It’s really hard and uncomfortable to make space for our internal experiences: urges, sensations, feelings/emotions, thoughts.

Because it’s tough to feel them we avoid and push them away. This is called experiential avoidance.

Experiential avoidance doesn’t work in the long term. In fact, it increases the chances of getting more of these internal experiences.

So what’s the solution? Well, one solution is to make space for these uncomfortable internal experiences. We make space so that we can free up attention, energy and time to engage in the relationships and activities that matter. That we value. If we keep fighting with the annoying song stuck in our head, we know it doesn’t help us. It’s the same with these uncomfortable internal experiences. Once we unhook from the struggle, then we can connect with our life, our meaning and purpose. And the side effect of making space is often the difficulties get easier. That’s the paradox of acceptance.

Hope that helps.

Listen on all podcast apps, and Spotify 🎧 Just search “The OCD Stories”.

Illustration by https://namiralph.com/

Check out the weekly podcast through the website theocdstories.com/episodes, or: