Don't let thoughts arise. Obsessions and obsessive thoughts, how to get rid of

Each of us almost every day there are some useful ideas. But the human mind is so mobile that they are almost immediately replaced by new thoughts and irretrievably forgotten.

There is another case when the idea is good, but untimely. And in this case, it will most often also be safely forgotten.

But you can change the situation and decide not to miss a single idea anymore, even if at first glance it seems untimely, unworkable, or just strange. In the end, you can never say for sure which undertaking will be successful and which will not be very successful. Ideas then come to us so that we can use them and change our lives.

What are the main reasons we miss ideas? At the very least, they could be:

1. Didn't write down the idea

The circumstances of life can be dynamic and constantly changing. For example, very often ideas come while driving a car, when the brain is practically free. Music on the radio or something seen along the way can push to some thoughts. But writing in a car is inconvenient, and upon arrival at your destination, there is a high probability of completely or partially forgetting the idea. A change of scenery encourages forgetting.

But it's easy to buy a notebook, a pen and put it all in the car. And now, if an interesting idea is born along the way, you can always write it down on the go or by making a stop.

2. The value of the idea that came to mind is not clear

This is another big reason we miss out on good ideas. There are no completely useless ideas, there are only those whose benefits we still do not understand, and we just need to figure out how to apply them correctly.

Such ideas also need to be recorded. Someday they will acquire value, independent, or coupled with some other idea.

3. Abandoned an idea because it seemed stupid

Even if the idea seemed completely useless and stupid to you, it is still worth fixing. After some time, perhaps it will be more useful to you. So, you can, for example, once a month look through all the previously recorded ideas, and for sure among them there will be useful and necessary at the moment.

Write down your ideas

Experience shows that the best ones come suddenly, in the most unexpected places and situations, when they are not even related to what you are doing at that moment. This is completely normal. Just write down the idea, and you can analyze and use it later.

Train yourself to capture forward-looking thoughts.

Your subconscious is constantly working on the tasks that you set for yourself. But the form and timing of his answers to questions may be unexpected and incomprehensible at first glance.

Keeping such records will greatly increase your chances of success. In addition, you will always have entries with many ideas and perspectives in front of you, and this is a source of optimism and motivation.

Of course, not all ideas are good, and not all of them can be implemented. But remember famous inventors. Each of them had to come up with hundreds of unclaimed things at that time before they created something useful. They invented materials that at one time were not needed by anyone, and even by themselves. Their value became clear over time.

In addition, keeping records will allow you to become a more organized person. You will have to regularly analyze the written ideas, and plan their implementation.

The most difficult thing for a person is to convince himself of something. And no matter what it is: an obsessive thought or a bad habit, fears, anxieties, low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, weak willpower get in the way. We may think that our brain can only be trained: to study sciences, languages, solve logical problems. And what about our mental sphere? After all, it also needs to be trained, to carefully monitor your emotional health. A constant sounding song does not give rest in the head, or annoying thoughts keep spinning and ruining life. Either you worry because of the fear that the kettle was not turned off or the apartment was forgotten to be closed, the light was left on or the fear of getting into a car accident. All these thoughts do not allow you to calmly and sensibly reflect on situations, solve problems and achieve success in life.

What are intrusive thoughts?

As the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle says: Fear makes people think. And this is true as soon as our thin soul strings and subconsciousness capture a strong emotional overstrain, which bites into our brain so much that various phobias arise. We become afraid of doing something wrong, of being ridiculed or punished for our actions. Entire carriages of thoughts come to mind, sometimes it is very difficult to control this flow, and sometimes it is impossible. It seems that it is not subject to our will, bad thoughts completely surround and lead us astray from the right path of reflection. Think for yourself how many times, when you can’t complete a task or solve a problem, you scroll through the dialogue with yourself, mentally reproach yourself for your inferiority, ignorance, underdevelopment, get angry, afraid to do it wrong. Such thoughts only lead your thoughts to a false path, do not allow you to see the rational grain in the situation, and anger grows more and more, time is running out. And then, comes disappointment with oneself and the desire to find out where these unpleasant and such annoying obsessive thoughts come from? And most importantly: how to get rid of obsessive thoughts.

