Repetitive Thoughts

[DCA]

I eventually managed to train myself to shut down such thoughts at bedtime, but if I'm particularly stressed or worried about something, even that doesn't work.

This was a really, really big issue for me a few months ago. My dad died & my GF dumped me a few weeks later. I was going through some HUGE life altering events, & the two combined were just too much for me. Too much change at once & I just couldn't handle it well. I barely slept for months for this reason because I couldn't shut things down. It was horrible.

 

[tree]

 

[On the Inside]

I've done this as long as I can remember. Sometimes I will repeat a phrase or two for quite some time and they become somewhat anthemic, like powerful song lyrics.

I don't feel that it is obsessive/ compulsive, because I don't feel driven or compelled by it, or feel like I am analyzing the phrases, they are just looping through my conciousness. Maybe its keeping the verbal area of the brain occupied while I am concentrating on some task.

Sometimes I will repeat parts of a conversation, and inserting the things that I wished I had said. That does seem a bit OCD, though I'm not really obsessing over it.

There is an element of "processing" to it though. And the fact that I have edited this post several times is kind of the same thing, but with posting I can actually go back and say those things I wished I said.

 

[Pats]

I've done this as long as I can remember. Sometimes I will repeat a phrase or two for quite some time and they become somewhat anthemic, like powerful song lyrics.

I don't feel that it is obsessive/ compulsive, because I don't feel driven or compelled by it, or feel like I am analyzing the phrases, they are just looping through my conciousness. Maybe its keeping the verbal area of the brain occupied while I am concentrating on some task.

Sometimes I will repeat parts of a conversation, and inserting the things that I wished I had said. That does seem a bit OCD, though I'm not really obsessing over it.

There is an element of "processing" to it though. And the fact that I have edited this post several times is kind of the same thing, but with posting I can actually go back and say those things I wished I said.

I agree - I also thinks it's funny.

 

[Horsegirl]

I do a very similar thing. When I have a conversation over texting, if I send a message and I don't get a response within about half an hour, I'll read my text over and over and over and over and OVER AGAIN, until it eventually sounds offensive to the person I sent it to. It's really annoying.

 

[Iamnotbroken]

Same. My mind keeps replaying stuff for days, weeks, months etc. it's hard.

I also have been diagnosed with various mental illnesses.

 

[Pats]

I thought of this post as I drove the 3 hours to Charlotte and 3 hours back. The entire time I'm having conversations in my head, If I had driven long enough all the world problems would be solved. lol

 

[Fino]

I thought of this post as I drove the 3 hours to Charlotte and 3 hours back. The entire time I'm having conversations in my head, If I had driven long enough all the world problems would be solved. lol

And if you did that, then I would have been a contributing factor to solving all the world's problems, along with everyone who's effect on me led to me being this way and then making this post!

 

[SimonSays]

In many of the eastern spiritual traditions, repeating a phase or sentence over and over internally is part of mindfulness training. It's part of learning to control thoughts. There is a difference between it feeling out of control and choosing a phrase, something that has a certain tonal or vibrational quality, and using it instead of letting those thought loops take over.

By shifting to a phrase you intentionally repeat, by catching yourself more and more as you do, at some point, those other thoughts will lessen, even stop; the mantra has done its job. Now, in between thoughts, you notice silence, more and more. Your energy is no longer being wasted through repetitive and uncontrollable mental processes, which makes it much easier to keep it that way. It's a process that can work for us too.