Intrusive Thoughts, Anxiety, and Finding Calm: Why Awareness Gives Us Choice

Sometimes I notice my internal voice getting louder during particular times in my life. When it is constant and narrating every moment of my day, I can almost guarantee it will intensify at night. This is often when the brain decides it is time to sort through decades’ worth of memories and unfinished business. Many people describe this as overthinking, rumination, or intrusive thoughts.

When the Internal Voice Gets Loud

Intrusive thoughts and anxiety can feel like being caught on a busy dual carriageway. Each thought rushes forward on a well-worn route of worry. At times it feels too fast, with the heart racing and breath quickening. At other times, it feels like a traffic jam, breath caught in the throat, or even a “crash” that spirals into panic.

This imagery mirrors what happens in the nervous system. When the body perceives a threat, even if the threat is only imagined or remembered, the sympathetic branch of the nervous system activates. This increases heart rate, changes breathing patterns, and creates a state of vigilance.

Awareness Creates Choice

The busy road metaphor can help us recognise that we are not the road itself but observers of it. When we bring awareness to our thoughts, we can begin to notice the routes they are taking. Awareness allows us to choose whether to stay focusing on the road or to 'pull over into a lay-by'.

Pulling over might mean pausing to stretch, inhaling and exhaling, gently rolling the neck, or grounding the feet on the floor as you 'get out of the vehicle'. It might mean shifting attention to sensations in the body, which can interrupt cycles of anxious thought. Somatic therapies emphasise this awareness of posture, tension, and breath as an essential part of calming a busy mind.

Our brain contains about 86 billion neurons, connected by trillions of neural pathways. When we follow the same anxious thought repeatedly, we reinforce that pathway. But when we shift attention elsewhere, to a new image, a different breath pattern, or a calmer bodily state, we begin to strengthen alternative pathways. This is the essence of neuroplasticity, the brain’s capacity to change through experience (Doidge, 2007).

The River of Thought

For some people, roads may not be a helpful image. If there has been a traumatic experience linked to roads, imagining thoughts in this way could feel activating. In that case, the metaphor of a river may feel more compassionate.

The river of thought may sometimes flow turbulently, carrying us away with its current. At other times, it may feel blocked, as though a dam is holding pressure behind it. The invitation here is to moor the boat, step onto the riverbank, and wander into a new landscape.

Both the road and the river metaphors emphasise that while we cannot always stop thoughts from arising, we can shift our relationship with them. This mirrors cognitive defusion, a practice in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes, 1999), which helps us step back from thoughts rather than being swept away by them.

Bringing Intention to the Body and Mind

Whether you picture a busy road, a river, or another landscape entirely, the important step is intention. By observing what is happening internally and responding with care, you give your mind and body the message that you are safe enough to pause.

Over time, this builds interoceptive awareness, the capacity to notice internal signals such as breath, heartbeat, and muscle tension. Interoception is central to nervous system regulation and to developing a calmer relationship with intrusive thoughts.

Moving Towards Rest and Play

When you step out of the traffic or the turbulent current, you create the possibility of rest and even play. Imagining yourself going on a journey somewhere different, maybe even bringing to mind walking in a field, a woodland path, or by the sea, opens space for different neural pathways to activate. The body can release tense shoulders, unclench the jaw, and soften bracing muscles.

In therapy, this process can be shared, supported and held with understanding. Together, we can notice where your thoughts tend to travel, how they affect your body, and what helps you find gentler, more nurturing routes. The goal is not to stop thoughts entirely but to expand the choices available to you, so that rest and curiosity become as possible as worry and fear.