Psychologists believe that obsessive thoughts are a neurotic disorder - a neurosis or a syndrome of obsessive thoughts. This disorder is characterized by obsessive states, thoughts - obsessions and corresponding behavior - compulsions. In fact, many people quickly and painlessly cope with such a misunderstanding between a person and the psyche, while others require the help of a psychotherapist. Obsessive thoughts can be associated with diseases, disasters, death, dirt, not ideality. Coping with the slightest obsessive thought is sometimes difficult, but possible. Before you scourge yourself and go to a psychiatric clinic for help, pull yourself together and try to figure out on your own how to get rid of obsessive thoughts, and we will help you with this.

A developed system, a step-by-step guide to cope with the flow of obsessive thoughts and remove yourself from their influence.

Fear is not at all in danger, it is in ourselves - said Stendhal, French writer. To understand the causes of fear, take one day to complete the guide and everything will work out. The main reason for the appearance of annoying thoughts is fear: before people, society, mom, dad, one's soul, death. We are afraid to give ourselves discomfort, and when we experience it, our thoughts are increasingly trying to “secure” it from it. Say NO to intrusive thoughts and start the fight.

Instructions for managing your thoughts and emotions

Change the strategy of perceiving these thoughts - to the all-in method. Turn not your back to the annoying murmur and fear, but your face, take them for granted, as one step on the path to improvement. Believe me, when the attitude towards these thoughts changes, it will become much easier for you to find a way to get rid of it. As soon as a thought comes to mind, like: Did I turn off the iron? I can't do it because I can't. Find the positive aspects in them: if I think about it, then it is this quality that is worth developing: attentiveness or the ability to analyze, memory. Say "thank you" to yourself for the tip. Thus, learn from each such thought. For such an analysis, set aside a day, and write down the lessons learned on paper.
The next step is as soon as a sticky thought arises that you cannot get rid of, calm down, take a comfortable position, take a pen and a piece of paper. Close your eyes and let your thoughts flow without forcing or fighting them. Then, quietly opening your eyes, write them down on paper. These can be arguments or internal dialogue, censures or thoughts like: what if ... When the sheet is filled, turn on slow soothing music and read what you wrote. It will not seem as scary and terrible, hopeless as it really is. We read it, we learned a lesson: we ourselves inflate the situation. Now you can defiantly tear, burn or throw away this paper and thought at the same time.
Rummage in your memory and determine which picture in front of your eyes causes a storm of only positive emotions, tenderness and cheer up. Found? Now, with every flash of obsessive thoughts, turn on sleep mode and scroll through this picture or situation, so you are distracted and you can just forget what you thought about before.
When unwanted and annoying thoughts swarm in the brain, think about whether this is a reaction to a hidden meaning. For example, you should learn English, words or constructions, grammar exercises. And the reluctance to do this causes other thoughts, there are beliefs that a person will not be able to complete the task or learn the words. The hidden meaning is in plain sight, find it and use point 1 - change your attitude and believe in yourself.

Tips for those who need to be able to control their thoughts

Find the true cause of such thoughts, what you are really afraid of: death, pain, fire. Try to live with it, fighting will only make things worse. To rise above fear is your task.
At the first analysis of your thoughts, you will feel unpleasant, feel ashamed, uncomfortable. But this is all temporary, as soon as you find reasons to get rid of them, you will feel relieved.
Be ready for a new attack of obsessive thoughts, do not be afraid and do everything from the beginning, be ready to fight back.

I had already prepared this article for a long time, but still could not write it for the reason that I was not sure that I had a complete idea of how to get rid of intrusive thoughts.

Now I have experienced first hand how to deal with such thoughts and am fully prepared to tell you about it.

Perhaps some of my readers think that since I started creating this site, I have completely got rid of all personal problems. Indeed, I have already changed a lot by the time of the first entries in this blog, but my current state cannot be called complete freedom from negative emotions, prejudices and fears.

My position can be described as a struggle with myself, during which the experience and materials for these articles are born. Of course, in this confrontation between my true self and the primitive, instinctive, emotional self, the first gradually wins.

But this struggle continues: two steps back and four steps forward. Self-development stems from the awareness of one's shortcomings and work on them. If there is no struggle, then this does not speak of a final victory, but rather of surrender.

After all, self-development is an endless process. I keep running into some problems and struggling with them. Including intrusive thoughts.

