Source: Image edited by the author, original from pixabay.com
Haven't you had the unpleasant experience of getting caught up in thoughts you can't get rid of so easily? It's like when we get a song stuck in our mint and we repeat it endlessly, not letting ourselves concentrate on anything else because it keeps playing.
When something like this happens to us we are victims of the commonly intrusive thoughts.
If it has happened to you don't worry, it must have happened to everyone more than once in their lives. Intrusive thoughts are unwanted ideas or images, which come involuntarily, are repetitive and sometimes very disturbing and can remain in our mind for long periods despite attempts to escape them. They are precisely intrusive because we do not want to have them, because we are aware of their uselessness or dysfunctionality, but even so they end up reaching our mind, disturbing our tranquility.
For example, a couple of years ago my husband traveled a lot on the road, at first he used to go out at dawn to make good time, and I do not know why, but until dawn I was worried, many negative thoughts came to my mind about what could happen to him on the road, and I could not go back to sleep.
Sometimes these thoughts come to us precisely because we don't want to go through a situation like this, they are the inappropriate things that our mind imagines, and it turns out that by trying not to have them the opposite effect is produced. The problem is that if we don't work on this type of thinking, it can end up becoming some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder, making us unable to redirect our attention to other things since thinking occupies everything; and thinking about things over and over again is the source of anxiety problems, a very common illness in our society.
Stress and anxiety are the most common diseases in our society. Source: pixabay.com.
They appear when we want to have everything under control, I recognize that this is my case, we find it difficult to tolerate uncertainty. And the illusion of control disappears when we see that certain circumstances are uncontrollable, for example, the risks of travelling by road or diseases.
These thoughts also arise when we must make an important decision, and we do not know what to choose between the options presented, we spend days thinking and rethinking the situation, without realizing that being unable to act on it our mind already made a decision.
Our doubts and fears can influence us in two ways; when they are mastered and oriented they can boost our creative thinking, leading us to discover solutions or new thoughts. But they can also be the springboard for obsessive thoughts, when these are repressed and control us, becoming tyrants of our mind.
Well, precisely by not magnifying them, by trying to take away the importance they really have, by remembering that they are normal.
Source: Image edited by the author, original from pixabay.com.
I realized that worrying about my husband's safety while traveling in his car to another city is normal. When a thought came to me that something bad might happen to him, I learned that just like him, I had to assume that the risks were part of the journey.
When it comes to making a decision, and we cannot be sure that the decision made is the best one, it is advisable to set a prudent time to consider the options, and after that time to decide, making us responsible for the choice made and learning to give up the path we decided not to follow.
To detach oneself from these thoughts is not easy for some, it requires some training, but if you work on them little by little they will start to have less strength. Practicing activities that encourage concentration and self-control, such as yoga and meditation, helps a lot.
Well friends, when a disturbing thought becomes recurrent we must remember that there is a difference between thoughts and actions, we must not waste time trying to push the thought away, as nothing will happen by just thinking about it. I hope you enjoyed the reading, until next time!
