Have you ever asked what the root cause of all your panic and anxiety truly is? Well, in my opinion, it’s very likely to be the obsessive thoughts you experience. These obsessive thoughts are like snowballs that gather momentum and size and turn into the problems your anxiety causes you.
You might be thinking that this isn’t how anxiety works with you and that obsessive thoughts aren’t to blame, and if that’s the situation I’d like you to begin paying attention to your own anxiety and to what you’re feeling and thinking right before it gets out of control.
Most people are very surprised at the results when they study themselves in this way, and I think there’s a good chance you will be as well. And there’s a good reason why I can predict this kind of outcome: because for many years (almost 20, in fact) I suffered with exactly the same problems you’re living with right now.
Unfortunately, when you have an anxiety disorder, it’s impossible to drop a thought automatically like most other people can. So the solution to this problem is finding ways to consciously drop a thought before it becomes harmful – before it becomes OBSESSIVE.
I have a three step plan you can start using right now to stop all your obsessive thoughts:
Step One is to retrain your thinking, ASAP. You need to get it to a place where it can spot a negative or potentially damaging thought the moment that it starts. This includes thoughts that start out very small and seem to be no problem at all. These small thoughts can grow into huge ones that cause serious problems, so these need to be treated just as the obviously terrible thoughts are treated.
Second Step: You need to become exactly like people with no anxiety problems. For them, it’s simple to stop a bad thought anytime they want to. For you, it takes a bit more work. The only way to stop one thought is by having another thought, so to stop the damaging thoughts you simply need to have a new thought that takes its place. You might be wondering what you should be thinking. The answer is simple: think of anything it takes to stop that original and damaging thought.
Third Step: Your damaging thoughts usually begin when your mind is left to wander, or to daydream. This is how thinking these bad thoughts becomes a habit. By thinking these thoughts too frequently they start to happen on their own, and they creep up on you and do their damage. To end this problem, there’s only 1 answer: creating a new default frame of mind, one that’s calm, positive, and pleasant. You do this by thinking good, positive thoughts as often as you can, so that this becomes the type of thinking your brain does automatically when you aren’t paying attention.
I honestly believe that if you can use and stick to these 3 steps that your anxiety and panic and obsessive thoughts will be in better shape than they’ve been for many years.
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