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Cathy Smith's avatar

I have a heart filled with love after reading this wonderful post. Thank you for articulating some of the beauty and fear that comes with the messiness of being human and living on Earth. You've helped bring some understanding and a sense of connection.

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Dan Collison's avatar

Thank your for this generous and thoughtful essay. I love your prompts and reframes.

It reminded me that it’s been useful for me to think of my emotions as built-in protectors.

The “Compulsive” part of “OCD” has an interesting history of meanings. It came into English in the 15th c. from French and meant "application of force (to someone) to overwhelm his/her preferences."

The psychological sense entered English in 1909 as “compulsion neurosis,,” a translation of Freud’s term “Zwangsneurose.” Zwang comes from an ancient German word meaning “coercion, constraint, band, clamp, strap.”

So this history give us a bit of ancient wisdom that Compulsion and Zwang are protective. They are like a protector or guardian that holds a child’s hand, or a spotter in gymnastics, or are like safety belts.

But sometimes we don’t need our compulsions. We can always assess things and decide whether we need protection.

If we have a pattern where our Life Force is a little too vigilant, we can thank it for its attentiveness, ask it to take a step into the background, and proceed with our own preferences, which may or may not be what it recommended.

The reason it’s advantageous to say “thanks” to the compulsion is because then it won’t get defensive or dig in its heels.

Also, it’s courteous; it’s nice to have an ally that has our backs. It’s just that we need to remind our internal protectors who is directing the show, and if they are a true ally, bit by bit they will get the hint.

A further thought on language, e.g., “This thought is unpleasant, but it’s safe”:

That is nice quick way of saying: “This feeling is unpleasant, and I thank my internal guardians/ protectors for calling attention to what’s going on, but after checking it out, I find it’s _safe enough_ to actually proceed with what I prefer.”

I find “safe enough” or “safer” are more truthful and useful for me than “safe.”

Thank you for sharing your journey and for the opportunity to reflect on my own.

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