If you've been experiencing disturbing,
Scary or distressing intrusive thoughts,
This practice is for you.
First,
Let's slow things down.
Let your breath become an anchor for a few moments.
Notice that gentle flowing in and that gentle flowing out.
With the next exhale,
Allow your shoulders to drop.
Notice what it feels like to release even a little of that tension.
Feel the air filling your lungs as you breathe in.
And slowly leaving as you breathe out.
OCD intrusive thoughts can make you feel shaken.
You can feel shocked by what your own mind could produce.
Sometimes the thought itself lasts only a second.
But the feeling it leaves behind can stay much longer.
The rush of fear and confusion.
The urge to look back at what just happened inside your mind.
Why did I think that?
Where did that come from?
What if it means something about me?
Before those questions gather momentum in your mind,
There is something important to remember.
An intrusive thought is something that has appeared in your mind.
Having a thought is different from wanting it.
It is not a measure of your character.
The thoughts that feel most unacceptable can become the ones the mind grips most tightly.
And right now,
Your mind may desperately want to work out what this one means.
To look closer.
To understand.
To find something that finally makes that fear settle.
But for these few moments,
Turn gently towards yourself instead.
Towards the part of you that has been frightened by all of this Notice what is here.
Perhaps a tightness in your chest.
A heaviness in your stomach.
Maybe shame is here too.
That painful wish to hide what appeared in your mind.
Sometimes a disturbing intrusive thought can make you recoil from yourself.
As though the thought has created a little distance between you and the person you thought you were See if,
For this moment,
You can gently close some of that distance.
Perhaps place a hand somewhere that feels comforting.
Across your chest.
Around your arm.
Against your cheek.
And for a few moments let that touch carry a simple message.
I can see how frightened I am.
And I can offer myself some comfort here.
Perhaps another intrusive thought appears while you are listening to this.
Another image.
Another possibility your mind throws in.
Notice the impact.
The pull to escape it.
To push it far,
Far away.
Then gently come back to the person experiencing it.
Again and again,
OCD may invite you into the thought.
For this moment,
Offer yourself something different.
Warmth instead of scrutiny.
Patients instead of interrogation.
And perhaps these words.
This is an intrusive thought.
It frightened me.
And I can meet that fear with kindness.
Let those words sit lightly.
They don't have to change how you feel.
You may have spent a long time fighting with your own mind.
Trying to make certain thoughts disappear.
Trying to prove something about yourself.
That can be truly exhausting.
So for these few moments,
Let yourself soften around the struggle.
Let the questions be there.
Let the uncertainty be there.
Let the fear be there.
And bring your attention back to you.
The person underneath all of this thinking.
Stay close to yourself here.
With warmth.
With patience.
With the same gentleness you might offer someone you love when they are scared.
Perhaps this thought landed so painfully because it touches something deeply important to you.
Your relationships.
Your values.
Your sense of who you are.
OCD has a way of pulling what matters into doubt.
And while that doubt is here.
.
.
There is also a life around you.
So let your attention begin to widen towards that life again.
And as you move through the rest of your day see if you can carry some of this gentleness with you.
A reminder that when OCD frightens you,
You can stay on your own side.
You can meet fear without turning against yourself.
And then gently come back to the life around you
