Overcome Feelings of Stress and Overwhelm Using Mathematical Thinking

By Francis Keith Robins, author of ‘Power of Objective Thinking

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is looking at plans to ensure all school pupils in England study maths in some form until the age of 18. It’s a move that will delight cosmologists who believe the universe is one mathematical object and holds the key to order and peacefulness in our lives.

As a mathematician myself, I believe that everything is connected and that by adopting a mathematical way of thinking we can all take a step closer to achieving personal happiness and fulfilment.

If we think of everyday tasks as mathematical sets, we can train our brains to operate objectively and create a more efficient way of understanding and accepting what is going on around us. We can treat what is around us as simply a set of knowledge; computer, table, carpet.

However, we must also be aware that information we receive through our sense is not always accurate. It is not necessarily a factual representation of the outside world. When we receive information through our senses, we add our own interpretation and emotion onto this information. This can create false characteristics. Therefore, we should put this ‘knowledge’ into a separate set so that we are not tempted to create a picture of the world around us based on this erroneous information.

Sets are groups or lists of objects with specific characteristics; they are connected. For example, if we want to get from A to B we create a set that contains all the transport options. This helps us to think objectively without pre-sorting options based on subjective feelings or perceptions.

But the modern world, in which we are bombarded with information, including a heavy reliance on social media, has deteriorated our quality of thinking and with it, our level of personal happiness. We are now heavily influenced by external snapshots of other people’s lives, which leads to created, and often false, perceptions. Learning how to think objectively can be hugely beneficial in overcoming stress, especially for teenagers suffering with mental health problems, as it is often the perceptions that are creating the stress.

By moving away from creating a subjective picture of the world, and instead focusing on objective mathematical thinking models you can concentrate on making the most of your life. You can seek members of sets that you wish to try. For example, a set of TV channels, with subsets of programmes to watch. Or a set of elements in your neighbourhood to visit with subsets like museums, shops, cafes, etc.

Mathematical thinking

Adopting a mathematical thinking model in order to reduce stress and anxiety doesn’t involve ‘doing’ any maths. It is about thinking differently so you can stop feeling overwhelmed. By classifying information and put it into, what is known as, mathematical sets. In particular we can classify information we receive and ensure we focus on what is important, like kindness, helpfulness, loyalty, honesty, etc.

Here are a few tips, based on a mathematical way of thinking, that will help reduce stress and overwhelm:

1. Don’t automatically assume that everything you hear is true. Treat the information as words/language that could be true or false. It’s easy to focus on appearances or on the tangible thing in front of you, but what matters most is the things you don’t discern directly through your senses, such as kindness, honesty and loyalty. As the saying goes, ‘you cannot always judge a book by its cover’.

2. Remember that everyone’s perception of reality is different. The pictures we create in our head are a product of our imagination and the way we talk to ourselves. These internal representations are simply a road map and as with any map they may be incomplete and distorted.

3. Reference the past only to find learnings or things you’d like to enjoy again. Don’t refer back to bad experiences, whether yours personally or someone else’s, or even humanity’s. Refer back only to learn. Put the event in the

‘mistakes’ set and the learnings in the ‘new approaches’ set, for example. You can also have a refer-back set called ‘experiences I loved’ so you can look to this set for things you’d like to do again.

4. Ignore what you can’t control. In general terms there is little you can do to change the outside world; you can’t stop the war in Ukraine, or the rising price of fuel, so stop focusing on what you can’t control and instead focus on what you can. Worrying about the outside world doesn’t help you and won’t change it. Don’t try to control things you can’t control. Focus on what you can do. This frees up the mind and ensures it is not cluttered with perceptions and generalisations which far better for our mental health.

5. Adopt a childlike quality that allows things to go over your head. When we are very young, we don’t really think beyond what makes us happy. We don’t worry about what other people think of us and we are much more in tune with our sensory pleasures such as touch, smell and sound. A child’s faith is unshakable, they don’t question, doubt or seek explanations when they are doing something that gives them pleasure. As long as what you are doing is not dangerous or life-threatening, enjoy it for what it is.

6. Remember every decision has a consequence. This can be mathematically represented by an equation: decision = consequences. Both sides form a set, and this can be used for teaching/learning purposes whether talking to children or adults about the consequences of their actions.

