There are different ways of "healing", but the most effective one is always the one that you go through with other people. This is how Alcoholics Anonymous meetings work. People get together once a week for a couple of hours, discuss their problems and successes, support each other and find the strength to move on. Without this support, they are nobody and quickly return to their animal state. Conversation is an effective method if your interlocutor is a brother in misfortune. The bottom line is that he understands your fear, which causes obsessive thoughts. It will be difficult for a person from the outside to give you the right advice or support. He may think that you are just doing nonsense, winding up problems, but a person with the same obsessive thought will understand you. From the very realization of this understanding, it will become easier for you. You will see that not only you are torturing yourself - the world is full of people with a similar problem, which means that you can work out a common plan of action. By the end of the dialogue with such a person, obsessive thoughts will weaken, and if the conversations become systematic, then the obsession may disappear.

Switch your attention to something more important

In fact, people rarely worry about any significant events. Most obsessive thoughts grow out of everyday life, relationship problems, work, and difficult choices. Other people see that you are driving yourself into a trap because of some little thing, but you do not see it. Why? Because you have nothing to compare to. It will be a mistake to compare your far-fetched problems with large-scale problems like the AIDS epidemic or mass starvation. Concentration on the negative helps very rarely, although there are people who are so happy with someone else's misfortune that they forget about their own. BroDude proposes to do otherwise - switch your attention from the personal to the global in a positive or neutral sense.

An example is indispensable, so listen to what you can do first. So, you have a typical everyday problem that seems so important to you that you only think about it. You feel sorry for yourself, you cannot work, you cannot enjoy life. But you can watch some popular science film about space, the ocean, the planet. The bottom line is to find a movie that will tell about something great, large-scale and incomprehensible. It's not worth uploading a documentary about ducks - ducks are comprehensible, although interesting. So, you start watching a movie where they tell how amazing and huge this universe is in relation to all of humanity. You begin to realize how insignificant your fears are in relation to everything else. You come to the conclusion that life gave you a chance, and you spend it on self-flagellation.

Do something systematic with music

When in your head? The moment you have a free window in your mind that you can't occupy with anything. This can happen even at work, which will definitely reduce your productivity, bury your mood under the plates of negativity.

Business and music can help you. The matter must be definite - systematic. Chopping firewood is perfect, or working with documents, numbers, cleaning. This kind of work does not give you a minute to spend on intrusive thoughts. Add music to your chosen "routine" - and now you definitely won't be able to return to your black, heavy thoughts. This approach has one big plus and one fat minus. The advantage is that the effect of it is instant - anxiety can disappear almost immediately. The downside is the possible return of obsessive thoughts immediately after the case. In other words, you are fighting the symptoms, not the disease. But this is at least something.

Get creative

There is a more effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorders. It's called creativity. Intrusive thoughts are destructive. They can only destroy what has been created, stop movement, destroy desire. Creativity works in the opposite way. It differs from a simple chopping of firewood not by the action, but by the result of this action. For example, if you draw, then in the end you get a picture that becomes the result of your creation. The feeling of creation comes into conflict with the thoughts that destroy your personality. As a result, if you engage in creativity systematically (at least as part of therapy), then it will be easier for you to tune your brain to a constructive wave.

The desire to be distracted is a natural reaction that often occurs when we want to avoid some unpleasant or negative moments in life. For example, when we are in physical or mental pain, some of us get distracted in unhealthy ways - getting addicted, hurting ourselves, overeating, and the like. But distractions can also be beneficial, especially if addiction or other harmful behaviors have become a habit. Distractions will help you stop taking drugs by giving you time to shift your attention to something else. When distracted in the right way, it helps to pass the time, switch attention or calm down. Thus, entertainment, relaxation techniques, and so on will help you get distracted.

Steps

Choosing the Right Ways to Relax

Keep in mind that distraction can be both healthy and unhealthy. Distraction is a mechanism that we use to avoid difficulties or an overabundance of emotions. Some unhealthy distractions include eating junk food when you're stressed or using alcohol and drugs. For example, to solve an anger management problem, a person may resort to drugs to drown out overwhelming emotions.

