Yay! Another acronym! What should you do when you get an intrusive thought? ACCEPT it! - AGREE with the possibility it could be true. "maybe it could happen" or "uh, huh, it's possible". - CALL ITS BLUFF by doing a behavioral experiment. "I'm going to touch that toilet anyway, OCD. Go ahead and prove that I'll die before tomorrow comes around" - Boost your CONFIDENCE. "I have coped with hard things before and can do it again". "That would suck, but I'd find a way to be ok" - Add an EMOJI ? Emojis are so popular because they are pictoral gestures. Gestures and body language are an enormous part of how we communicate. Adding an eyeroll ? or shrug ?‍♀️ can go a long way towards changing the attitude you respond to the thought with. - PAUSE and PUT IT OFF aka POSTPONE. "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it". "if it's still a problem tomorrow, I'll reconsider what to do then". "I'll think about this later" (ps, you can totally just keep delaying indefinitely) - And finally, TRANSITION to another TOPIC. "Right now I'm going to keep doing my homework". "I'd rather continue a conversation with my friend about his vacation". "I'm more interested in noticing the nature as I walk rather than ruminating. Look! A cool mushroom!" - I've ? starred the AGREE and TRANSITION because those are the most important bits. As long as you start by agreeing with the possibility and end with transitioning to another topic, you can sandwich in any of the other strategies that suit your needs in the moment. - Did you like this? Is there something you think I should change or add? Is it something you can use? Tell me all about it in the comments! I love hearing your perspective. -

When I have a scary thought my new initial reaction is picturing I’m in a car with screaming kids and the back. The kids are screaming the intrusive thoughts at me but I have to keep driving. So I say to myself “wow that’s a wonderful thought” or “got more?” And then it kind of drifts away. Trust me I’m still learning so much and have a long way to go but this is an amazing picture.

Misconception #1: Acceptance means that I am accepting the thoughts as truths. "Mindfulness is accepting the presence of thoughts and feelings" I guess I just don't like the word agree. I'm not going to agree with my thoughts. But, I will accept that they are there and I won't fight them. That works really really well.

Love this.

How can you accept it if it's a thought saying you're a pedifile or a cheater or other horrible things? Accepting those as true would make me kill myself. I'd much rather distance myself from the thought. "Oh, hello thought. Thanks for coming. That does seem scary. Thanks for letting me know. Bye now." And just letting it go. Or if it gets to a feeling being like, "This feeling does suck. But it's just a feeling." And then just going on with your day just letting the feeling run its course.

I used to pause/put if off a lot but what I found to be even more helpful is to realize it's just a thought/feeling and it isn't me nor do I have to act on it. I start ERP on Tuesday though and if it's going to try to make me believe that I really am a horrible person and that my cognitive distortions are correct (I do a lot of black and white thinking and catastrophising) then I don't think it will do me any good.

I love the emoji too haha, I remember favouriting this post on Instagram. Maybe I’m a murderer ??‍♀️ what’s for dinner?