I recently finished the book ‘Don’t believe everything you think’ by Joseph Nguyen. It’s a small book with an important message that thoughts and thinking are not the same thing.

Thoughts, the books tells us, are a noun and NOT something we do, but something we have.  They take no effort, we have no control over them and they’re just something that happens to us. 

Thinking, on the other hand, takes significant effort and depletes our limited mental energy.

When we have OCD we spend a HUGE amount of our time thinking about and analysing our thoughts, trying to work out if they have any meaning or significance.  This type of thinking, also know as rumination, only leads to further rumination, unease and anxiety.

Everyone has thoughts, some of them good some of them more intrusive but when we have OCD these thoughts do tend to feel stickier and more significant. 

There’s research gone into why this is but as far as I’m aware to date there’s no clear answer.  It seems that the circuits which alert us to danger are ‘overactive’ for whatever reason and so when these uncontrollable thought’s drift in, our brain makes us think they need our attention, NOW and we should try to resolve them – which is impossible in OCD by the way.

I’ve found over the years that I have to pay very little attention to the thoughts that come in and the less I listen to that voice in my head the happier I tend to be. It’s ability to go from 1-100 in seconds is off the scale but when I allow myself to be present and not tune into the noise, I like who I am a lot more.

Be aware of getting stuck in loops

Did you know that about 80% of your thoughts are negative – negativity bias – and on top of that most of our thoughts each day are the same – something like 90%!

As we age our autopilot gets worse and it’s easier to get stuck in negative loops. 

Therefore, a way to be more present and come off autopilot is essential for everyone but particularly when we have OCD. It allows us to pull our head up above the noise for long enough to see that OCD is all smoke and mirrors so we can carry on with our lives.

Yoga has been this tool for me and it has been truly lifechanging in this respect.  At it’s core yoga is all about action and reflection, bringing in self-awareness and presence. This is what you need in OCD, because once you start thinking about those thoughts and it becomes automatic, before you know it you’re tumbling down  that rabbit hole as a matter of routine!

Do you find yourself lost in the same loops?  Which tools do you use to bring awareness in?
I’d love to hear. 

As always,
Stay Strong xxx