Your brain is your computer

[Daisy10]

I'm sure you've come across similar (if not the exact same) analogies but this came to me yesterday and thought it might be a helpful thinking exercise to share

Imagine you are looking at a computer screen. You have a couple of windows open and are doing some work, nothing pressing but you've got things to do. This computer is your mind.

Suddenly a window pops up out of nowhere in the corner. It's bright red and your eye keeps being drawn towards it. You try to focus on the work you need to do but this window is so red and angry and more importantly, you didn't open it yourself, it just popped up out of nowhere. It's intruding. I'm sure you don't need me to explain what this pop up is a metaphor for!

You click on the [x] to get rid of it, but another window pops up. Again, you click on the [x] to get rid of that one and another appears. Before you know it your whole computer screen is awash with horrible pop ups and you can no longer see what you were working on before. The more you click on these pop ups, the more appear. Turns out this pop up is a computer virus and your screen has been infected.

Little did you know, had you just ignored the pop up, accepted it was a little distracting and you'd prefer it not to be there, your computers anti-virus software would have got rid of it of its own accord. 

Your intrusive thoughts are these nasty pop ups. Knowing what you know about the nature of these pop ups (when you click on them they multiply and ultimately infect your computer) it doesn't make sense to click, does it?  Don't let them infect your computer, allow them to drift in and out and your computer will stay virus free so you can concentrate on whatever it was you were working on.

[Emsie]

Love this post Daisy. Thank you. It's helpful because this analogy helps us to visualise the wrong approach to our intrusive thoughts. ?

[Daisy10]

Thanks Emsie! I hope it helps a bit 

[Ashley]

That is a great analogy Daisy, and so true.  I would love to publish this on our website and in our magazine if you give us permission to do so. I can do so with your name (or username) or anonymously if preferred.

 

[Daisy10]

Hey Ashley, you absolutely have my permission , I'm perfectly happy for you to use my username. 

Edited October 11, 2017 by Daisy10

[Ashley]

Thanks Daisy, it will be a few weeks but I will add it to the list and be in touch   Great writing, thanks for sharing. 

[Emsie]

3 hours ago, Daisy10 said:

Thanks Emsie! I hope it helps a bit 

It helps a great deal Daisy, thank you so much again. That's so cool Ashley is going to publish it on the website and in the magazine. Well done! ?

Edited October 11, 2017 by Emsie

[Izzy2017]

That's brilliant thank you

[BelAnna]

Amazing analogy- makes perfect sense!

[Daisy10]

Hey,

The response to this post has inspired me to start a blog. I've only just started, but this is the sort of thing I will be posting, so if you liked this analogy keep an eye on https://hellnocd.wordpress.com/

 

Daisy

[changemynametosomething]

really really great way to describe this!

[lostinme]

Brilliant analogy Daisy thankyou so much for sharing it with us 

[Daisy10]

Thanks everyone, I'm glad this resonated with you guys a bit. I've changed my blog url to https://thetriggeredmind.wordpress.com/ if you fancy having a read

[worriedjohn]

I want to add something to your analogy. As you know that trying to close the window clicking on red cross mark will lead to opening of more unwanted popups, just press ALT+TAB or use your mouse and switch to your working document/App (which you were using previously) and continue your work. The window will stay in background and you don't need to bother about it. After some time elapsed the window will automatically killed by the OS due to timeout!

Good luck.

[Caramoole]

It is a good analogy......now people have to decide to bring it to mind when those thoughts strike.  Remember this little gem and remind yoursel to resist getting drawn in

[Daisy10]

Hey @worriedjohn, that's a great add on! You can continue to work even if the virus has spread!

[Emsie]

I'm really struggling right now. After many initial compulsions, I did what I consider to be a massive compulsion yesterday that at the time, as it was of the reassurance seeking nature (and cost money), gave me huge relief. But literally only 15 minutes later my OCD mind found a 'hole' in the reassurance.

I've been ruminating off and on since and doing other compulsions and I've now come up with more fears that weren't even on my radar yesterday before the huge compulsion that I did yesterday. I never would have considered these new fears. 

I'm on the verge of doing another huge compulsion to try and seek relief and more reassurance about the original fear and also the new fears that have arrived. The idea for this 'new' compulsion came to me this morning as a way out of all of this. It will cause a lot of anxiety even doing this compulsion and I've already thought how it could probably lead to more doubts and more fears and more reassurance seeking, as I know how my mind works, so I'm resisting, which is hard in the mornings when my anxiety levels are high. I'm going to really try not to do it. I'm really really trying not to do it. Deep down I know it's all OCD lies but its hard to see that at the same time. If I resist this 'new' compulsion I know it will free me from being stuck. Plus I need to stop ruminating too. 

I'm posting this here on Daisy's thread because I came online to re-read her great analogy and I have to say it's really helping me to resist this 'new' compulsion and other compulsions. So, thank you Daisy. 

Hope you're all ok. 

Thank you for reading this as I know it's a bit long. It's also good to get this off my chest and to say it all so that I don't feel alone. 

Edited October 14, 2017 by Emsie