Re: OCD thoughts and potential danger

[Guest guest]

Hi. I don't know if I'm reading into the following

e-mail too much, but the original e-mail response

didn't say `be an idiot', or `realize dangers and act

like you're dead'.

It makes perfect sense to me to be able to have a

thought, watch that thought, even `name it' (if you

have any experience with Vipassana meditation it helps

here), and then watch it float off like a bubble

floating into the air. And you can do that with

thought after thought. Just don't grab hold of the

thoughts and let them rule your life, let them go.

With experience this is actually pretty simple (as

opposed to easy) and makes life a lot more pleasant.

You can also have a thought, name it, your defenses

will immediately come in and protect you. You can

then decide what to do with the thought - let it go

`for now', or decide that it's important that you take

some action about it `now', or keep a notebook next to

you most of the time and write the `important

thoughts' down to be looked at later.

I just didn't see in the first posting that the writer

was insinuating that we walk around la la la, not

caring what our thoughts are with our heads in the

clouds. She was in fact giving everyone a lot of

credit to know when the thought can be named and let

go like a bubble, and when the thought needed more

attention.

AND, recognizing that we can in some cases create and

reverse messed up brain chemistry by thinking

differently.

This is pretty well known in terms of cognitive and

more recently, dialectical therapy/thinking, but also,

if you do have a Vipassana Center near you, or just

meditation classes, they could hopefully help with

this.

Another really good way to start is to get

Carlson's books about `Don't Sweat the Small Stuff'.

People I know who have read them have found them to be

really profound.

Harriet

In , " carondeen "

<kdeanstudios@v...>

> wrote:

> >

> > Dear Brainislav, I am not a phycologist , but I

have had experience

> > with stress, mold exposure, panic and agraphobia,

mild

> > OCD.Stressfull events ,of whatever type can lead

to OCD, or in my

> > case, agraphobia(afraid to leave the house)- as

far as I know this

> > is a well established syndrome. The stress wears

trails in the

brain-

> > and the brain learns to run down them- It is a

good mental exercie

> > to try and calm youself ,recognise your feelings,

accept them, and

> > gently put them behind you-

>

>

> Thank you for the suggestions

>

> I'd just like to ask you to be more specific about

the part " calm

> yourself, recognise your feelings, accept them and

gently put them

> behind you "

>

>

> By that did you mean: just ignore compulsive

thoughts/actions which

> are irrational?

>

>

> For instance, let's take a common example:

>

>

> Suppose you are reading a book. Suddenly your mind

wanders off, and

> while reading a sentence from this book you think to

yourself:

> " Tomorrow I may meet somebody who will

cross-contaminate me so much

> that I'm going to be in real trouble " . However,

despite this thought

> you managed to perfectly understand the meaning of

the sentence you

> just read from the book.

>

>

> What will you do - Continue with reading as if

nothing happened, and

> proceed to the next sentence (thus completely

ignoring the negative

> thought), or return to the sentence during which the

nasty thought

ran

> through your mind and re-read it trying to still

your mind and not to

> think about contaminations? (the second option would

obviously

qualify

> as OCD-like behaviour)

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