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9 ways to get rid of unwanted thoughts
© Andrew Mason
This is about the ongoing saga of my friend who struggles with unwanted thoughts and phobias and has been given the (I think unhelpful) label of OCD.
If you’ve not seen the original unwanted thoughts article then it might be worth checking that out first…
What’s happening as he works through his problem is that actually, his progress goes in spirals — sort of 2 steps forward, one step back type of thing.
His last setback was actually caused by just one late night. Just the lack of sleep for one night has made it more difficult to stay on top. Everything affects everything else… Read more
The little known secret to stop TOO many thoughts
© LunaDiRimmel
My friend just called. You know, the one with “OCD”?
Well, he’s much better these days but now his mental problems have shifted somewhat. The anxiety and obsessive nature of his thoughts are much less but now he’s just getting “TOO many thoughts!”
An unpleasant way to be
Really, it’s the same solution as in the popular unwanted thoughts article. There has to be space between thoughts and an awareness of being a curious and passive observer of your own thoughts…
If you think about the opposite case — a constant stream of thinking and a sense that “these thoughts are part of me,” then you really have a very unpleasant state of affairs… Read more
Is the matrix reality?
Awake
The Matrix was an amazing and ground-breaking movie starring Keanu Reaves as “Neo.”
Neo means “new” which is an apt name as you’ll see…
What IS real?
In the movie, humans are used as power sources for machines that have taken over the world. And in the movie’s “real world,” humans are no more than battery cells. To keep the humans alive, the machines develop a computer program called “The Matrix” and the humans’ brains are plugged into it… Read more
How to get rid of unwanted thoughts
© deVos
By understanding all the factors affecting your thoughts, you can get really clear about how to get rid of your unwanted ones…
Attitude
Thoughts come back depending on the meaning you previously gave, depending on your attitude to the original event. What meaning did you give? How did you react?
To get rid, you must change the meaning and attitude to “don’t care.”
If your attitude and meaning is fear, you cause your mind to react in primitive ways that are meant to protect you from danger. Anxiety, the fight or flight state is a state to save your life in extreme danger, it’s not a state that’s good for logical thinking.
All kinds of fear cause our minds to react in this primitive way, but our brains are wired for nature, to react in natural wild environments where our ancestors evolved to deal with real fears, real dangers such as lions and attacking tribes.
What you fear, you will see everywhere. That’s just what fear does.
So, many of our modern fears are irrational, dysfunctional — our primitive reactions very often don’t work in the modern world. When fear is dysfunctional you must use your intelligence to see that it’s dysfunctional and override the instinctive program, by choosing to ignore thoughts, impulses and feelings related to the dysfunctional fear. Read more
Sit don’t wobble — zen and the art of mindfulness
© Ash
Things that stick in the mind…
With all the excitement of working on Habit Guide, I could feel myself getting hyped at times, thoughts rushing around, difficulty focusing on other stuff.
This made me put a few previously unconnected ideas together. Many years ago I watched a movie… The Long Kiss Goodnight where Samuel L. Jackson’s character repeated to himself what he was doing as he was doing it!
I’m walking to the fridge, taking out the milk etc. Said it helped him to remember things or something like that…
Very strange and curious I thought… it stuck in my mind that did.
Well, amazing… in The Miracle of Mindfulness, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh tells us to do the same thing… Read more
