Awareness is not rumination, though: when we are aware, we simply turn our attention to both our inner and outer experience, without judgment and without clinging or resisting. In fact, one of the best skills an overthinker can develop is to distinguish between awareness and anxiety—the first is neutral, comfortable, and still. The second is tinged with emotion and tends to get carried away with itself. For overthinkers, we tend to go into anxiety when simple awareness is all that’s called for.
