When you're taught to embrace your OCD thoughts and deal with them, how does one do that exactly? Example, I get a disturbing thought or uncomfortable feeling, we're taught to embrace it or accept it... How so? It's an unwanted thought.. So how do you embrace something that's so dang annoying or unanswerable? I often find my OCD wanting to get technical and "reading the fine print" of any and all advice given. So annoying.

sometimes what is helpful for me when my OCD is being super annoying, is that i see it as a small child in a restaurant. there is nothing you can do when they start throwing a tantrum. you can't make them stop, and the only choice you have is to carry on with your meal with the annoying crying in the background. eventually it goes away, and then you some how forget it even happened in the first place. this helps with how we should be looking at our thoughts. we cannot control them, and they're just noise in our ear sometimes. it is our choice to accept that nothing we can do can change the outcome of our thoughts, but we can learn to let them silently play out in the background while we continue on with our day.

That’s the trick with OCD. I have POCD. I have to say “I may or may not be that thing I’m afraid of, I wont know right now, but today I’m going to live by my values” and just accept the thought’s existence without engaging with it. The thing that makes OCD worse is trying to make the thought go away. I think of it like a rock or tree root on a sidewalk. I trip over it and move on, I don’t focus on trying to make the tree root go away. Same with the intrusive thoughts.

Yes, that's exactly what has helped me so much recently. A thought will come and being some anxiety. I will say " i love that thought" " I look forward to more of that thought". Our reaction to thought is what brings energy to it. For me I did this with intrusive thoughts and that dissipated over 2 weeks to almost not at all. Sometimes I still get them but I started seeing them as an opportunity to prove that they don't shake me (takes time) I'm now trying the same technique with my fear of big decisions or with my fear of relationships but its a bit tricky

I'm thinking that my approach has been wrong. I don't have to embrace it by pretending to love the thought. I just need to understand it's there and not engage it or find whatever solution for it. That was my problem before. I couldn't pretend to enjoy the thought because deep down I knew I was being fake. I just need to acknowledge that it's annoying and leave it be.

I just noticed by reacting by acknowledging and saying thank you. It shows I'm not scared and so the reaction is less strong

Yeh, its the thoughts saying this If we emotionally react then us OCD people think it must be true. Its hard not to believe what we feel. What if you didn't feel anything, would they be true? The idea is to allow thoughts to be there. Treating them as though they are a toddler trying to get your attention. Be nice to them but don't believe the tantrums. Like a telemarketer who has so many ways to sell you the product but if you know its a telemarketer you can eventually not buy what they are selling.

A thing that helped me was when the thought came on I stopped and took a breathe and then just kind of sat there. Like just sitting blankley and not reacting at all, at first its hard and takes a while but u will soon see that even pretending not to react at all really works and u will soon not even react because u will realize its a thought, and like all thoughts just koves away. Let me know if u try it

i always thought about trying out that method of saying wow i love that thought etc but it makes me afraid that what if by me saying that all the time i will actually start to like the thought and start to actually feel the thoughts and have them feel/be true

I am in no way a NOCD therapist. But here’s my opinion. Thanks for sharing your current experience. I would say that you should be very proud of yourself for 1st noticing the anxiety, distress, and discomfort and letting those feelings of anxiety, fear, etc. be there.This is a perfect time to as I like to say "practice" ERP. Practice not analyzing any of those points you mentioned and place your attention on this present moment. Feel your feet on the ground, take a deep breathe, go for a walk, read, go hangout with a close companion, or play a sport. Not avoiding the discomfort, but choosing to do things you want to do and not give any attention to dwelling on that.The most important part being the response prevention. Not easy, but part of the work. When this type of situation occurs and we are in environments in which we are organically exposed to distress, use this as an opportunity to practice doing the work! This allows for two things; showing yourself you can handle and tolerate it, and also letting your body know that although you feel uncomfortable you are willing to keep doing whatever it is you are doing and getting on with your day! This is the foundation!