Mind "gum"

These thoughts have always been with me. They could occupy my head and make me nervous, endlessly mentally referring to the same experiences. It was like mental gum.

I constantly chewed the same thoughts in my head, tried to resolve them, to untie some imaginary knot. But from my attempts to weaken it, on the contrary, it tied even more strongly.

I remember how, back in my early childhood, I could not stop thinking about some things that I could not think about at all. The habit of my brain endlessly “processing” some experiences and ideas must have been exacerbated during times of other psychological problems.

Recently, I realized that I learned to work with obsessive thoughts. Moreover, I am ready to formulate a method that allows me to get rid of them. I realized that this article might now finally appear.

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Obsessive thoughts come from emotions

This is the first thing you must understand. Obsessive thoughts are emotional, unconscious, irrational nature. They are connected with your fears, anxieties and complexes deprived of everything reasonable.

That is why they are obsessive. The emotions that form in you make you constantly think about something. They seem to signal “Problem! Problem! We need to find a solution!"

It's like a notification in Windows or another operating system that appears as an icon and will irritate your eyes until you update some program, remove a virus, or install the right driver.

We can say that obsessive thoughts have a positive function. They remind you of the problems you need to solve. And you can’t just take and turn off these “notifications”. It's hard to starve to death when your brain constantly reminds you to eat.

But, unfortunately, obsessive thoughts do not always tell us about some real problem. The mechanism of the emergence of these thoughts is quite subtle. And if, for some reason, the “standard settings” of this mechanism get lost, then natural human fears and worries can take an extreme form, manifesting themselves in the form of obsessive thoughts, which are very difficult to get rid of.

Everyone knows how normal concern for one's health can turn into hypochondria, how a natural fear of danger threatens to turn into paranoia.

And now you become a regular visitor to medical forums, and thoughts about your health do not leave your head. Maybe you constantly think about danger while you are on the street. Or you can’t get out of your head the thought of what people think of you, although you yourself don’t see any point in thinking about it.

The conclusion I want to draw is that obsessive thoughts are based on emotions. Therefore, they do not have a rational nature. Therefore, they cannot be fought with logic.

This is a very important conclusion. I have watched myself a lot, trying to understand how these thoughts appear and how they disappear, how my mind tries to deceive and confuse me. Earlier, in the evening, when I was very tired, I could not stop some thoughts.

For example, I could start thinking something bad about myself, blaming myself. No matter how skillful the inner lawyer turned out to be, who, using logic and common sense, tried to convince me that everything was not so bad (although of course he did not rule out problems), the blaming side always prevailed, and everything became even more complicated. The more I tried to justify myself and get rid of annoying thoughts with the help of thoughts, the more I became confused and more these thoughts overcame me. This sport with oneself led to the fact that the invisible knot was tightened even more.

The next day, in the morning, with a fresh mind, I didn’t even want to think about this problem. If I started to think about yesterday's "dialogue" with myself, then I understood that the problem was there, but it was greatly inflated and exaggerated by my condition. I realized that the problem needs to be solved, not thought about. There is no point in these thoughts.

After a while, I realized what the deceit and deceit of these thoughts are. If you try to destroy them with logic, they will still prevail, as they are irrational and illogical and make you believe in absurd ideas that common sense is powerless to overcome.

You Can't Eliminate Intrusive Thoughts with Logic

If you are set on self-blame, then you will continue to blame yourself, even if you have nothing to blame yourself for. Because this is your mood and it is from it that these thoughts arise, and not because of some real situation! Even if you suddenly manage to convince yourself for a moment of the groundlessness of these thoughts, then after a while they will return again if you resist them and continue to logically rebuff them.

If you are in such a mood that you think that you are sick, that something bad will happen to your health, then no positive test results will convince you otherwise. “What if the tests turned out to be inaccurate?”, “What if I have something else?” you will think.

And you will not see the end of these thoughts, no matter how absurd from the standpoint of common sense they are.

It is useless to try to refute them. Because it is impossible. They will come back and attack you with new absurd arguments that you will believe in because you are in such an emotional state that gives rise to these thoughts about non-existent problems.

