Is this a bad thing?

[Jrick34]

Hello everyone, as always I hope you're doing well. I've been here awhile and have been through somethings but since March of this year I had been battling intrusive thoughts that cause a great deal of anxiety. They come and go and I've kind of learned to live with them but sometimes it can be a bit much. I found myself reverting back to techniques I used to do when I first started having them but I feel like I shouldn't have to because its been 3 months since it happened and I should be better. So I get frustrated and upset when I think about doing them and refuse to do so. Like honestly I didn't want to write this because I feel like its just keeping the thoughts relevant but I don't know if Iam going forward or backwards. Should I be upset with myself for having to go back to things I did when I first started having them?

[Pugglesworth]

Thoughts are just that: thoughts. They come and go like the wind. They only have the significance we give them. Any thought can be intrusive. Thoughts have energy. The more we play into them the more energy they gain. Why let a thought have control over you? We are not our thoughts. If we were, we couldn't observe them.

I go back to techniques I learned years ago all the time. I read and re-read books on anxiety I've read and re-read before all the time. Sometimes I catch something I missed. Sometimes I remember something I forgot. Sometimes my techniques work like a charm. Sometimes I need to try something else.

Some of my thoughts used to scare me until I realized I'm not my thoughts. I need not pay them any attention. They screamed at me awhile and then they began to silence. They're still there, just not as loud. They come and go. I have bad thoughts and good thoughts. I try to focus on the good. At times, I don't focus on thought at all: I focus on sound (what I'm hearing), sight (what I'm seeing) or feeling (my feet on the ground).

Intention always precedes thought. There is an intention and then a thought. Then, perhaps, a feeling. I haven't seen what precedes intention yet, but I will.

Hope that perspective helps a bit.

[rgarza3895 in reply to Pugglesworth]

Ooooo I like this. Been a rough month.

[Midori]

Don't feel bad, coping strategies are for use every time they are needed. they will work again if you try them, there is no shame in them.

Cheers, Midori

[Jrick34 in reply to Midori]

This helped me so much!! Thank you for the reply