Acknowledge the emotions you are experiencing. It would be better to accept and part with those negative feelings that you are experiencing. You can still resort to distractions, but keep in mind that this will only distract you from the problem at hand. This will only hide and ignore the negative emotions you experience.

Recognize that distraction can overcome bad habits. If you're addicted, try distracting yourself so you don't make it worse. The desire to be distracted means that you have realized how harmful it is to indulge your addiction. You make a conscious decision to approach your addiction constructively.

• Count to 100 to pass the time when you feel like taking drugs or drinking alcohol.
• Take a break to take a breather before dealing with negative emotions.

1. Turn a bad habit into a healthy distraction. The natural response to a stressful situation or emotion may be an unhealthy distraction, such as consuming large amounts of junk food or alcohol. There is nothing wrong with being distracted after accepting your negative emotions. However, you should do something useful in order to treat your body and mind with respect and care. Here are a few things you can keep yourself busy with:

   • go for a walk;
   • eat fruit instead of a candy bar;
   • read a book;
   • tidy up at work.

2. Go in for sports. Experiencing negative emotions - it's time to exercise. Walking or cycling will allow you to focus on one thing.

   Get some sleep. During sleep, your mind will quieten down and all active thinking will stop. Lie down on the bed and take a short nap.

Entertainment

Listen to music. Download a new playlist and listen to music. Find a comfortable place to sit and listen carefully to the music. Focus on the lyrics and melody. Try to hear when an instrument starts playing.

Watch TV or a movie. Watching TV or a good movie can help take your mind off pressing problems or thoughts. Immerse yourself completely in the story of a series or movie.

• Be sure to choose a movie or series that doesn't remind you of your problems. For example, if you want to take your mind off a heartache or relationship breakup, don't watch a movie where the character breaks up with someone.

1. Play a video game. Video games have compelling narratives that draw you into their world. While playing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), you can chat with other people and take your mind off the pressing problems.

   Read a book. Find a book with a good and poignant story, or reread your favorite novel. Choose some light reading. If you constantly think about what you read or look in the dictionary, you will lose the thread of the story and completely get confused in the plot.

Many scientists, having conducted a series of studies, have made amazing conclusions. It turned out that people who carry negative emotions for a long time are exposed to various diseases much more often than optimists. Let's take a look in this article on how to divert attention from bad thoughts to something bright. And how to change a bad mood to a good one.

Let's initially consider a few important points regarding what should be done if negativity has settled in your soul and everything is annoying.

How to distract yourself from bad thoughts

• Don't pretend like nothing bad is happening. After all, any life situation needs analysis.
• Don't put yourself in anyone's place. If something happened to someone you know, then try not to focus on it. Shut off negative thoughts.
• Don't keep bad thoughts. Try to find an outlet for all negative emotions. There are times when you just need to scream or cry.
• If it seems to you that everything is very bad for you and it simply cannot be worse, then drive away all bad thoughts from yourself and try to imagine your near future in a rainbow light. After all, life is beautiful!
• Do not consider all minor troubles and failures as your failure. Try to ignore all the useless information. If you were rude in public transport, then most likely it’s not at all about you, but that something happened to your offender and someone already ruined his mood, and he, in turn, decided to take revenge on you.
• If you began to notice behind yourself that you do not expect anything bright and good from your life, then urgently change your worldview.
• Do not cherish your bad mood, do not fall on the sofa with thoughts that no one needs you and you do not need anything else. Try to distract yourself. For these purposes, any housework, going to visit friends or acquaintances, visiting the theater, exhibitions, etc. is suitable. You can also change your environment and make new acquaintances. Having plunged into new sensations, you will forget about your blues.
• If you have depression, then this does not mean at all that you need to eat up to satiety or, on the contrary, do not eat anything for days. Remember that you should eat at least once a day a hot dish. The body needs food and vitamins. Bananas, raisins, vegetables, basil, celery, hazelnuts, coriander, sea fish are famous for their ability to change mood for the better.
• In order for you to overcome your negative emotions, you need to: treat chronic diseases, if any, get enough sleep, do only your favorite thing, and radiate goodwill to others.

