Can you control your mind and emotions, or must you accept them?

Oh, as for your question, no, I don't think we have complete control of our minds but we certainly relish on the delusion that we do, especially people like us with ocd. Hence why we give such importance to thoughts and try to control them, something which only makes it worse.

@LydiaK Yeah maybe it was wrong to ask that here bc this is about ocd... i think many of my worries are because i have limiting beliefs about myself and some situations and it makes it hard to enjoy life, but when i try to change it i get lost in the emotions and thoughts and the past...

@LydiaK and that even means that changed your mind isnt possible too? Like changing what you think?

@woahman Oh no, it's not wrong of you to ask this here, if it's a question separate from ocd. I thought you wanted to use this approach as means of "curing" ocd, not that it was a separate subject. Please excuse me if i was wrong. You're free to share what you want here!

@woahman You can change what you believe but you can't change your thoughts, because thoughts are simply information gathered by the brain. It's how you "interpret" those thoughts that is under your control. No thoughts are actually bad, because they're just thoughts. They don't define you and have no special meaning other than the subjective interpretation we give them. That's why we need to take them less seriously, they're not facts but random information in the form of impressions and judgements that built their form through the environmental circumstances of our lives.

@LydiaK Yeah youre right, just idk i can see that what the guy said(the video i watched) its kinda true too, that if you feel anxious or bad its because you think or believe something bad about yourself or the world that you need to change and you control the mind cause what you think makes you feel the way how you feel...

@LydiaK And that thing helped me when i felt low and i had to still choose to do what i want, what i believe, but just accepting them idk puts me to feel like im a victim and i need to accept those negative thoughts, i cant do anything else...

@woahman You just need to accept their existence, you don't have to believe in them

@LydiaK Now i will continue this topic, so we are capable of changing our beliefs to positive ones. Well i noticed that no mather how many times i work with them, everytime my beliefs change when i feel a negative feeling that gives me stress. Like everytime im down my beliefs are that how bad and annoying person i am, even that that 1 day before i thought im a good person... and when i feel bad and i try to change that "belief" i get lost in the thoughts, so what is the best way to have yout beliefs?

@woahman You get lost in the thoughts because that's ocd. Instead of "trying to change", focus and accept the possibility of you being a bad person(I don't mean that you are of course). By accepting the possibilities of being what we hate the most we change little by little. Don't try to change "that belief" instead try to let the thoughts this belief gives you pass through your mind and accept them. Stay with the anxiety they five you until this anxiety eventually pass. By constantly thinking and analyzing the said beliefs in hopes to change them, you only make them stronger. By letting them pass without doing anything to them, your mind will end up considering them insignificant and make them eventually disappear.

@LydiaK *give

@LydiaK Yeah thats what i was talking about in the beginning, i know people who do that for years and the thoughts still come back to them and they still have to try to not give attention to it... its like youre trying to avoid what the mind gives you, and it makes you think youre a victim cause you cant do anything about what your mind thinks and you will even view the mind as a negative thing. I was there too, i always let the thoughts and feeling "to pass" but after time i got frustrated bc i felt like the thoughts come from nowhere, they control themself and i cant do anything about that,they affect my emotions like everyones, its like you became a victim... idk if you understand what im saying

True, its just seeking control in you life and that’s something you will never get

But then how to not get lost in the thoughts? Im really desperate right now bc what seemed like the answer it made me so anxious, i felt like this anxious 2 years ago...

@woahman I try to get distraction and accept it but it still triggers me and is on my mind all the time, so sorry im not the right person to ask im still struggling with this as well

And trying to make yourself believe that youre worthy doesnt make you more stressed bc you fight with the negative thoughts? Atleast that what happened to me, mine got stronger and i got tired mentaly

@woahman No it allowed me to accept that I may or may not be worthy. By my worthiness isn’t defined by the negative thoughts I have. It’s allowed me to surrender and let it go.

I think i have many but the strongest is suicidal ocd

Maybe with ocd its okay to ignore it bc its missed fire from your mind and it has to learn that its not danger but other problems need other solutions, like when i go out and feel unworthy like dont worth as much as others, i cam everytime accept that feeling and ignore, it will not do anything, just harm... idk what to do

I agree with the things you said, just the "illness" part i dont agree with, i think lot of us feels worse if we view it as an illness, we would give too much power to it with that. But if its okay to you, then say it like that, i view it in an other way.🙂

@woahman By illness i mean we're no different than anyone that has any type of illness, that we're just human beings affected by something that makes us suffer. Not as a stigmatizing label as you've possibly interpreted it. While we are neurodivergent, we're still negatively affected by ocd, it doesn't give us any "superpower", therebefore i call it illness. Being ill doesn't make you anything less than a human, it's merely the "side effect" of having a body. It's a "mental illness" because it's painful and not something we enjoy having, yet still part of us. Seeing illness for what it is, makes us accept it and move on, it doesn't give ocd any power. It's not recognizing it and deluding ourselves that will make ocd stronger, because by not recognizing it we give it a LOT of opportunities to be sneaky and hold power over us. We turn it into something bigger and more important than just an illness. We forget we have it and give in to it. We create opportunities to blind us and make us give importance to intrusive thoughts. Recognizing what you have gives you insight and that insight is what will make you strong enough to fight against it and live your best life.