈善機構(gòu)或警方的)呼吁，懇求；吸引力；申訴；魅力；感染；啟發(fā)

v. 上訴；呼吁；申訴；吁請；有吸引力；懇求；啟發(fā)；有感染力；引起興趣

instrument n. 樂器；(車輛、機器的)儀器，儀表；器械，器具(工具)；手段;

Not only will these skills bring you happiness on their own, (but also) they will act as an excellent distraction because you need to concentrate. And our final message (that) is give yourself a break. All you can do is your best so stop trying to make every part of your life perfect. Because here's a secret: we're all just making it up as we go along.

concentrate v. 集中(注意力)；使…集中(或集合、聚集)；(使)濃縮；聚精會神

n. 濃縮物

go along 繼續(xù)，進行；進展，發(fā)展，進步