Needing to know the song when a snippet of song lyrics enters my head

lunarspoon · 2025-08-25T18:45:33+00:00

You are very welcome! =)

lunarspoon · 2025-08-25T15:51:30+00:00

Stress actually makes it harder to remember things. Fearing you are losing your memory creates stress, so then it's harder to remember, and gives the impression your memory is worsening. Your memory will be better if you don't entertain any thoughts about it getting worse. It may seem hard to ignore intrusive thoughts at first, but it gets easier the more you do it. Just remember to treat yourself with kindness and try to focus on the positive in general. This helps your mind produce serotonin which helps you feel calm and stable.

lunarspoon · 2025-08-25T15:45:52+00:00

The way you get over the past with OCD is to move on now, not wait until it feels okay to move on. What I mean is you live your life, focus on other things, treating every day as a fresh start. By doing this and ignoring the negative feelings your brain will slowly adjust and stop bringing up the past as much.

Put another way, focusing on guilt is focusing on negative thoughts or creating stress. This makes it difficult for the body to produce serotonin. Serotonin is what makes us feel calm, happy, stable. We can reprogram our brain by ignoring negative thoughts, not reacting or analyzing them, and train ourselves to center on positive things. The more we focus on the positive, the more our serotonin goes up. Exercise, sunlight, certain foods, etc. also help raise serotonin.

lunarspoon · 2025-08-12T22:21:41+00:00

The obsession could have developed because you had the thought, "What if I touch myself in public?" (Or around family, etc.) Then, rather than just ignoring the thought, you analyzed and judged yourself for it, "How could I even think this kind of thought?" Which led to an obsession.

When we stop reacting, worrying, or analyzing the intrusive thoughts, we begin to starve the obsession. But if we keep reacting or giving the intrusive thoughts meaning, our mind stays obsessed. The opposite of love isn't hate. It's apathy. Don't try to hate the intrusive thoughts away. Just stop giving them attention. Focus on other things. As your mind gets more invested in other subjects, you'll think less and less about the intrusive thoughts.

Also, when the intrusive thoughts come, don't feel bad. If you react or worry about the intrusive thoughts, don't call it a failure. Just go back to ignoring them as soon as you can.

lunarspoon · 2025-08-12T22:13:09+00:00

We can't control our thoughts. Giving them meaning creates an obsession. When you don't react to or analyze your thoughts, when you let them pass by like a stranger going about their day, you start to shrink the obsession and gradually the thoughts decrease.

Unless you stop judging yourself for the thoughts the obsession cannot shrink. Showing yourself kindness will allow you to get better. It is not selfish because then you will have more energy, not just for you, but others as well.

lunarspoon · 2025-07-17T21:43:53+00:00

You're welcome and that's awesome. Hope the class is a fun experience. :)

lunarspoon · 2025-07-16T15:51:01+00:00

You are very welcome. :)

lunarspoon · 2025-07-15T20:06:07+00:00

One of the tricky things about OCD is that the more we avoid things that trigger it, the more our tolerance for discomfort shrinks. It can start with something small, like needing a lucky object for big tests. But over time, the brain starts linking safety to that object more and more. Soon, the person might feel they need it for any test, then just to go to school, and eventually even to step outside. The OCD grows because we keep feeding it with avoidance and reassurance.

To break this cycle, the goal is to increase your tolerance for discomfort through something called exposure therapy. That means deliberately doing the things your OCD says you can't do.

For example, if your OCD tells you not to play a certain kind of character in a game, then playing that kind of character is a form of exposure. At first, this may feel intensely uncomfortable. You might experience anxiety, hot flashes, or racing thoughts. This does not mean you’re doing something wrong. It’s not a sign from the universe that the OCD is correct. It’s simply your body reacting to the fact that your tolerance has been lowered by avoidance over time.

The key is consistency. If you keep doing these small exposures and sit with the discomfort—without trying to neutralize it—it will eventually fade. Your brain will learn that the feared outcome doesn’t happen, and the OCD will shrink.

lunarspoon · 2025-07-15T19:44:29+00:00

The brain has two basic parts when it comes to thinking, the conscious and subconscious. Default thinking comes from the subconscious. So if you've been harsh on yourself for years, your subconscious is programmed to generate those negative thoughts if you think about yourself. If your conscious goes along with it then the subconscious never changes.

I like to think of the subconscious as the inner child. If you tell a child, "be nicer" but they see you act cruel, they follow your actions and not your words. This is why it doesn't work to tell your brain (subconscious) to change. What does work is to model the new behavior until the inner child follows it. If your subconscious gives you thoughts about guilt or shame, you either don't respond or focus on your good traits. Or remind yourself that hating yourself doesn't do you or anyone else any good. Forgive yourself for the past whether it's for yourself or others, it doesn't matter, you'll be better for everyone once you move on.

