Do you find yourself craving certainty? If this happens on a regular basis for you, here is one thing I know for sure. Craving certainty is a surefire recipe for anxiety. Craving certainty is the very definition of anxiety. Craving certainty creates the anxiety habit. And yes, it is a habit.
Do you know what the worst part of an anxious thought is? It is not the thought itself. It is your reaction to the thought, and then how you choose to behave in response to the thought. Mentioned in previous posts, I have talked about how anxious thoughts feel sticky, the paradox of anxiety, and what happens when you get entangled with your anxious thoughts.
Craving Certainty vs Managed Peace
When you embrace these ideas as truth (and they are) it is possible to realize the two steps necessary to manage your anxiety in a more lasting way, a manner that can bring you what I call ‘managed peace.’
The first part of the challenge in this mission is to learn the attitude that will most help you untangle and disengage from your OCD-like thoughts.
Care to guess what this attitude might be? Leaning towards your uncertainty and distress can feel scary, but I promise you that the more you do this, the more those intrusive thoughts will lose their power over you–like a nice hot bath of anxiety turning tepid on you.
The second is to actively retrain your mind, your brain, so that your newly adopted attitude becomes your new habitual reaction.
You may recall that I said from the get-go that anxiety is a habit. And habits can be changed. Habits are lurkers, a bit like individuals who read and watch Facebook posts but do not always actively participate. Habits are present in the background, waiting to leap in and pounce at the right opportunity–usually a moment of high stress. OCD anxious thoughts behave that way, and require training and purposeful practice to change.
Would you like to learn a better way to manage these unwanted intrusive thoughts? If you want to learn how to tame your anxiety, how to manage it on a lasting basis, shoot me an email, or go to my contact page. I am here in your neighborhood and ready to help.
