Rewire Your Brain Series: Break Doom Loops

I’m Thinking Chocolate

I think chocolate is the best thing on this planet, next to humans and dogs. The world would be a better place if all 7 billion of us ate chocolate every day. The world would be happier. Less irritable. War would cease. I think.

Every time I see an ad for chocolate—Lindt, Ghirardelli, Cadbury, Godiva, Hersheys, m&m’s, Nutella—I think, yes! You people get me. You don’t need to convince me that chocolate is one of the seven wonders of the world. It is, right? Save your ad dollars to persuade all those who don’t yet love chocolate like I do.

A Look Inside My Loop

I’m going to eat chocolate every day for the rest of my life. But wait! A few years ago, there was a global raw cocoa shortage. What if, one day, a piece of chocolate cost $38? Would I still buy it? There’s no question. What if it cost $3,800? I’m afraid. Wait, maybe I’m a tiny bit relieved. We will never run out of chocolate. I heard that major chocolate companies are creating lab-grown cocoa to combat future global shortages. Whew.

Wait. They’re putting more chemicals in our food that will probably kill us. Have you heard that Bill Gates owns 275,000 acres of US farmland? Wait. I bet he’s friends with Monsanto. What if I’m not able to achieve my goal of eating real chocolate every day for the rest of my life. Should I stockpile chocolate in my basement? How long could it last? Let me google that. I can’t resolve any of this. Let me play that loop on repeat.

That’s a doom loop, also known as a doom spiral. Your doom loops may look different from mine. I wish I could say that chocolate worries were my only doom loops, but they are not. Since surviving cardiac arrest, anoxic brain injury altered the way my brain works. If stopping ridiculous thoughts were as easy as telling yourself to stop, we’d never have another doom loop—but we still do. When you are stuck in a doom loop, it’s easy to spiral downward. I know.

I laughed out loud. The truth is, I know what it’s like to sit on a nickel and swing my legs. You probably do, too.

There’s hope. We can change the way we think and stop doom loops. They are unhealthy. They create anxiety, steal our joy, and make us want to give up. If you think that’s an overstatement, just watch the news. Better yet, think of the people around you. Consider your own thoughts. Doom loops aren’t harmless.

Even corkscrew rollercoasters end by closing a loop.

Connections Make Us Human

Our brains need connections. The brain makes connections all day long. It probably happens hundreds or millions of times per day, conscious or not. We don’t realize that making connections is what makes us human. If they aren’t clear and explicit, they are implied. For example, an old neon sign reading LOSED makes no sense. Without much thought, we know a store is closed.

Consider prescription drugs commercials we all enjoy. The advertisers must think we enjoy them. They all have the same format: people paragliding, a group of friends jumping from a dock into a lake, line dancing at an amusement park, or kayaking in a way that defies age. While some of these experiences are great, the majority of people who need these medications can’t do anything remotely close to them. They have difficulty walking, being awake, or grocery shopping. The brain makes the connection on its own: If those people can do line dancing on that medication, it might give me enough strength to leave the house and get coffee with a friend, and without that troublesome rash. That’s marketing at its finest.

Connections Make Us Feel Good

The New York Times has a game called Connections. Try it. The goal is to find four groups of four connected words. Solving it feels good for your brain. Even when you don’t solve it, you can see the answers. Seeing the answers lets your brain close a loop, which also feels good.

The way doom loops work is that the brain is trying to make a connection, or close a loop, and it can’t.

Think of this doom loop: I made a mistake on that last project. I wonder if my client has forgotten my seven years of excellent work and now lost all confidence in me. This could mean the end of my business relationship. When I tried calling about something unrelated, she didn’t answer. She usually doesn’t answer when she’s traveling, but now I wonder if she didn’t answer to send a message to me that she’s lost all confidence in my ability to produce good work. This just might be the end.

There is no way your brain can close that loop. There are too many questions that can’t be resolved without time, a meeting, or a discussion with answers. So, like a hard drive searching for a missing file, the brain keeps spinning, spiraling. It’s trying to make a connection that can’t be made.

That’s what causes a knot in your stomach, tension headaches, worry, anxiety, and hopelessness.

5-Second Reset

You know what breaks a doom loop? Closing another, unrelated loop. Letting the brain make a new connection lets it stop looping on the one it can’t connect.

I’m always transparent here, but I’m making an extra effort to tell you what I thought when I learned how to break doom loops. I learned it in occupational therapy. Reducing stress is foundational to helping most of my neurological issues, and many health issues in general. I thought, this sounds like something extra-fragile people need to do because they can’t face the day.

It’s not. It’s neuroscience.

So here’s the tool: Use any of your five senses to make a different connection. It has to be so easy that you can do it quickly, without major mental effort.

Pick one: Using eyesight, count how many red items you see in the room you’re in. Using your ears, listen and count the different sounds you hear. It may be birds, traffic, a printer, or someone pouring coffee. Touch five items around you that have different textures, whether smooth, jagged, cold, or dry. If you’re eating, you can name the different tastes in your sandwich, like peanut butter, blackberry jam, whole grain bread, seeds.

Doing any of these, or a variation that works for you, lets your brain close a loop, like counting red items. It shifts away from trying to close a loop that can never be closed, like, will my mistake result in lost business?

Finding Freedom

The first time I tried one of these exercises, I was surprised how well it worked. It’s not just about distraction. Breaking doom loops with one of these fluffy-sounding tasks disengages your brain from unhealthy thought patterns. You get moments of peace from closing a loop, as long as it’s simple and quick.

Do I ever get stuck in doom loops? Yes. They are nowhere near as long or severe as they used to be. It takes intention and consistent work, but over time, I’ve found myself living in freedom.

We can rewire our brains by breaking doom loops. Imagine what your life would look like if you broke one doom loop. How different would your life be if you broke 12?

The next time you feel yourself stuck in a doom spiral, I encourage you to use your senses to close a loop. Count the number of red cars you see in the next 10 seconds. Touch five different textures. These simple tasks can break harmful, downward thought spirals. Do it again the next day.

Humans are complicated. Who can distinguish the parts of your life that are spiritual, mental, emotional, neurological and more? For me, on the spiritual side, Jesus found me swinging my legs on a nickel right when I needed it. There are some circumstances that are beyond self-help. I believe all of us need to take practical action, regardless of your spiritual persuasion.

If you work at breaking doom loops every day, you can rewire your brain so that it’s making positive connections. Take five seconds now and break a doom loop.