Don't Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is the Beginning & End of Suffering
35 pages • 1-hour read
Joseph NguyenDon't Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is the Beginning & End of Suffering
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Themes
Freedom From Overthinking
The heart of Nguyen’s thesis is that what he calls “thinking,” more specifically overthinking, is the chief cause of human suffering. Whereas pain is an objective reality that manifests as a physical sensation, suffering is a mental response that takes its shape depending upon the kind of narratives a person tells themselves. The mind cannot make pain go away—and pain can be emotional as well as physical—but the mind can decide how to understand that pain beyond its immediate effect.
A person has much more control than they realize over their own mental state. As Nguyen states:
Our perception of reality is very real. We feel what we think, and our emotions are real […]. What I am saying is that how we feel will like look like an inevitable, unchangeable reality until we recognize the role that our thinking plays in creating it […]. We are only ever one thought away from transforming our lives and letting go of our suffering (30).
Nobody can control what happens to them, but they can largely control how they think about it. According to Nguyen, the thinking mind is trained to see the world in terms of threats, both to one’s physical health and to one’s sense of belonging within a group. The longer that a train of thought proceeds, the more likely it is to wade into anxiety, self-doubt, even panic, because the sustained act of thinking pulls a person away from the moment into a realm of hypotheticals where everything that could go wrong is always a possibility.
Regaining control over one’s mind is not even particularly difficult, although it does require breaking with what are often established habits. The natural condition of the mind is one of peace and harmony with nature. The ego is a psychological construct developed over time, which “takes us away from the present moment and into the past or future, which are the only times regret or anxiety exist. You do not have to ‘try’ to be present or ‘think positively’ to enjoy love, joy, bliss, or any other positive emotions because those emotions are our natural state” (54). Overthinking is a conscious choice. It is always possible to be free from it, even if it’s all but impossible to avoid overthinking all the time. According to Nguyen, the reader has the power to free themselves from the prisons of their own devising.
The Power of Creativity
Nguyen acknowledges a common objection to his teaching, that a state of “non-thinking” is incompatible with work and productivity. If a person is not thinking, they would seemingly be unable to plan ahead, work through challenging tasks, or cooperate with others, because they always operating in the present moment and keeping their minds free of stress.
Nguyen responds to this objection by clarifying the difference between “thought” and “thinking.” “Thought” is an essential and salutary task, while “thinking” is dangerous because it follows the same script every time. The rational mind, Nguyen argues, is a result of humanity’s primeval condition. As he writes, “our minds evolved to fear being judged or doing the wrong thing in order to remain accepted by others and not get kicked out of the tribe. Because of this, we sacrificed our individuality and uniqueness to fit in. We learned to not be too different or weird because it might result in us being ostracized” (38).
In this mode of argument, Nguyen is following a philosophic tradition that includes Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who regard the individual as the only natural unit of humanity, and attribute the decline of the human condition to the introduction of socialization. Nguyen is not quite as pessimistic as his forebears, but he does share their core assumption that everything evil comes from without. One’s own mind might be the immediate source of trouble, but it’s because the mind is picking up dangers, social expectations, and all manner of noise that interferes with the ability to exist in one’s natural and social environment.
The problem is reason, a socially constructed view of what a person ought to be doing. It’s not the same as thought, contrary to a more Enlightenment-rooted philosophic tradition. The mind is capable of extraordinary things, but Nguyen finds these to be within the realm of creativity rather than reason. One should follow intuition rather than the hectoring rational mind. Great achievements come from inspiration, driving one to create things in line with their values and sense of true self. The act of being inspired can be even more important than the thing being achieved: “Goals born from love of the work itself will lead to greater happiness than goals based on achieving a certain output” (83).
The rational part of the brain cannot be dismissed entirely, but if it serves a purpose, it is to help drive a creative process more closely linked to the soul.
Strategies for Improved Mental Health
For this expanded version of the book, Nguyen promises that he will offer more practical advice on how to apply his concepts to everyday life and improve the mental health of his readers. This might seem counterintuitive, as his central concept is that thinking is the main cause of suffering and must be reduced as much as possible to achieve happiness. Not thinking might seem opposed to practicality itself.
However, Nguyen argues that it is actually quite simple, if not always easy, to reduce the role of overthinking. For example, the PAUSE method aims to be a quick and easy way to slow down, center the mind, and to remind oneself that “thinking is the root cause of suffering” (130). This method offers the reminder that suffering (unlike pain) is a choice, and that a person is typically capable of how much suffering they want to endure. PAUSE is an immediate response to a moment of mental stress.
Activation rituals entail a more routinized practice. They can take many forms, such as meditating, going for a walk, journaling, or any other activity which helps ease the mind. They are typically done in the morning in order to “help you enter a state of non-thinking and enable you to align with your highest self. This is why all the greatest spiritual masters have morning rituals or routines” (139).
To those who might object that less thinking interferes with the practical tasks of life, such as work or pursuing personal goals, Nguyen argues that a clearer mind helps a person overcome destructive habits that preclude achievement, allowing a person to see the thought processes that either enhance or detract from their productivity. A person can identify the “triggers” that bring about overthinking, such as a lack of sleep, too much time with digital devices, or a distracting environment. Having done so, they can structure their environment so as to enter into a state of non-thinking more easily.
The methods involved are not necessarily easy—the mind is powerful and everyone will slip into habits of negative thinking from time to time. However, Nguyen emphasizes that it does not take superhuman effort to get past these tendencies when they arise—there are simple steps accessible to each and every person.
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