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Good Life Project

The 5 Types of Overthinking and How to Turn Each One Off | Emiliya Zhivotovskaya [Best of]

Good Life Project

Jonathan Fields / Acast

Education, Wellness, Self-improvement, Midlife, Health & Fitness, Intentional Living, Personal Growth, Living Well, How To

4.53.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The voice telling you that you're not enough, that something is about to go wrong, that you should have done it differently, it sounds like you. That's exactly what makes it so hard to catch and so hard to stop.


Emiliya Zhivotovskaya has spent decades inside the science and practice of mental wellbeing, training thousands of coaches worldwide through her Certification in Applied Positive Psychology program. 


Her own path into this work began with a personal reckoning. An eating disorder that started in adolescence, years of thoughts she couldn't separate from herself, and the moment someone first told her she didn't have to be a passive recipient of what her mind was doing to her.


In this conversation, we go deep into the phenomenon most of us call overthinking and find out it's not one thing. It's five distinct types of chatter, each with its own voice, its own purpose, and its own specific antidote.


What you'll explore:

  • The five types of mind chatter: worry, motivation, mindset, judgment, and regret. And how to tell which one is running you at any given moment
  • Why high-level worriers actually problem-solve less effectively, and what to do with anxiety that won't respond to "just let it go"
  • The "I can't... yet" reframe that shifts a fixed mindset in a single word, and why it works where positive affirmations don't
  • How to take your brain to court, the evidence-based tool for the thoughts that insist you're not enough
  • Why your chatter isn't trying to destroy you, and what it's actually asking for


If you've ever found yourself exhausted not by what's happening, but by what your mind keeps doing with it, this is the conversation for it.


You can find Emiliya at: WebsiteInstagram | Mind Over Chatter Course | Episode Transcript


Next week, we're sharing our conversation with Erin Weed, talking about her book Just One Word, and the surprisingly simple method she's used to help over a thousand people unlock their purpose and finally feel clear on who they are and where they're headed. If you've ever felt like you're searching for that through-line in your life, this conversation is for you.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

So have you ever had a thought, especially a negative one that just kind of tortures you?

0:04.1

You know, one that keeps spinning in your head and you keep trying to just stop thinking about it.

0:09.8

You try and reason your way out of it or distract yourself.

0:12.6

And nothing really works.

0:14.5

You're just kind of trapped in a spin cycle of overthinking.

0:18.0

It happens to nearly everyone and it has nothing to do with how smart or

0:22.7

accomplished or confident you are. There's something else going on. According to my guest today,

0:28.4

the founder of the Flarishing Center, and a dear friend, Amelia Zivatavkaa, the reason you can't

0:34.3

stop a thought by just telling yourself to stop is that the thought is actually

0:38.1

trying to get your attention because it has a job. And it will keep trying to do that job

0:43.9

until you actually respond to it in the right way. And most of us, we've never been taught how.

0:50.2

What I didn't know going into this conversation is that overthinking it isn't actually just one thing.

0:56.2

It's five distinct types of chatter, each with a different source, a different voice pattern,

1:02.1

and a different specific response that actually quiets it.

1:06.5

Using the wrong response on the wrong type of chatter is kind of like trying to fix a leaky

1:11.7

pipe with a hammer. The tools really do matter. And Amelia has spent decades inside the

1:17.9

science and practice of mental well-being, training thousands of coaches worldwide through her

1:22.6

certification and applied positive psychology. And she came to this work through really her

1:27.2

own years of being

1:28.3

consumed by thoughts that she really didn't know that she could change. She did change him and has

1:34.2

since taught so many others how to do it. So excited to share this conversation with you. I'm

1:39.3

Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project.

...

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