Challenging Distorted Thoughts & Feelings

In the last post I talked about replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts, which at first was hard but it became easier and at last I didn't have the negative thoughts at all. We also talked about being in the present, in the book Mindfullnes Workout for OCD also talks about the importance of being in the present or rather thinking in the present. Many of us don't live in the present we live in the past most of the time and sometimes in the future getting worried about what might be. The book suggest that we practice meditation and breathing, breathing deep while being aware of what we think specially if we get a distorted thought an OCD thought the idea is to be in the present and not react to the thought but to simply acknowledge that there it is an that it may or may not make any sense but that we exist in that moment of breathing and that were seating some place the thought has no power it just simply is. We could analyze it or not we can definitely replace it with a positive thought. Meditation with the breathing technics can return us and/or ground us to the present.

The idea is to challenge the distorted way of thinking. Let me quote from the book:

"By using mindfulness to notice what your mind is doing— calling it out and saying, I’m doing ___________ (name of distortion)— you are simultaneously accepting it as it is and challenging it. When you become aware that your mind is engaging in a way of thinking, you open yourself to the opportunity to release that thinking and return to the present. The power of noticing when your thinking is distorted is the crossroad between cognitive therapy and mindfulness. When you challenge a distorted way of thinking, it’s important to remember that you are challenging the distortion, not the thought itself. In other words, you may have a thought about being dirty. That’s the thought you are having, so trying to convince yourself that you are clean will only push you in the direction of washing. However, challenging such notions as, Because I had a thought about being dirty, I must wash can give you the freedom to make a noncompulsive choice. So the goal is not to prove your fears away, but to demonstrate to your mind that you can be in the presence of your fear without having to respond to it with compulsions."

Besides thoughts we can also challenge feelings, feelings are not facts. We may feel that that something bad is going to happen if we don't do X ritual but, we can challenge not only the thought that led to the feeling but the feeling itself. Feeling at risk does not place you at risk thinking that you're the president or an astronaut does not make you that either.

With OCD we sometimes want to achieve perfection and or order we also tend to see things thought and feelings in Black and White the truth is that there are many gradients and many shades of gray , 256 shades of gray I think also, nothing in the world is perfect we may want it, we may even reach for perfection but it does not exist! who is to say what perfect is? And it is the imperfections that make everything beautiful, it is the shades that make colors beautiful and interesting, when looking at a beautiful mountain side or hill with many rocks and trees it is so beautiful and it is not a cube there are almost no straight lines or geometric shapes, nothing seems to be in order waterfalls rocks and trees are placed at random and the scenery is beautiful vibrant and alive with many colors, the imperfections is what makes it the perfect panorama, nothing is black and white or perfect so let's not try to make it so.

Challenging, observing, and replacing our OCD thoughts while they are happening will allow us to see how the thought is distorted and will allow us to see that it is only a thought, a thought only! We can breath, Analyze or meditate on that thought so that we can observe it and understand that it's only a thought triggering a feeling (fear or anxiety) or a feeling triggering a thought either way as we simply accept the thought for what it is and perhaps replacing it with a positive one (which leads to not be compulsive) will give us clarity to see that the that it was a distorted thought and we'll once again return to the present.

I guess OCD are distorted thoughts and feelings that lead to a distorted action. OCD always has the finger in the fear button, but if we ground ourselves in the present and just look at the thoughts for what they are we can make the mindful decision that we don't have to do the impulse.

Instead of obsessing over a thought or a feeling, let's just look at it for what it is and know that it has no power over you and no power over your actions which leads to no compulsion.

Know that

1. OCD Thoughts and feelings have no power over us.

2. Nothing is perfect.

3. Nothing is only black and white.

4. We cannot predict the future.

5. The past is gone so don't dwel on it. Don't dwel on it move on.

I've put this into practice and it has been wonderful. I have more energy, I'm in a better mood, I'm more creative, and a lot of my OCDs no longer have power over me!!! My goal is to not have any!

I gotta do some of the mindfulness we've been talking about in just a bit cause there is a few distorted actions I still do so I gotta explore what the thought process is there. I know I'll be fine and not do them,

Be well,

Eddie