Intrusive thoughts are like words. If you think of a word hard enough/long enough, it starts to sound funny. It becomes distorted in your mind. The more you say it to yourself, the more you think of this word, the more meaning it loses. The funnier it sounds. It’s hard to reconnect it to its meaning. Later, when you happen to think of it again after taking space from it, you can see it for what it is. It’s clear again and the meaning is back. This is how I feel about intrusive thoughts. The harder I repeat them/think about them, the more distorted and unclear they become. It’s hard to make sense of them. When I take space from them by avoiding compulsions, they make more sense and I can see them for what they are: just random thoughts.