Now you know how to distract yourself from the accumulated negativity. If you use the advice of famous psychologists, then try not to run your problems, otherwise they can grow and grow like a snowball, but analyze the problem and try to solve it. After all, only by finding a suitable solution, you will get rid of all bad thoughts. Look to the future, enjoy life. Whatever it is, she's still beautiful. The sun is shining, the air is fresh, which means there is a reason to rejoice. We wish you good luck and always good mood!

We all know how material our thoughts are, so if we constantly think about something bad, turning our thinking into sticky chewing gum, do not be surprised if troubles from a rich imagination begin to come true. This is where the question arises, how to distract from bad thoughts.

Where do they come from

Before you distract yourself from bad thoughts, you need to realize that every negative thought is an emotion. And the emotion that is associated with your fears and complexes. They are taken from those times when you were defenseless in front of parents, teachers, adults, the world and the world of complex children's relationships. Very often, such thoughts signal that some problem needs to be solved, but sometimes it also happens that some settings get lost in the psyche and ordinary health care turns into hypochondria, and the self-preservation instinct develops into paranoia.

This can happen after a series of stresses or after someone from relatives or friends fell ill with a serious illness. The main thing to understand, if you are overcome by such thoughts, is that they cannot be eradicated by logic or simply pushed out of your head. Everything is much more complicated.

Live to the fullest

One of the easiest ways to distract from obsessive thoughts. Find another job, come up with an interesting hobby, organize events, engage in social activities, create. If you don't have a personal life, fall in love and go on dates, pair up single friends, introduce people. Do not give up interesting events and go somewhere more often.

You can not even go to distant islands and not on excursions, but to a neighboring city, where there is something interesting. This may not radically solve the problem of obsessive thoughts, but who knows, maybe after six months of an active life you will remember what worried you so much until recently and understand how ridiculous it was.

First turn on the logic

As mentioned above, it is not very necessary and it will not be possible to drive away negative thoughts by force, but at the first stage it will come in handy. Come up with clear, concise arguments against intrusive thoughts. Do not argue with yourself - this will further drag you into the abyss of unpleasant thoughts. Just say: "I am healthy and the tests have proven it" in case you have a fear of getting sick. If you feel like you have enemies, tell yourself that no one wants to harm you, etc.

And finally, realize that if there is a problem, then you need to solve it, and not think about it all the time and torment yourself with it. Try to ignore these thoughts and be indifferent to them. If you do not give them an emotional charge, then they will leave in time. How to do it? Don't berate yourself or force yourself to switch, just relax and let them flow freely.

Our consciousness is still a troll, and in order for it to calm down, you just need not to feed it! Try to remember your intrusive thoughts when you are in a good mood or when things are going the way you want them to. Then you will perfectly understand their absurdity.

Learn to be distracted

Let you have a hobby and you can switch to it. Physical education is a good hobby. Even if you don’t recognize sports clubs, try to stand up and squat when negative thoughts come up. Or push up. Or press. It’s just that when the body tenses up, emotions are turned off, which means that fear has nothing to feed on.

Punish yourself

Not the best way, but if you are used to tough measures, it will do. Try to put a thin elastic band on your hand and, at the first hint of obsessive thoughts, beat yourself on your hand with it, and it hurts. This will not radically solve the problem, but it will help to survive until the evening without panic.

turn on the fantasy

Visualization will help you. You can imagine that you are a large and bright ball full of positive energy. At the same time, imagine your negative thoughts in the form of funny and ridiculous insects, stupidly swarming around this ball. Pay attention to their absurdity. Take a look and see how funny they are.

