Do you experience unwanted thoughts that cause anxiety or distress?

Do you feel guilt or fear about your intrusive thoughts?

Do you find it hard to control repetitive thoughts?

Those questions are listed among others on tests to determine the extent to which you may suffer from OCD.

Our daughter is convinced that I have OCD – and she may be right, but none of those things bother students of classical yoga. And they needn’t bother anyone else!

I wrote a blog post in 2016 entitled “Radio Head” – pointing out that the part of our mind that we “hear” is akin to a broken radio: you can’t turn it off, but you can change the channel and adjust the volume.

Bothered by your inner monologue? Replace it with something else, something relatively benign but interesting enough that you’ll pay attention to it. Hacks like reciting the alphabet backwards always work: while you’re focusing on which letter comes next, everything else (anxieties, fears, desires, intrusive thoughts) subsides as if you’ve changed the channel on a radio.

How is it that mankind has sent people to the moon, flown at speeds exceeding the sound barrier, perfected Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist communication – and yet we don’t commonly understand how our own mind works?!

The art of focusing our mind at will should be taught to everyone from an early age. This isn’t about burying your head in the sand, or covering your ears and shouting “LA LA LA LA”; it’s about learning to focus on what’s important rather than getting caught up in irksome or troubling distractions.

Wishing you a quieter, calmer, more peaceful outlook – always.

Need help getting there? You know how to find me.