Inarguably, OCD patterns are incredibly frustrating. They have the power to infiltrate everything. OCD can attack such a variety of our daily tasks.
OCD can have you…
counting syllables,
avoiding certain surfaces in your home,
taking 5 hours at the grocery store,
thinking dark thoughts about your own death,
checking under the dryer ten times before bed,
worrying you left the door open,
checking if you ran over something with your car,
blinking 5×5 times,
swallowing many times,
spending hours cleaning,
putting on your pants 6 times,
washing your hands until they are raw,
stepping on something with your left foot if you stepped on it with your right foot,
turning on and off an engine for 20 minutes just to make sure,
rereading the same paragraph over and over,
having you confess something,
making sure your bed is made perfect, and much, much more.
[su_pullquote class=”p”]“…The human mind is a complicated place…We hold on to things, images, words, ideas, histories that we don’t even know we’re holding on to.” ― Corey Ann Haydu, OCD Love Story[/su_pullquote]
We joke a lot about OCD, calling ourselves this when we like things straight. However, in greater extremes this can really hold someone back in life. Not to mention, cause loads of dread, isolation, and suffering.
OCD is an anxiety.
One feels that if they don’t do these things, that “something bad” will happen. The dread of that bad thing is what characterizes it as a kind of Anxiety.
That “bad thing” ranges from being agitated by the OCD, to something bad happening to you or someone you love.
Nobody deserves to feel this way. But there is hope. OCD sometimes comes and goes in life. It detaches to things, and attaches to new things. It changes. For many, many people, it is a temporary problem. But if it is more extreme for you, you may benefit from the help of a clinician well versed in OCD.
Anyone can safely try these methods in this article and video.
Two ways to get rid of your OCD patterns today!
1. Discover your skills
Did you know this one interesting tidbit? OCD has the potential to affect every part of our life, and often a sufferer has more than one symptom, BUT, (and that’s a big BUT,) very infrequently does it affect everything.
OCD makes us crazy about some things and then leaves other things alone. It’s just weird like that.
For example, it makes someone touch all four corners of the window before he goes to bed, but it doesn’t mind that he left his dirty clothes on the floor. A woman has no problem going daily to her job in an elementary school, yet would never sit in the passenger seat of her car since it was “contaminated” 13 months ago when she sat in it on the way home from visiting someone in the hospital.
Do you wonder why the differentiation? It makes me very curious. And curiosity opens up a road to discovery!
This is what I want to figure out: If there is something we do to limit our OCD for some things- and there has to be because there is an infinite amount of things- lets get aware of what that is right now.
If we can figure out how we limit it from over-taking everything, we can limit it from over-taking anything.
If you are suffering from OCD,
make a list of what OCD doesn’t touch. I know you may not think of these things too much because you are so busy being frustrated by your OCD. But it’s time. What are you allowed to do? Write it down. Now. Then, figure out why you allow yourself this.
Is it because it is important to you? Because you haven’t thought about the dangers before? Is it because you really couldn’t live with more frustration? Get the answers and apply them to the OCD patterns that you do have.
2. Stop trying to get rid of it
Curious? Let me open that road to discovery for you. Watch this video for my BEST tip in getting rid of your OCD patterns.
OCD works in mysterious ways
So many people tell me that they have really dark fantasies.
I know they are thinking that they are the only ones who think these dark thoughts, but they are wrong. Take it from someone who hears people’s secrets for a living. Loads of people have fantasy flashes when they see a knife on the counter of cutting themselves, or imagine crashing into a tree when they drive down the road, or jumping in front of the subway at the station.
(Don’t tell me you haven’t had a thought like this ever in your life.)
It is so common that I don’t even think of these as pathological. It’s the meaning we make around these dark thoughts that is the problem.
Recently, I have been picturing myself with bloody fingers. My dark fantasies are about accidentally putting my hands in a blender or cutting them with the garden sheers, or the garbage disposal. I don’t mean fantasies as in I desire this, I am using the term to describe like a daydream state. I don’t conjure these in my consciousness, just notice them.
Noticing these horrible thoughts can be very disturbing.
And this disturbance is what causes the problem. The more you are disturbed by them, the more frequent they become. My bloody finger flashes happen frequently because I notice them and my mind has tagged them as weird, giving them my attention. If I thought I was crazy or this meant I wanted to hurt myself, I may really freak out and these OCD patterns can become monumental if I do that. I felt out of control. And, I may feel so shamed that I am this dark and not tell anyone, and never know other people think these things and it’s no big deal, and I would be suffering even further. See?
