Humans have a natural tendency to try to solve problems by adding rather than simplifying them. Can’t get someone to understand your point? You pile on more examples and arguments. Feel like you aren’t measuring up at work? You take on another task. But often the best solution is to just stop adding on more.

This principle applies to our minds as well. We can’t stop thinking—as Steven Hayes, the founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), likes to say, “The mind is like a calculator without a subtraction button”—but we can notice when we’re adding to our experience. Often, it’s that adding—layering on stories, judgments, or "what-ifs"—that muddies our experience and, at its worst, amplifies our distress.

Here’s a relatable example. Driving up to the mountains last week for a family ski trip, my mind went full-on "adding mode."

My mind didn’t stop there. When my back started to ache during the drive, my inner narrative kicked into overdrive:

The human mind has a way of taking a single problem and piling on layers of imagined complications. It’s like a runaway train, building speed........

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