Have you ever been immersed in a cycle of thoughts that you don’t know how to get out of? Have you ever experienced the uncomfortable feeling of not being able to “eject” an idea that harms you from your mind? Like catchy music, do you feel unable to think clearly because the background melody of some repetitive thought is constantly playing? In this article we will provide you information about Intrusive thoughts.
If you think these examples explain your situation, you may be a habitual victim of intrusive thoughts . Next, we’ll see exactly what they are.
intrusive thoughts
Obsessions are intrusive, repetitive, and distracting thoughts that remain in our minds for long periods of time, despite attempts to fight or flee them. It is these intrusive thoughts that we do not want to have, because we are aware of their uselessness / dysfunctionality and which, however, end up coming to us again and again, disturbing our calm and making the task of concentration difficult.
If you don’t work on them , these intrusive thoughts can end up becoming the axis of our lives , because while we put all our attention on them, we exclude the reality that surrounds us. We feel unable to redirect our attention to other stimuli because obsessive thinking rules everything. Thinking and rethinking things is perhaps one of the most frequent problems in our society, being a source of anxiety, suffering, incapacity…
How are obsessions generated?
Obsessions arise because we develop the illusion of absolute controllability. We want to have everything under our control, because we have not learned to tolerate uncertainty, but this illusion repeatedly collapses when we see that certain circumstances in life are uncontrollable , for example, illnesses or the behavior of other people.
Obsessive thoughts can also appear when we find ourselves in the situation of having to make a decision and not knowing what to choose within the possibilities. We spin around for days, months or even years, falling into the trap of immobilizing obsession, not realizing that not deciding is deciding.
Giorgio Nardone exposes in his book “I think I suffer later” that doubts are the springboard for launching our creative thinking, but also the spring of obsessive thinking. In the first case, doubt is mastered and oriented, leading to the discovery of new thoughts. In the second, it is fought and repressed, and it becomes the tyrant who persecutes thought.
As it is very likely that we will never be sure that the decision we make is the right one, it is advisable to dedicate the time strictly necessary to evaluate the pros and cons and then decide, taking responsibility for the fact that we were wrong and learning to give up the path. that we decided not to follow.
Dispute between thoughts
Our conscious being tends to rationally reject those intrusive thoughts that bother us . This is normal, because if you stop to think about it, you will realize that there are enough stressful events to live with constant discomfort if our attention cannot disengage from them.
Therefore, a fight between rational thoughts and irrational or uncomfortable thoughts is likely to sometimes break out. On the one hand, these uncomfortable thoughts, being “forbidden”, have a lot of potential to draw our attention to them . On the other hand, the part of thoughts and feelings that we can tolerate does not need to be strong enough to “cover” all of our reality, leaving no gaps.
However, there is the paradox that thinking we don’t want to think about something is focusing our attention on it, and there is the frustration of wanting to erase a thought from our mind and have the opposite effect: strengthen it.
How can we manage intrusive thoughts?
Obsessive thoughts are a symptom that tells us something. That is why one of the first steps should be pulling the thread (alone if we are trained or in the company of a trained professional) to find out where they come from and why they are kept and can work on it from the beginning .
Otherwise, the cause that pushes these intrusive thoughts towards our consciousness will continue to do so, and not only that, but we will slowly succumb to the force of stress. Therefore, we must go beyond the immediate symptoms and look for causes that explain this phenomenon.
Additionally, we can use a number of tactics to properly manage intrusive thoughts and lessen their impact on our lives.
1. Dissociation of thoughts
Discover and accept that you are not your thoughts. You don’t decide what comes to mind or not, but you can select what interests you and want to stay and send it to the SPAM folder .
When thought appears, there is no point in fighting it, it will become stronger. Find out why it pops into your mind and decide if you should focus on it. If not, say goodbye and visualize how it goes.
It is an exercise that requires effort and training, and it is normal that, at first, you see that the results are not what you expected or that it is very difficult to disconnect. But if you work constantly, you’ll find that they eventually lose strength and disappear.
Carrying out activities that promote concentration, attention and self-control.
Training your mind in techniques like meditation, yoga, or mindfulness will help you gain self-control over your own thoughts and learn to focus your attention on other areas when recurring thoughts arise.
2. Perform physical exercise frequently
Thoughts are energy, and it’s much easier to control them when we release the excess energy our bodies generate. Therefore, daily physical exercise will help us to have a clearer and more relaxed mind as the intensity of recurring thoughts decreases.
3. Daily dedication to thinking about disturbing thoughts
If you’ve been thinking about a thought for a long time and you can’t let go of it, spend 15 minutes a day, always at the same time and in the same place, to think only and exclusively about it. You can take notes and put your thoughts in writing to increase productivity, but once the alarm goes off that the quarter hour has passed, you won’t be able to think about it again until the next day.
4. Avoid continually talking about recurring thoughts
Continuously seeking people’s reassurance or opinion is a double-edged sword . On the one hand, it produces temporary tranquility or “relief”, but on the other hand, it encourages and reinforces the maintenance of the problem, as well as the feeling that we are not capable of solving it, which generates feelings of low self-esteem and interpersonal dependency.
When is it necessary to contact a professional?
If the recurring thoughts become a vicious obsessive circle that you don’t see yourself able to release, affect your daily life and significantly impair your quality of life, it is advisable to visit a specialist with whom you can analyze your situation , find out the causes of the appearance and maintenance of obsessions and learn tools that will allow you to learn to think in a healthier and more effective way.
