I have my days. Today was one of them. A day cleaning up my garage, my favourite place where I tinker and build things. But today as I toiled with the cleaning my mind was fixed on past experiences.

Do any of you have lack of mind control?  Or if you have control on your thoughts how do you drop the bad thoughts so you can focus on good things? Maybe cleaning is at fault. A boring procedure.  Might have to leave that job to my wife next time lol while I go indoors to cook my unique custard cookies.

dear Tony, well great minds think alike. lol, because I was contemplating on whether I will post a similar comment, maybe one step side-wards.

What you have said is that it does happen and it can go on everyday, even if you have overcome depression, say for you and myself.

I had been thinking about this for a long time in that, say for me, that it's quite easy to be able to talk myself into depression, because a series of events hasn't worked out as I wanted them to, but I know that I don't want to go down that track, so I pull the reins of the horse back in, and then take another direction so that my mind goes towards thinking or doing something else.

I know from experience that I don't want continue thinking in a negative way, because that will lead me back to depression, and the same applies when I have a relapse, knowing that it's only going to last a day or maybe 2 days until I feel better.

Depression is the devil, because when we have had it we are prone for it to return, so it's always a daily job to keep it away, I can't see any other option. Geoff.

Do any members here lack mind control or have remedies for intrusive thoughts?

TonyWK

Hi Tony & Geoff,

Yes, I lack mind control and have been quite anxious today. My mind has jumped from one thing to another to feeling bad for something that happened Friday to thinking of negative things and round and round it goes.to combat this i am trying to practise gratitude and i did a short meditation on smiling mind which reminded me that right now, in this moment, I am ok. i am well, i am safe, i am loved. I keep gratitude diary, every night before bead I write 3 things i am grateful for. It serves as a good reminder to focus on positives.

Hopefully my busy mind will pass. Hopefully I can push through it and remember how good it feels when my mind is not so busy. Hopefully i can remind myself that thinking the worst is not not helpful and often 'the worst' doesn't happen. If it does, I can deal with it.

cmf x

What happened Friday is in the past. I can't change it, I don't have to be happy about it, but i can learn from it. Things that are making me anxious I can deal with, but i don't have to do it all at once. One at a time. It is 11pm, can't do anytbhing now anyway but i can on my day off, when I have time

Hello CMF and sorry Tony I missed your question, an important one.

Intrusive thoughts (IT) can cause you to become obsessed or distressed and you may have difficulty getting past it, and while other thoughts are no different, it's the attachment of it that causes the trouble and while they can result in disturbances that are hard to manage, they can include various thoughts.

There is a difference between obsessive and intrusive thoughts, where the former means you need to check the door lock several times, whereas IThoughts are disturbing and in an inappropriate way.

I say this because I wanted to hit my dear Mum, but I loved her so much, so to me, this was frightening.

Systematic desensitization or exposure therapy that starts with imagining yourself in a progression of fearful situations and using relaxation strategies that compete with anxiety and can help break the cycle of worry by teaching relaxation strategies and exposing a person to the situation that they fear.

It helps break down the thought slowly to an acceptable level.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

Thankyou CMF and Geoff

Thats ok Geoff I’d forgotten I’d asked the question!

CMF glad you posted. Uninvited thoughts are annoying and Geoff broke the two down perfectly.

Use search bar

worry worry worry

a good night deep sleep

I hope that help CMF

TonyWK