Episode 229: Intrusive Thoughts
Do intrusive thoughts create distress for you, especially when they involve sexuality? Through my work helping people overcome pornography, I've noticed how these unwanted thoughts often trigger shame, anxiety, and a desperate desire to make them stop.
In this episode, I share a powerful exercise about a pink elephant that perfectly illustrates why fighting against intrusive thoughts only makes them stronger. Inspired by a viral TikTok, I explore how our attempts to suppress or eliminate unwanted thoughts paradoxically give them more power over us.
I explain why accepting these thoughts without approving them is the key to reducing their impact. Using real examples from client experiences, I demonstrate how we can learn to let intrusive thoughts exist without engaging with them, ultimately allowing them to fade naturally into the background.
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What You'll Learn from this Episode:
How fighting against intrusive thoughts makes them more persistent.
Why accepting thoughts doesn't mean approving of them.
The way our hypersexualized culture influences automatic sexual thoughts.
Understanding the difference between having thoughts and engaging with them.
How to stop giving intrusive thoughts power through non-engagement.
The relationship between sexual thoughts and normal human experience.
Why challenging beliefs about sexuality reduces thought-related anxiety.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
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