Change the songs looping in your head. If the soundtrack is all heartbreak, the whole movie feels sad.

What you rehearse internally sets the tone of everything else. A mind playing the same three painful scenes on repeat colours ordinary afternoons that had nothing to do with them, and the repetition feels like thinking while producing none of the results thinking produces. It is a loop, not an analysis.

When you notice the reel starting, change the input rather than arguing with it. Music, a walk, somebody’s voice, a task with your hands. Interrupting the loop early is much easier than reasoning your way out of it later.