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Dropping Into Your Body

 For those of us that have ocd, our go-to-method for trying to get rid of a thought or feeling is to think our way out of it. We review the thought, again and again, as if it were a tangible being sitting in front of us and we are attempting to have a rational discussion with it. This gives the thought WAY too much power. The thought then grows in size and intensity. What usually happens next, that gives the thought even more power, is the feelings that arise in association with the thought. The thought's journey continues as we unconsciously attach feelings and emotions to it. These feelings and emotions manifest themselves in our body and add gas to the thought fire that's rapidly burning away. To put out this dumpster fire we continue our usual methods -  trying to think our way out of it. 

Here's the problem - thinking doesn't work that way. The brain doesn't work that way. The more attention we give to a thought the more active it is and the more feelings it will arouse in the body. Feelings are to the body what thoughts are too the mind. They are pulses of energy or whatever you'd like to call them. The more attention we give to that energy the more it grows. It's not your fault that you try to think your way out. Thinking our way out of rational problems and situations usually works. We quickly forget that ocd is not rational. Having a conversation with ocd is like trying to have a logical conversation with a 2-year-old in the middle of a tantrum. 

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