Psych Central

Stuck thoughts… the brick walls that form a prison around your mind. The harder you try to get rid of them, the more powerful they become.

I’ve been wrestling with stuck thoughts ever since I was in fourth grade. The content or nature of the obsessions has morphed into many different animals over the course of 30-plus years, but their intensity and frequency remain unchanged.

Here are some strategies I use when they make a surprise visit, techniques that help me free myself from their hold.

Here’s the Coles notes edition — but read the whole article.

1. Don’t talk back.
2. Know it will pass.
3. Focus on now.
4. Tune into the senses.
5. Do something else.
6. Change your obsession.
7. Blame the chemistry.
8. Picture it.
9. Admit powerlessness.

They are very good suggestions — once you are in those thoughts. But, notice what is missing.

One of the critical pieces these sorts of programs almost always ignore is WHY those thoughts are there, to begin with. Those thoughts don’t just materialize out of thin air. They are, to quote Jung, “An avoidance of legitimate suffering.”

In other words, these sorts of thoughts are, at their core, an addictive behaviour based on real emotions that are really being mishandled and, if properly handled, can cease to be the engine driving those obsessive thoughts.

But, there’s where we have to depart from psychological bandaids, come to peace with our own hearts, start to feel/grieve and learn to listen and then respond to our own heart needs in an effective manner.

Sadly, bandaids are much more popular…