Remember the state when you are worried about something. No matter how you convince yourself that everything will be fine, that there is no reason to worry, your perception, distorted by nervous tension and excitement, draws you a perspective in the darkest colors. Not because everything is really bad, but because you now perceive everything that way. If in this state you begin to think a lot and talk about the future, then your negative perception will attract your thoughts to the “negative” pole and it will be difficult to break out of this attraction.

How to get rid of obsessive thoughts

You will need common sense, but only at the very beginning.

First of all, you need to figure out if your obsessive thoughts are based on some real problem. It happens that mental chewing gum harasses you, exaggerating the problem. But an exaggerated problem does not mean the absence of one.

So think about what are the reasons for these thoughts. Getting rid of thoughts, you should not ignore the problem, if there is one. For example, it seems to you that you have some kind of illness and thoughts about it do not leave your mind.

Maybe these are really not groundless fears, and you have symptoms of some kind of disease. If so, go see a doctor. If you have already done this and you have not found anything - forget it.

Whether there is a problem or not, there is no point in thinking about it all the time! You either try to solve it if it exists, or you forget about everything if it does not exist.

This is the only moment in the fight against obsessive experiences in which you need to apply logic and common sense.

What to do?

Choose a moment in time when you are in the best morale, when you have more optimism and strength than usual. For example, in the morning when you are full of energy, after exercise or after.

Convince yourself that it makes no sense to scroll through the same thoughts thousands of times in your head. That these thoughts are deception or exaggeration, the purpose of which is to confuse you.

Be well aware of the following things

you will not come to a solution to a problem if you constantly think about it
obsessive thoughts have no rational basis, and if they are associated with some kind of problem, then you will solve it, instead of constantly returning thoughts to it
you can’t get rid of mental gum with logical reasoning and thinking

Realize the absurdity of obsessive thoughts

Further, you can once again, with the help of a few logical theses, expose the absurdity of obsessive thoughts. For example: “I have nothing to fear, because the tests showed nothing”, “panic attacks do not die, I have read about this more than once”, “no one is trying to harm me”, “even if there really are things to be afraid of , do not think about them 1000 times a day, this will only lead to nervous exhaustion.

Your argument against obsessive thoughts should be clear and concise. You should not get involved in an argument with yourself. Remember, in a long dispute with obsessive thoughts, you are doomed to failure, in which emotions and fears will prevail over logic and mind, and negative perception itself will “pull” thoughts to the negative pole.

To destroy the force of this attraction, you need to think less. When you think about annoying thoughts, chew them endlessly, you only increase them.

Give yourself permission to ignore intrusive thoughts.

Tell yourself that you will no longer think about what you think about all day and what torments and torments you. Indeed, why constantly chew mental gum when it does not bring any sense?

An obsessive thought is the repetition of the same thought in different ways. You will not get any new and valuable information from it, you will not come to any decision.

Therefore, give yourself the installation not to get carried away by fruitless reflections. After you've said it to yourself, made a promise you won't break, draw an invisible line. After this trait, you no longer pay attention to intrusive thoughts.

Don't wait for thoughts to come back no more

They will return again and again. Tune in like this: "Let them come back, what's the difference, I realized that these thoughts are deception and do not relate to the real problem."

Thoughts will come back, sometimes you will again begin to untie this knot in your head. As soon as you notice that you are again carried away by this, smoothly divert your attention to the side. Do not argue with these thoughts, do not be upset that they have come (and they will come), ignore them, treat them with complete indifference.

If you suddenly need to remind yourself of the absurdity of these thoughts, do not go beyond short formulations: "nothing will happen to me, and that's it." Don't get involved in an argument you can never win. All the endless arguments that again make you afraid or nervous are lies and deceit.

Remember what I said in the article: if you are in a psychological state in which you tend to worry about your health or your future or your loved ones, then your mind will focus on this fear, no matter how absurd this fear is. . Don't turn your mind against yourself.

You must know the puzzle toy, which is like a tube. If you stick the index fingers of different hands into both ends of this tube and try to release them with the help of physical effort, pulling your hands in different directions, then nothing will come of it, the tube will only squeeze your fingers tighter. And if you relax and do not pull, everything will work out.

The same applies to intrusive thoughts. No need to want to get out of them by all means. Relax, "kill", let them be.

Be indifferent!