Have no fear for me! I have consciously decided to make these images inspire me to be more mindful and careful when I work with anything dangerous.
This is a much better place to stand than, “I am a sick freak.”
If you have ever been sad and wanted to escape in your life, this adds to the freak out factor. This is a correlation you are making. Our mind makes correlations. We are intellectual beings. However, the thoughts are related only because you think they are.
OCD thoughts are just thoughts
I have helped hundreds of people stop these dark thoughts by letting go of “this is horrible.” Once they don’t worry about them anymore, they tend to go away. Just like my bloody fingers image. It was short lived.
Thousands of thoughts go through our mind, good bad and ugly. It is only for a few of them that we have the time for our brain to go, “That’s weird.” This tagging pulls them out of the thousands of random thoughts right into our consciousness. It is totally understandable why horrible images would grab our attention. That is not weird. Of course, you’d be weird if they didn’t grab your attention. Stop judging them. Judgement just attaches you further!
Don’t take them seriously. Think they are silly weird and then distract yourself. When they come back, ever-so-briefly think, “Yep, still silly weird,” and distract yourself again. As long as you need to. Soon, they won’t come back.
Hope this helps!
Do you have anything that you do that you think is strange or crazy? What is it and why do you think it is crazy? Who told you that it was crazy?
As someone with OCD, I thank you for this post, Jodi. Giving the OCD less energy is so important. Really it’s about accepting what’s going through your mind, not giving in to the compulsion, and feeling the anxiety without fear. Thanks for the help that you are giving to us. 🙂
Tina Fariss Barbour recently posted..Working on it
Thanks, Tina, I was wondering what you would think. I know you do all these things and I didn’t want you to feel like I wasn’t taking things seriously. I totally do. My kids have suffered greatly. It is my mission to help them. Xo
I’m so sorry your kids have had to deal with this. I know you are such a big help to them and your clients. You remind all of us not to let fear lead us.
Tina Fariss Barbour recently posted..Working on it
Thank you, Tina!
I hope this post finds the people it needs. I use to not understand my dark thoughts and would freak out about them and obsess over them. They would cause me a lot of pain because I would judge them and judge myself for them. When I learned to just accept them as thoughts and let them pass they faded away. It can be difficult work to get comfortable with them but once you do life becomes a lot easier. I now tend to find them amusing. Our minds can think of some weird stuff hehe. I shared this on twitter for you. Keep up the good work.
I am so glad you commented and shared your story. I hope this means that you have been feeling better! Amusing beats devastating anyway! Acceptance can change everything! It’s my main message and will continue to be!
Jodi Aman recently posted..Two ways to get rid of OCD patterns today
Hi Jodi,
Never gone through anything mentioned here so far, but when one does get those crazy or weird thoughts, one just puts them away and moves on. I think you need to distract yourself by doing something else, till those thoughts go away. You shouldn’t stop them from coming or else they stay in your subconscious mind, so as they come, so shall they go. That’s how it’s been with me 🙂
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
So glad you have been free from this kind of torment. You perfectly described my message! Thank you!
Jodi Aman recently posted..Two ways to get rid of OCD patterns today
Hi Jodi! Great video this week. And such a helpful and positive way to look at OCD. Yes, I know a couple of people who have issues with this and I’m sure I have a few of my own. By taking the pressure off the activity and loving and accepting yourself we all benefit. Thank you for such great ideas (as usual!) ~Kathy
Thank you, Kathy. Your compliments mean the world to me!
I have many OCD patterns, but they don’t bother me, mainly because I know how and why I developped them. The fear and anxiety (mainly due to war time) are the origins of these patterns. Before leaving home, I check at many times within a minute if I have my keys and an ID. My car must always be full of gas (in case i need to runaway). I always check car plates (that’s how we recognized whose car it was after the car was destroyed with a bomb, and so many others. It doesn’t bother me although I know it’s no longer necessary.
I didn’t know that thoughts can also be called OCD? I thought it was only things we do. Of course, to do something means you thought of it, but then how take thoughts of death or injuring oneself so simply, since a thought leads to an action? I always imagine myself falling down the stairs. I’m ok to call that an OCD pattern because It’s just the imagination and all I do when the thought comes is to hold something while getting down the stairs. For examples like the knife or subway, I find it hard to take it as non significant fantasy.
Nikky44 recently posted..I challenged the Fear
If you could create the meaning of these horrible thoughts, what would you’d rather use to explain them? How can you take the power away from them, as that is the goal?