7. Stop making generalisations about people or stereotyping them, this is the source of many conflicts. Everyone is unique, which can be represented as a unique set of knowledge (although everyone is based on the same template). Allow them the courtesy and opportunity to show you their uniqueness, rather than pigeonholing them before you even know anything about them. This applies to individuals, and groups of people. By thinking of them as mathematical sets, the emotion can be removed and only the objective fact of the set remains.

8. Routine and structure. Everyone should create a routine and structure in their lives that allows them to ensure the important parts of life are dealt with and included. These need to be in the ‘priority set’. Focus on things that matter to you. Someone else will have different priorities.

9. Learn philosophical phrases such as ‘worse things could happen.’ It reminds us that perhaps things are not as bad as we think. Saying these phrases will help lessen the stress you are feeling over a particular issue/incident. No, it’s not a panacea but it can certainly help.

10. Remove all objects from your environment which you know will cause weakness. These can be in mathematical sets of mistakes, precautions, etc. For example, eating crisps is a mistake if want to lose weight. So, add ‘remove crisps from the house’ to the precaution set. Having constantly to battle temptation is enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed!

11. Everyone makes mistakes, don’t beat yourself up about them. If they are important mistakes, break them down into sets; the mistake; the learning. And then share these sets with colleagues and other connected individuals.

Remember, the mistake is in the past, make corrections if you can and learn for the future. I believe, it should be role of the parent, with a backup of education, to teach children possible common mistakes and their relevant precautions. This mean youngsters are not only learning by making mistakes.

12. Consider adding non-academic skills to your routine, such as sport or art and join groups where you will find people with similar interests. As a parent or teacher look for the child’s non-academic skills too. Learning new social skills can help you make friends if you find this challenging. Being among like-minded people can be a real tonic. We are not alone, our problems can be shared, and we can see that other people are also struggling with their own overwhelm.

13. Challenge celebrity culture, bullying, crime and racism. Concentrate on living your life and focus on the qualities we can’t discern from our senses, like kindness, helpfulness and empathy, as these are far more rewarding for the body and mind.

Although these ways of thinking may not immediately appear mathematical, each suggestion comes from mathematical thinking where the facts are what matters, not the assumptions, or external influences or the things we cannot control – just ourselves, what we can control, and the facts we can be sure of.

Problem solving

Sometimes overwhelm and stress can come from a problem or challenges that seems impossible to solve. Once again, maths can help. Maths offers us a way to think of problems in sets. Everything in our lives can be classified in sets. In it’s very simplest, this may take the form of:

Action required - Get out of bed

One can apply set thinking by classifying getting out of bed as a set, and expanding this into get out on the right, the left or at the bottom.

You now have all the options and can make a decision.

Next you want to go to the bathroom (this is the action required), so create a set and expand this by including all the ways of getting to bathroom.

Now have the options and can make a decision.

But how do you make a decision? Again, this can be represented as a mathematical equation: decision = consequence.

This equation, with the sets, can be used when deciding on a course of action; create a set of options (as above) and a set of their consequences. From here you can objectively make the decision. There are plenty of rules in life and you have the freewill to decide whether you will follow them, but remember each action has a consequence. Essentially, life is a series of decisions; consider the consequence of each decision and use your freewill to decide on the action you will take.

Everything that exists in the universe is in a relationship with something else. Nothing exists in isolation. For example, monad is a subset of human, which in turn is a subset of mankind. They are all part of the same set (mankind); ultimately, they can be classed as a part of the whole human knowledge set. The mathematical element of life is not about number crunching, it’s simply about creating sets.

The important thing is to try not to get set in your ways. Humans are such creatures of habit but the more flexible we can be in our everyday life, the more we are engaging our mind and connecting with what is around us. So,

We are already unconsciously adopting math sets in our daily lives but by changing or even tweaking the combinations or items in the set, we can achieve some of the contentment we remember feeling as a child.

About The Author

Francis Keith Robins is author of ‘Power of Objective Thinking’ which shows us how to use, tried and tested objective thinking patterns to reduce stress and a sense of overwhelm or helplessness. Francis has a hypersensitive mind and thinks objectively by default. He has developed a template to create an objective model for any experience or system.

www.powerofobjectivethinking.com