Your indifference to intrusive thoughts will deprive intrusive thoughts of their emotional content, which fills them with such power that you sometimes cannot control. Over time, you will learn to manage your attention and notice those moments when you again began to think about what you should not.

Then thoughts will leave you forever.

But there is no need to look forward to when this will happen: “when will they leave!”, “I try not to pay attention to them, but they still do not go out of my head!”. Such thoughts are not necessary!

Arm yourself with salutary indifference: thoughts do not bother you - it's good, they returned - that's also normal. No need to turn thoughts about the appearance of obsessive thoughts into obsessive thoughts!

It's no big deal that repetitive thoughts keep coming to you. If you've stripped them of their emotional "charge" and try to ignore them, then they don't get on your nerves like they used to. In this case, they become just an annoying notification window (you may have seen such windows on your computer) that appears in your head from time to time.

And it's not so scary anymore. You can live with this. Thoughts appear occasionally, but they no longer grab your attention or confuse you. They are just short signals in the head that come and go.

When I began to relate to obsessive thoughts in this way, they left my head and I learned to deal with them. BUT fighting intrusive thoughts is not fighting, if we perceive the struggle as a violent resistance. Relax!

Conclusion

I have already said in other articles that mental illnesses: panic attacks, obsessive thoughts can either break you down or make you stronger (as in the statement of a famous philosopher).

Dealing with panic attacks can teach you. Working on getting rid of depression will help you find the source of happiness in yourself. And trying to control obsessive thoughts will teach you to control your attention and control your mind.

Arm yourself with patience and work on yourself, then you will not only get rid of your ailments, but also gain valuable and useful experience as a result of this, which will be useful in your life!

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"Pull your thoughts away from problems ... by the ears, by the heels, or by any other means possible". - Mark Twain

According to an old Cherokee Indian, there is a terrible battle going on in our minds right now. Two wolves are fighting within us. The first is bad: it is full of anger, envy, resentment, greed, sadness, condemnation, inferiority, criticism and doubt. The second is good: full of joy, gratitude, love, kindness, empathy, understanding, confidence, compassion and clarity. This fight is going on inside of you right now, even if you don't notice it.

"Which wolf will win?" - you ask how the grandson of the Indian did it. “The wolf you feed,” answered the wise grandfather. Your thoughts are two wolves. When you feed a bad wolf, your mind loses its clarity. You can't get rid of the bad wolf. He lives inside you for a reason. Personal growth is associated with full acceptance of oneself, and not attempts to hide one's own shortcomings. Taming the bad wolf (rather than killing it) is what will help you neutralize your own thoughts so that they do not cause you pain and suffering.

Let thoughts just be, don't cling to them.

“The world we have was created in the process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our consciousness." - Albert Einstein

Your thoughts can eat you alive.

Having emotions and thoughts is normal. The problem is that you allow them to take over your behavior. If you identify with your feelings and thoughts, you lose perspective.

There is nothing wrong with thinking. It helps us understand issues and make decisions. Problems arise when your judgmental wolf takes over and you become trapped in your thoughts.

Too many thoughts distract you, take you away from the essence. Your inner wolves can cloud your mind. And then they start eating you alive. Piece by piece.

The cause of accidents that are in the nature of a "chain reaction" are not amateur drivers at all. Fog affects our perception, and this provokes collisions. Fog significantly reduces contrast, making objects appear blurry and barely visible.

Your thoughts have the same effect as fog.

The Mandelbaum effect, the tendency of the eyes to focus on objects up close in conditions of poor visibility, blurs our vision. We stop noticing everything else. Your inner wolves also cloud your vision. Allowing worry, fear, and stress to take over your thoughts can lead to clouding your head.

Driving in fog is risky. That is why it would be wise of you to slow down your vehicle. When the fog clears, visibility returns to normal. Reality didn't change while it was foggy. The fog only affected your vision.

Don't give in to your thoughts. Your inner wolves come and go, just like the mist.

The science behind our thoughts. “I think, and think, and think, my thoughts have taken me away from joy a million times, but they have never brought me closer to it.” — Jonathan Safran Foer

Our state of mind is like a wild wolf. As Chögyam Trungpa, author of Sanity, explains, our minds “contain memories of the past, dreams of the future, and the volatility of the present. We see this as a problematic situation." You need to tame your wild wolf. The ability to distance yourself from thoughts will not let the wolves eat you alive.

Diffusion is a term coined by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to describe the ability to separate oneself from one's own thoughts. Conversely, "fusion" means immersing ourselves in thoughts and allowing them to control our behavior.

In his book Acceptance and Responsibility Therapy in Simple Words, Russ Harris writes that "diffusion" is:

Look at thoughts, not through them; to notice thoughts, but not to succumb to them;
allow thoughts to come and go without clinging to them.

Thoughts do not control our actions unless we allow them to. Remember not to overfeed your bad wolf. Neither your thoughts nor your emotions can determine how you behave. Don't identify yourself with what you are suffering from.

We cannot run away from our own thoughts (or emotions), but we are able to decide what to do in spite of them. Tame your inner wolves instead of killing them.

Harris suggests doing the following exercise to test it out for yourself. Repeat to yourself: "I can't raise my hand." Say it over and over. Raise your hand as you keep repeating, "I can't raise my hand." So you raised your hand in spite of your own thoughts, right? But you probably doubted.

You are used to believing what your mind tells you, so it is very easy to be misled. Realizing the power of your thoughts is the first step to freeing yourself from their influence.

How to "neutralize" your thoughts - exercises. "Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel." – Gene Racine

You cannot control when your wolves attack, but you can avoid being eaten alive. When you respond to what's going on in your head, you allow your thoughts to pull you away from the present moment and put you on "life on autopilot."

Mindfulness is the opposite of living on autopilot.
As John Kabat-Zinn, author of Mindfulness Relieving Stress, writes: “Mindfulness means paying attention to something in a particular way; on purpose, at the present moment and without judgment. It is the practice of assessing the extent to which we identify with our ideas and beliefs, creating space for:

Awareness, not thinking;
openness and curiosity, not judgment;
attentional flexibility.

Mindfulness is not a method of distraction; it is not meant for you to avoid your thoughts. If negative feelings arise, notice them and move on.

Try the following simple methods to help you reduce the impact of your thoughts. Check for yourself those that work best for you, customize them for yourself and use them. The goal is not to drown out your thoughts—or the wolves—but to keep them from clouding your vision.

1. Label your thoughts:

The practice of meditation is not about eliminating thoughts, but about opening up to them. When you stop fighting the bad wolf, you gain control. When a thought comes up that wants to distract you, just label it. Say to yourself "thought" or "wolf." You can apply this exercise not only when you meditate.

2. Objectify your own thoughts:

By turning your thoughts into an object - in this case, wolves - you can neutralize their influence. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Imagine that your thoughts are wolves. What color are they? How big are they? What sounds do they make? How close are they to you? Start playing with your thoughts by changing the size, color, sound and shape
wolves.

This visualization helps me when I feel like I'm carried away by several thoughts at the same time.

3. Treat your mind like a wolf:

Imagine that your mind is a talking wolf. "You've spoken again, my mind." "Wolf, you've said that before." "My inner wolf always reacts and worries." The purpose of this exercise is to listen to the voice of reason as if it were coming from an animal and not from you. When someone else is talking, it feels less personal.

4. Question what your mind says:

React with skepticism, don't believe everything your mind says. "I won't buy it." "Really, how so?" "Who said that?" When you question your own thoughts, you stop taking them at face value.

5. Turn your emotions into a noun:

Think about the last time you regretted what happened to you. Share these moments with a loved one using adjectives: "I lost my last two tennis matches, I'm a loser."

Every time you share something, the other person needs to rethink it by turning adjectives into nouns. The goal is to make the story positive: "No, you are not a loser, you just lost two matches in a row."

6. Classify your own thoughts:

Not all wolf attacks are equal. Challenging exactly what you are experiencing at the moment provides clarity. In addition, determining the type of thinking will help to gain deep understanding and awareness. Whenever you feel threatened by your wolves, express your thoughts out loud using one of the following formats:

I think…
I feel…
I believe…
I remember…
I release...
I have a physical symptom...