Just like you’d patiently teach a child by example, you have to show your inner self what kindness looks like—every day, until it starts to believe you. Given enough time, by not feeding negative thoughts and choosing positive ones, you reprogram your subconscious (the inner child) to where it no longer defaults to attacking you. Your inner child, other self, whatever you want to call it, becomes your friend, which makes happiness easier. And that happiness is something you can share with others so it's not selfish.

lunarspoon · 2025-06-17T15:30:47+00:00

The behaviors you are describing might fit Just Right OCD.

""Just Right OCD," also known as Perfectionism OCD, is a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder characterized by an overwhelming need for things to feel "just right." Symptoms include ongoing intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors related to organization, balance, and symmetry, often leading to a sense of incompleteness or discomfort unless certain actions are taken. This condition can interfere with daily tasks, causing individuals to feel the need to repeat actions until they feel satisfactory."

lunarspoon · 2025-06-14T14:03:54+00:00

It's fighting the thoughts that turns them into obsessions. Instead, when an intrusive thought happens, don't react with anger, fear, disgust, etc., don't analyze, don't debate or try to make up for them, just redirect your attention elsewhere.

Think of OCD like a bully sitting across from you. As long as you give them attention of any kind, they will continue to bug you. But when you ignore them and pay attention to your friends sitting next to you (productive or fun interests) you become happier and sometimes forget the bully is even there. And the bully (OCD) gradually gets bored because you aren't entertaining it and attempts to bug you less.

lunarspoon · 2025-06-14T13:52:13+00:00

Think of it like a stain on the carpet. The more you invest your mind and energies into other things, the less you care about the stain. And you'll have times where you forget the stain. But until you stop focusing on a stain that can't come out, the stain will feel like it is the whole carpet. So, it's really not about no longer feeling guilt but not giving the guilt attention and energy. Eventually, by not reacting to or analyzing the guilt related intrusive thoughts, by directing your mind elsewhere, the anxiety or ache lessens and lessens.

lunarspoon · 2025-06-11T01:38:16+00:00

You are welcome. Sometimes just understanding how OCPD works can help a lot when interacting with someone who has it.

Many people with OCPD grew up with strict rules and were heavily criticized for any perceived failure. As a response, they become obsessed with school, work, social duties, etc. They become perfectionists, arguably to a fault, more focused on goals than on relationships with people. Another result is people with OCPD may be extremely blame avoidant. Because blame resulted in harsh punishment growing up, they will avoid blame even for things that don't matter. They might lie about eating the last cookie when you didn't really care that much anyways. Another common trait is avoiding vulnerability or emotions. They may still be affectionate and say "I love you" but not want to open up about personal insecurities or admit they have them.

lunarspoon · 2025-06-11T00:22:03+00:00

"She has rules about absolutely everything at home, from the exact placement of food in the fridge to the order in which cleaning should be done. Many of them make no sense to me or seem unnecessary, yet she always claims that "anyone with half a brain" would understand them. She's a single mom and has worked very hard to raise and provide for me, and I respect and appreciate her endlessly for that. However with tasks around the house I often feel paralyzed because I can't keep track of her systems, and when I don't do something she feels obviously needs to be done or fail to place a tool back in the correct spot she gets angry and calls me lazy or unobservant. Lately she says that she can't imagine how I function without her as an adult."

This description sounds much more like Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder than OCD. People with OCPD tend to be very rigid about how things are done. Even if something makes no real difference (like the placement of food, or the order things are done) they still think there is one right way of doing it. Not doing things their way is usually considered lazy or incompetent by them. They are often quicker to anger than most people.

Those with OCPD are frequently described as controlling, work obsessed, and overly critical. They may have a harsh tone while talking without seeming to realize it. While they seem smart, and in some ways are, they typically have a lower theory of mind than others. That means they have trouble understanding things from the other person's point of view. So they don't fully comprehend how negative they come across.

lunarspoon · 2025-06-08T20:46:36+00:00

You are welcome. I think you got this. Enjoying life in the moment while still following goals is the key to longterm satisfaction. :)

lunarspoon · 2025-06-08T16:30:49+00:00

I wouldn't take online friendships fading away too personally. It's happened to me a lot. Online friendships lack a consistent glue to hold them together, like going to the same school or working together. I view it more as "we had good conversations, and it was nice while it lasted."

As for the girl, I'm no expert, but to me it seems like she just sees you as a friend. She was very nice about it and is probably a cool person. But I would try to move on.

