Intrusive Thoughts

Arriving home from work I pull into the narrow driveway that leads to my spot in the apartment parking garage. I reach for the garage clicker in my dash to open the crummy gate. The button is loose so it’s like fishing a shell out of a bowl of cracked eggs. Once the gate opens I see at the end of the driveway before the gate and wall are two of my neighbors talking.

Bing! Mental Note Incoming….

What would it feel like to drive my car into both these men as I pin them to the gate; watching as they realize death is near? 

Nah, thats nonsense. I pull my car into my spot. 
I wave to my neighbors as I head to my apartment. 

Is this crazy? 

Jim Carrey in his 1994 stand up special had a joke that explains how insanity works. The concept of the joke is that insanity is saying yes to the wrong thought. 

So is it that we all have these thoughts that are wrong and seem to barge their way into our mind like a swat team in a crack house, or are these thoughts something to monitor because they are clues to bigger issues?

Personally I have intrusive thoughts all the time. The difference with me is I have a tea party with them. 
Think about the family member you have that when they show up you know they will cause problems. You make conversation when they slither near you, but once you have an opening to walk away you take it. This family member is invited every year even though the problems persist. 

This is how I treat negative and intrusive thoughts. I sit down like a therapist and talk to them over mental tea. I have the thought explain itself and why it’s important. 
After you hear a thought out its easier to dismiss them. 
Try dismissing horniness without actually addressing it as a teenager. It’s impossible and so it is for intrusive thinking. 

You are talking to yourself?
That is crazy!
Yes and no….

Many people talk to themselves all the time. Self reflection, prayer, meditation, journaling, blogging, vlogging and so on. There are many methods for reflection. 
Also understand that I am greeting these thoughts with compassion and reason. I don’t judge myself for them; instead I try to understand. Treating my thoughts like toddlers. 

Joe Rogan on a recent podcast shared a possibility that thoughts are something that either affect or infect us. That thoughts are not us, but a passing stranger greeting us. 

Thoughts are just that… 
Something that passes by with some kind of knowledge. And if you pay attention you can learn from them. 

What do your thoughts teach you?