7. Have fun:

Humor solves all problems, especially those caused by our way of thinking. When you stop taking your inner wolves—and yourself—seriously, you can relax and stop reacting. Here are some ways to help you clear your hazy thoughts in a humorous way:

Play with your own voice: experiment with different tones. Imagine yourself as a cartoon character, a child, a comedian, a wolf, and so on.
Treat your thoughts like a wolf: "My bad wolf is trying to divert my attention..." or "I'm sorry, my bad wolf, but I've run out of food for you."
Become a helicopter: imagine yourself lifting off the ground and rising higher and higher, moving away from your own thoughts.
Change lenses: Imagine that you are wearing glasses with cloudy lenses. What happens when you put on new glasses with clear lenses?
Create a song: turn your thoughts into words, sing them out loud.

How do you deal with your inner wolves? How do you tame your own thoughts?

It is impossible to live happily ever after. Although sometimes we will experience sad events that will give rise to negative thoughts. And that's okay. But if bad thoughts begin to haunt you all day long, then it's time to sound the alarm. Otherwise, you can easily get depressed. But how do you get rid of bad thoughts? And why do they even occur?

Sources of negative thoughts

Negative thoughts can occur even in those people who are doing great in life. A person lives quietly and calmly, and suddenly bad thoughts creep in. They spin in the head and after a while they take away all the attention. But where did they come from? Bad thoughts can come for the following reasons:

human inconsistency. Every person makes decisions in their life. There are unimportant decisions - what to eat for dinner, how to dress for a bachelorette party for your best friend. And there are decisions that significantly change the course of life. We are talking about changing jobs, moving, marriage, having children. And before deciding on an important step, a person begins to weigh all the advantages and disadvantages in his head. On the one hand, he may want to make a positive decision, and on the other hand, he is afraid that such a decision will lead to problems. And such thoughts attract doubts that do not give rest day or night.
Guilt. No one can always make the right decisions. Sometimes people are wrong. But some learn from a mistake and then move on. And others wind themselves up, think how they could have acted in that situation. Simply put, a person lives in the past. He may understand in his head that it is impossible to fix something, but he is not able to say goodbye to obsessive thoughts about that situation. Guilt not only destroys the nervous state, but is also a good tool for manipulators.
Helplessness. Some problems need to be accepted and learned to live with them. But easier said than done. Even the most strong-willed person gives up, he feels like a hostage in captivity of a high tower. His mind is filled with fear of an unknown future.

Whatever the cause of obsessive thoughts, they must be driven away. Otherwise, you can fall into depression. How to get rid of bad thoughts?

Why are bad thoughts dangerous?

Many do not understand the danger of bad thoughts. They reason like this: “What difference does it make what I think? The main thing is that it did not change my usual life. And indeed, at first, nothing globally bad will happen to a person. But soon he will fall into depression, and if soul-searching continues, then neurosis begins. And it's not difficult to get into a hospital for the mentally ill there. But, in addition to the destructive effect on the psyche, bad thoughts:

They don't let you do it right. When a person immerses himself in negativity, his brain is not able to correctly perceive the events that are happening around. It is difficult for a person to concentrate on even simple tasks. As a result, depression sets in.
They provoke diseases. Most of the "clients" of psychiatric hospitals are individuals suffering from psychological syndromes. But all their problems began from the fact that they worked themselves up and did not want to change anything in the subconscious.
Materialize. Many cases are known when a person's thoughts materialized into life. For example, a man dreamed of a beautiful house and after a while such a house appeared in him. But he can program himself for a bad event. A person is afraid of falling ill with a terrible disease, and after a certain period such a disease is diagnosed in him.

Evil thoughts often become very intrusive. And in order to save yourself from them, you have to seek help from psychologists to get rid of nervous syndromes. But even they will not help if the patient is not able to understand why bad thoughts arise. Then how to distract from bad thoughts? And how to independently identify a person with bad thoughts?

What does a person with obsessive thoughts look like?

People who suffer from obsessive thoughts are easy to recognize among the crowd. And this will help the analysis of the behavior of such persons:

they are terrified of contracting some disease. Obsessive thoughts about the disease climb into their heads and force them to constantly perform various hygiene procedures. Their fear pushes for daily general cleaning and disinfection using strong chemicals;
they are always in emotional stress, because they are afraid of sudden danger. Their thoughts are occupied with whether the iron is turned off, whether the tap in the bathroom is turned off, whether the door is locked;
they tend to think that everything can be done perfectly. At the same time, they constantly try to keep the commandments of God, forgetting about the sinful nature of man. And the slightest mess in the room provokes depression;
they are too steeped in the past. They store children's drawings, toys, diaries from school, old clothes and other unnecessary things. And if these "precious" things are thrown away by someone else, then a terrible depression begins;
in an emergency, they always think about the bad. If one of the relatives is out of the access zone, then such a person forgets about the possible discharge of the phone, and starts calling morgues and hospitals, winding himself up.

