131 - Overcoming OCD and Getting on With Life Normally

This is session number 131 of the Absolute Mind podcast and this show is all about overcoming OCD and getting on with your life normally. Obsessive compulsive disorders can be extremely limiting. The impulse or feeling that OCD creates around different areas of our lives can make a living day to day normally feel impossible. In this podcast, I outline some simple tips and strategies that you can actively begin to work on to aim to overcome OCD. The end of this podcast, also has a hypnotherapy session to help guide you through this process. Before we dive into this podcast, Paula and I have been actively promoting a weight loss package offer on this podcast. The most popular podcast out of all of these so far, has been the weight loss Hypnosis session with 48220 downloads to date. Here is the Podcast Weight Loss Offer Page Also Connect with us on Facebook.com/absoluteminduk But so many of you contacted us to say that you'd like a bit more help with weight loss, and asked for a more rounded weight loss program. This is exactly why Paula created the weight loss download offer. This package has been extremely successful over the past few months and has helped many of you, and thank you so much for sending the personal messages on Facebook and emails to myself and Paula, telling us your successes and journey so far we really do appreciate them. We decided, that as of the end of March we will be pulling this Weight loss offer as we feel we want to create some more packages around other extremely popular podcasts. We will cover anxiety, depression, building confidence and also relationships. Again, we aim to create a 10 session hypnosis package for you to listen to directly on your phone without the need to download the tracks for simplicity. So, those of you who are interested in the current weight loss download offer. I'll put a link in the show notes so you can get to it there. Or alternatively, visit absolutemind.co.uk/offer and purchase this package now for only £19 UK pounds. Remember, if you're listening to this after March 2017. This offer will have expired. So, let's go on with the tips to help you overcome OCD. Tip 1: It’s trying to be helpful This one may be quite difficult to swallow, but usually an OCD is there to protect you in some way shape or form. There is a part of us that feels that we need to carry out the certain task or ritual in order to be safe and in some cases happy. The OCD process has been fabricated through some strange and passed habit, but is there now to protect and preserve you. So understand that your OCD is not a foe but it is trying to be a friend. Tip 2: Don’t fight it Whenever our OCD is kicking, don't try to actively fight that thought. If you think about it, by trying to avoid the OCD, you're simply adding fuel to the issue by telling your brain this is something to be fearful of, something you don't like, something you want to get rid of. Therefore, it will begin to create an anchor which is a point in time to reference a later date to bring back quickly the negative feelings associated with it. So in simple terms just let it be a strange is that maybe. Tip 3: FEAR The word fear, has been broken down into many different acronyms to help a person understand. But if you use the acronym Face Everything And Recover for fear then you can begin to apply the methodology to your OCD. This ties in slightly to the above tip which is don't fight it, face everything and recover is all about dealing with what presents and working to overcome it. The more you practice this, the better you will become it it and the more likely you will be to overcome that particular OCD. So practice on the small stuff first, in ways that your OCD may not be a strong, and face it, deal with it, and notice how you begin to feel better that you've done so. Remember, don't fight it, and don't get frustrated because it's there to try to be helpful. Tip 4: Reduce your general anxiety levels You won't find a calm and relaxed person who has a debilitating OCD. Your general anxiety level, is a gauge of how quickly, and easily you can become anxious to a point of reaction. OCD is our level of reaction to anxiety, and therefore if you're able to reduce your overall anxiety levels, then you will notice your ability to deal with your OCD becomes far easier. This is why hypnosis is extremely good at dealing with OCD, because a large part of hypnosis is about creating relaxation and calmness. Tip 5: Feelings are safe It can be quite difficult to stomach, the saying that feelings are safe, and they can't hurt you. Because those people who are suffering from anxiety, fear, OCD’s and depression, can't relate to that comment. Let me put it this way, out feelings are created from within, no one does them to you know one gives them to you, they are all self generated. Another fact about feelings is we've been having them from millions of years and is part of our genetics and I will make up therefore they are completely natural and a big part of life. The big part here for you, will be about controlling the negative thoughts and feelings to ensure you feel more balanced. So keep that in mind, feelings are perfectly safe, we've been having them since the dawn of time.