If negative thoughts are related to how bad you are, you can think about your victories and your virtues. Self-confidence is a great way to deal with obsessive thoughts about your inferiority. For every negative thought, there is a positive one, and this search is worth doing.

Think about what will happen if what you are so afraid of will happen. After that, thoughts will no longer scare you so much.

get distracted

Find an activity that requires a lot of intelligence, attention and concentration. It can be an intellectual game, writing articles, etc. The main thing is that you get involved in a complex and interesting business and this will prevent annoying thoughts from overpowering you.

Some ladies are advised to be distracted by sentimental series, where there are a lot of strong emotions. There is something in this: having cried over someone else's grief, we will be distracted from our annoying demons.

Stop being afraid of the future. Perhaps it does not exist, or perhaps we can create it ourselves. Make bold plans for the near future, where the important point is the fulfillment of your desires. And carry it out!

How to get away from problems? Often, when we are at home, with family, or trying to fall asleep, a bunch of thoughts keep spinning in our head: “Do this, then that…”, “Call tomorrow…”, “What to do?” etc. Quite often, this prevents us from living a full life, communicating with loved ones, and finally deprives us of sleep. Today I will talk about how to get all this husk out of your head.

It's pretty easy to get other people's problems out of your head, for example, if they are related to work. Left work and forgot until the next day. However, what if the problems are ours? If they concern our business? If they concern our property? If they concern our personal life? It is not so easy to get distracted here, although we are aware of such a need.

Methods of distraction from problems

Write down the problem

It may seem strange, but often problems are spinning in our heads just because we are afraid to forget them. To remove this fear, we need to fix the task on paper or in some other way.
The method works best if we mark next to the recorded problem what we will do when the time comes to solve this problem. The action plan is very reassuring.

Why does it help? The fact is that our minds can only fit so many tasks at the same time. Psychologists even calculated how many (7 ± 2). This means that in case the problem contains more components, it is very difficult for us to “settle” it in our head. We begin to consider one part of it, then another, forgetting the previous conclusions. Thus, we get into a "cycle", our thought goes in cycles, and we make useless mental efforts.
On paper, everything is clear, you can fit as many elements as you like, and most importantly, paper does not forget.

Get out of context

This method helps a lot if bad thoughts do not allow you to fall asleep. It requires imagination.

The fact is that all our problems and experiences are clearly tied in time. A person lies and thinks - “Here I am, now such and such a number, and now I have problems “A”, “B”, etc.” But, fortunately, our mind can easily be transported in time to a place where there were no problems. It is important not to abuse this method and use it only to fall asleep.

To do this, you need to remember when you were good. When you fell asleep in the same way, but thought, “Actually, everything is fine with me.” But at the same time, it should be a situation sometime in the past when you really wanted to sleep.

You can also change your perception of yourself. For example, you can imagine that you are an eagle, flying above the ground and looking down.
The most important thing in this method is to plunge into the sensations. Feelings should be monotonous. For example, if you imagine that you are an eagle, imagine air pressure on your wings. Or, if you are remembering the past, try to imagine bodily sensations then, in the past.

The "Catch the Thought" method.

It also helps with falling asleep. Imagine that in your mind there is an analogue of “wipers”, like a car on a windshield. Try to imagine that they can sweep away thoughts and images, sounds.

Now you can play. When you catch yourself on any thought, imagine that it flies away somewhere to the side.

It is quite difficult and requires practice.

Humble yourself

This method is also for falling asleep. When nothing helps and problems still creep into your head, you can try to say to yourself the following: “well, okay, let everything fly to hell, but I’ll sleep now.” The problem may be inevitable, but you have 8 hours (or how much sleep is left) of peace.Right now everything is good.Enjoy it.

Sheep Counting Method

I think that many have tried this method and found that it does not work. In fact, this method is extraordinarily effective, but we are simply using it incorrectly.
The point is this. And how many had to count sheep in the modern world? Many people have seen sheep only in cartoons.

Try counting something more everyday, like change or cars.