Such symptoms complicate the life of not only the patient, but also the people around him. To make life easier, you need to start fighting obsessive thoughts.

To cope with the disease, it is necessary to treat not the symptoms, but to look for the root cause of the disease. The same can be said about obsessive thoughts. Sit in a quiet environment and think about what triggered these thoughts. In addition, psychologists advise using the following methods to fight bad thoughts:

Avoid negative emotions. To do this, stop watching the news, start ignoring all the bad things that are said on the radio on the bus or what colleagues in the office whisper about. Find an activity that will be pleasant for your soul - go fishing, grow flowers, read interesting books. Communicate with cheerful people, and preferably children. Children are stronger than adults are able to enjoy good events.
Finding the positive in negative situations. On a sheet of paper in a column, write down all the events that make you think about the bad. On the contrary, write pleasant emotions that you felt in those situations. Such an exercise can free oneself from bad thoughts and see the good.
List the fears on a sheet and burn it. Burning a sheet that lists fears will help get all the negative thoughts out of your head. When burning, imagine how your anxiety and tension disappear in the fire. To consolidate the effect, this procedure should be done several times. You can also print your fears on a computer, and replace the burning ritual by simply deleting the file to the trash.
Boost your confidence. You need to understand that only you are responsible for your life. Set small goals and do your best to achieve them. And when you reach it, praise yourself for it. In this case, fears will quickly disappear.
Turn on your own imagination. When negative thoughts and fears come to you, imagine a picture of a landscape or other beautiful place. Consider this place in detail. This option helps to remove bad thoughts from your head on your own.
Eat antidepressant products. It is not necessary to take medicine to throw out bad thoughts. Eat natural, mood-boosting foods. Such products include chocolate, bananas, raisins, celery and sea fish.

Another important method in treating bad thinking is meditation.

How useful is meditation in the fight against bad thoughts?

Meditation is recognized by psychologists as the most effective way to clear bad thoughts. As a rule, it is used to concentrate attention or go into the subconscious. For a person in depression, meditation makes it possible to forget about the bad thoughts that so climb into the head. It is worth starting meditation only after a detailed study of this method. At first, it must be carried out when you have previously tuned in to positive emotions.

Very often, in order to get obsessive thoughts out of the head, a person uses false methods in solving this problem. He may think that meditation and other methods for curing bad thoughts are ineffective.

What will not get rid of bad thoughts?

Poor helpers in the treatment of obsessive thinking are:

Self-pity or excessive severity. After a series of troubles, a person begins to feel sorry for himself too much, considers his person to be the unloved of fate. All this creates more fear. And sometimes a person subconsciously does not part with bad attitudes. Imagine that you are overweight. On the one hand, you sob into your pillow every evening and think why you didn’t get the figure of a top model, and on the other hand, you like it so much when others feel sorry for you, console you, convince you for hours that a person’s weight is not the main thing. After such consolations, you get the legal right to go and eat your anxiety with cakes and other sweets. True, the nervous tension does not disappear from this. The problem will remain with the person until the time when his subconscious mind ceases to be protected from its solution.
Imagine bad consequences. To throw out negative thoughts faster, you should not imagine the terrible consequences of your own mistakes. Imagine that you are planning a trip to Italy for your vacation. You run and collect documents for a visa in your free time. And it seems that you meet the deadlines, but the anxiety that you will spend your vacation not in the country of your dreams, but in the country does not cease to torment. Saying the following text will help get rid of nervous tension in such a situation: “I am sitting in a comfortable chair. Everything is good in my life. I will spend my vacation in Italy, and all bad thoughts are just my fantasies. After such an exercise, your mind will be reminded of positive emotions.

Every time a bad thought comes to visit you, keep yourself busy. Work is the best way to treat negative thinking and long depression.