Your mind is a lot like a busy downtown intersection. Hundreds of thoughts, feelings, impulses, and decisions rush through it at any moment. Not all are benign or pleasant. Sometimes, negative, unwanted, and downright disturbing thoughts wiggle their way to the front of your awareness. These ideas intrude on our peace of mind, and dealing with them can be a nightmarish ordeal.
Luckily, modern psychology and neuroscience have shed light on the mechanisms responsible for intrusive thoughts. We’re now more equipped than ever to handle these nasty intruders when they appear. If you routinely suffer from unwanted ruminations that derail your focus and steal your peace of mind, here are five mind-saving tips to alleviate anxiety and stay centered.
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Don’t Fight The Thoughts
Trying to block out an intrusive thought is one of the most common mistakes people make. Given how disturbing intrusive thoughts can get, attempting to suppress them is an understandable reaction.
Unfortunately, fighting your thoughts does little to stop them. In fact, doing so tends to have the opposite effect. Wrestling with your negative thoughts only strengthens your brain’s sensitivity and anxiety response toward them. So what should you do instead?
The first step to managing intrusive thoughts is reducing your sensitivity towards them. Resist the urge to block them. Give them space to pass through your mind uninterrupted and avoid labeling them (i.e., ‘good thoughts, ‘evil thoughts, etc.).
The less you fixate on these ideas and their potential meanings, the weaker their presence becomes. Doing so requires patience and, more importantly, practice.
Solution: Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully aware and present in a given moment. By being mindful, you’re taking a moment to slow down and take notice of your surroundings, bodily sensations, and thoughts.
The most common method of arriving at this mind state is mindfulness meditation. Daily meditation allows you to hone your ability to notice your mind wandering into thought and trains you to gently re-shift your awareness back to the present. If you’re new to mindfulness-based meditation, here’s a simple routine you can follow:
- Find a comfortable place to sit.
- Set a timer for ten minutes.
- Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
- Focus on the rhythm of your breath, paying attention to any movements or sensations that arise.
- If you notice your mind wandering, acknowledge the thoughts and gently guide your awareness back to your breath.
- At the end of your practice, take a few moments to let your mind do what it wants before directing your attention back to the present.
If you’d prefer a guided approach to your daily practice, there are hundreds of excellent free guided meditations online. You can also subscribe to meditation apps like Headspace or Waking Up for a more structured, comprehensive approach.
Mindfulness meditation is an excellent tool for managing intrusive thinking. It teaches you to recognize thought patterns that lead to harmful ruminations and trains you to acknowledge your thoughts without judgment. Remember, consistency is vital for getting the most out of mindfulness meditation because, like most skills, mindfulness takes practice.
Don’t Give Your Thoughts Power
Intrusive thoughts have a powerful hold on our psyche because we obsess over the possibility they reflect our ‘true’ desires, intentions, and moral values. The more these thoughts invade our conscious awareness, the stronger the association between ‘thought’ and ‘reality’ becomes. Eventually, we arrive at a mistaken but terrifying conclusion: we are our thoughts. Dispelling this belief is a pivotal step in diminishing the power of intrusive thoughts.
Solution: CBT
Here’s where cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can come in handy. CBT is a psychological treatment tool clinicians use to treat a range of mental health issues, including depression, OCD, and generalized anxiety. CBT can help you reframe your perspective on thoughts by challenging the conclusions your mind draws from them. With a professional’s guidance, CBT can aid you in mapping out negative thoughts, identifying illogical assertions, and breaking obsessive cycles.
Combined, CBT and mindfulness create a potent antidote to the chaos of negative intrusive thoughts. Daily mindful practice allows you to observe your thoughts from a distance and regard them as another component of your conscious experience, like a flock of birds flying overhead. In other words, becoming an observer can significantly reduce the visceral panic and anxiety that intrusive thoughts cause. CBT finishes the job by helping you spot cognitive distortions before they become deeply rooted beliefs. Together, mindfulness-based CBT is one of the most effective methods for eliminating intrusive thoughts’ power over you and your mental well-being.
Consider getting in touch with a mental health professional specializing in CBT and mindfulness-based treatment approaches. Here’s a more in-depth guide to mindfulness-based CBT and how it can benefit you.
Cut Yourself Some Slack
Dealing with intrusive thinking is frustrating and debilitating. At times, it might feel like you’re going completely insane. You might blame yourself for entertaining the thoughts or having them in the first place. During moments like these, it’s crucial to treat yourself with kindness.
Solution: Practice Self-Compassion
By approaching your struggles with empathy, you become more receptive to change. You learn to treat yourself as a person worthy of compassion and understanding. Most importantly, you give yourself the self-confidence and courage necessary for managing your ruminations and lessening their hold on your life.
Final Thoughts
You don’t have to be a victim of your thoughts and ruminations. With the proper time, support, and tools, you can radically diminish the frequency and severity of intrusive thinking. Remember, the tips outlined above are highly effective support tools but aren’t a substitute for professional help. If intrusive thoughts are ruining your ability to function on a day-to-day basis, get in touch with a mental health practitioner and take the first steps to regain control of your life.