What to Do During Obsessing

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Stop Obsessing!
Chapter 5. Letting Go of Worries and Obsessions Chapter 5. Letting Go of Worries and Obsessions
The Stop Obsessing! Audio-Tapes
Tape 1-2: What to Do During Obsessions
Tape 2-1: Structured Practices for Obsessions

So let's continue working on your obsessions. This section contain seven topics, each representing a different skill. They are: postponing, changing the ways you obsess, letting go of worries, using worry time, using a loop tape, using an extended tape recording of your feared consequences, and directly facing the situations you fear.

You know the first step already, before you do ANYTHING else. That is... you accept the obsession. When you have your obsession, the first thing you typically do is resist it and fight it. That reaction will usually intensify your obsession. So since that doesn't work very well, try something new: accept that you just started worrying. Don't work on anything else until you commit yourself to this idea. Because every other self-help technique is applied after you say, (and believe), "It's OK that this just popped up in my mind."

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Let me say that again. Don't work on anything else until you commit yourself to this idea. Because every other self-help technique is applied after you say, (and believe), "It's OK that this just popped up in my mind."

Now, you have two options once you notice that you just started obsessing and you accepted that it's OK. One is postponing the obsessions, the other is changing how you actually obsess.

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