Change the meaning? Like using the thought for something else? If the meaning is that someone can’t take more pain, changing the meaning by finding another way to end the pain? Sometimes it helps to re-live a beautiful moment, like closing my eyes and feeling a hug.
Nikky44 recently posted..I challenged the Fear
That’s not necessarily what I was asking, though I love the idea of you picturing a hug to distract/calm yourself. I was responding to your comment that you didn’t want to call them a “non significant fantasy.” How else can you explain them that can take the power away from them? They have power to terrify a person and make her think she is crazy and dangerous. We need to take that power away. How else would you suggest doing that?
Jodi Aman recently posted..Two ways to get rid of OCD patterns today
I understand now what you mean, I think my problem with the word fantasy is that I thought fantasy meant a beautiful magical dream. If that’s not the case, I agree with your description when it’s about recurrent thoughts that just cross one’s mind, but not when they become a detailed escape plan.
Nikky44 recently posted..I challenged the Fear
This is so enlightening, Jodi. My mom has some OCD. Before I was born, she would wash her hands incessantly. My older siblings remember this. This is so helpful in understanding the disorder. I used to always think of my car blowing up when I was driving. It was a repetitive thought that would come out of nowhere. ‘dark fantasy’, glad you explained that. Thanks, Jodi!!
lisa thomson-The Great Escape… recently posted..Dear Lisa-Reader Question
Yep, you are not crazy! We all get those here and there in our lives. Glad to be of help!
Jodi Aman recently posted..How to protect yourself from negative energy
Jodi, I just want to say thank you SO much for always offering such amazing resources to your community and the world. I know how hard you work, and your gifts are so appreciated!!! xoxo
Laura Zera recently posted..Depression as a Dinner Table Topic
Thanks Laura! Xoxo
Jodi. I’d never heard of OCD until now. Something to think about, even apply to my life. I’m coming up with some personal examples of which I wasn’t aware. Thanks, as always, for making this world a better place for so many.
Margaret Duarte recently posted..Visionary Flop to Best Seller
Thanks Margaret,
So many of us have thoughts that become obsessive to a small or large degree. I hope I can help people learn how to let go.
Thanks for your compliments! <3
Or 3)
Get on a SSRI and start living…
Hey Orlanda,
Does this mean you are feeling better? I really hope so! The OCD usually fights this advice with all kinds of excuses, holding a person trapped. They need extra help. SSRIs are a great tool when the suffering is intense and you can’t break free. Thanks goodness for them! I hope so much you are feeling good.
Miss you!
Hugs!
As always,
everybody, and I mean everybody, can related to this post, Jodi.
We all have OCD to some extent.
xxxx
My Inner Chick recently posted..13 Reasons She Stayed
Amen sister! I hope they find it!
Jodi Aman recently posted..Generous “to a fault”
Sometimes I think I’ve got it bad with OCD, but then I look at my family. Whew. They’ve got it worse. But my biggest problem is getting stressed by imminent deadlines and basically stress when under pressure. Seems like people who do best remain calm in times of great stress. I do not know the meaning of calm. I go into hyper-mode. I can say this because when my water heater recently broke and the water was dripping out of it in a steady stream, I did my “chicken without a head” dance. I kept forcing myself to focus. I think I ran in a circle 10 times as I tried to figure out what to do. Eventually I did figure it out, but this brain doesn’t know the meaning of calm. You know that Captain Sulley who safely landed the plane in New York waters? I wish I had half his calming strength. But I digress.
monicastangledweb recently posted..My Birthday Week–Fun, Frivolity, Madness & Sir Paul
I can see your chicken without a head dance. I’ve been there! Sometimes I find I go crazy with small stuff and then with big emergencies, I go totally calm and in control. I just snap into something beyond myself I guess.
Jodi Aman recently posted..When your love is insecure
Is it an OCD pattern to always feel the need to keep reading old messages whether they are good or bad, to only feel “safe” when I have a “proof” of what I feel or think or believe?
Nikky44 recently posted..I challenged the Fear
Yes, I would call it that.
Thank you. It means it can get better. Sometimes I succeed to stop for weeks, but I don’t like when i’m told; you do this to yourself. I know I do it. No one is opening the messages for me, but that doesn’t mean i’m not trying to control it.
Nikky44 recently posted..I challenged the Fear
Yes, do what it says in this video, stop being mad at yourself for doing it. Allow it and see if it shifts. Compassion in the answer!