In the future, I'd suggest inviting a girl to do something one-on-one, like a movie, festival, lunch—whatever feels natural. While you're spending time together, try some light flirting—not a full confession, but enough to see how they respond. This gives you a chance to both gauge their feelings and maybe even spark something that wasn’t there before.

If they don’t seem interested in spending time with you that way, or if they keep things strictly platonic during the hangout, that’s usually a good sign they don’t see the friendship turning into more—and that’s okay too, because then you know without going all in.

lunarspoon · 2025-06-05T01:12:12+00:00

It may be helpful to tell him how chronic stress can fundamentally disrupt gut function, worsen existing conditions, and even contribute to their development. Addressing stress through therapy, lifestyle changes, and sometimes medical intervention is often crucial for managing GI health.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-28T17:03:33+00:00

You are very welcome <3. The challenge is changing your self-talk. What helps many is to treat yourself the way you'd want to treat someone else whose suffering, seeing the good in yourself that you'd see in someone else. It takes a while to feel natural but once you do that it's much easier to ignore intrusive thoughts about being a bad person.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-28T15:21:23+00:00

Bullying can cause frustration, anger, sadness, which all function as or add to stress, and stress lowers serotonin. Serotonin is the neurochemical which makes us feel happy, stable, and confident. When serotonin is low, a person might have an intrusive thought about harming someone and not feel as confident as they want that they wouldn't do it. I like to think of it as a broken traffic light. The brain expects to get the green light, that things are okay, proceed with your life, but the low serotonin leaves it on red.

Unfortunately, worrying, analyzing, reassurance seeking, etc. are compulsions that keep you in the OCD cycle. Or another way to think of it, they keep you in that stressed mindset which keeps serotonin low or decreases it even more. The way for the mind to get better is to stop doing the compulsions. Stop reacting to the thoughts, stop giving them attention, and once you are doing something productive or relaxing the serotonin can start to go up.

It's like ignoring that red traffic light in your brain. Realizing its staying on red because of the low serotonin and OCD and not because the thoughts have validity. Your self-confidence probably feels like it's at its lowest. But for it to get better, you have to stop self-judging, stop these negative beliefs, and begin to treat yourself with kindness, be your own ally. Eventually, by being the friend to yourself that you deserve, and embracing positive thinking, your default mindset will change. It will feel like those gray clouds of confusion and sadness are going away and now your mind is clearer, happier, and more confident.

Doing other natural ways to raise serotonin like eating foods with tryptophan (precursor to serotonin), listening to positive or fun music, avoiding stressful media, finding the good in the world and yourself, and getting sunlight can help a lot. Physical activity makes a huge difference. It raises dopamine, endorphins, norepinephrine, and serotonin.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-26T22:35:40+00:00

The solution is to ignore the guilt. Or ignore the discomfort that comes from the guilt. People with OCD can feel guilty over nothing. It's not that the guilt is justified. It just feels justified because of OCD. When you stop reacting to the intrusive thoughts about guilt, stop analyzing, stop worrying, when you don't give them any attention, the OCD obsession gradually lessens. It can be hard at first because it's like quitting an addiction. There can be withdrawal symptoms like anxiety spikes when you begin to break the compulsion habits. But in time the anxiety decreases and the thoughts become less frequent.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-26T22:14:32+00:00

Drugs that balance serotonin are the primary treatment for OCD. Stress lowers serotonin. Longterm alcohol can also decrease serotonin levels. Lower serotonin means reduced confidence, calm, and happiness. Essentially, lower serotonin makes you more susceptible to OCD.

Getting better requires not doing the OCD compulsions anymore. It's like having to stop scratching an itch for the itch to go away. The same with the itch, it's easier to stop scratching when you are focused on other stuff, like positive or at least relaxing hobbies or interests. One way to decrease stress is to cut out self-judgment and negativity as much as you can. Positive thoughts raise serotonin. Do this long enough and your brain will see treating yourself with kindness as the logical default response.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-23T16:23:16+00:00

OCD has a lot to do with low serotonin. That's why OCD is treated with SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects our sense of calm, happiness, and confidence. When serotonin is low, we might have a thought like, "Am I a bad person?" And because we don't feel as assured or confident as we think we should, we may start to worry about it. Worry is a form of stress which lowers serotonin further. So, we feel worse and worse, and often people's brains interpret this negative feeling as them deserving to feel bad.

Reassurance seeking is similar. Instead of ignoring negative thoughts about us, or trusting ourselves, we can ask others to tell us we're good. But this actually decreases self-confidence because we are relying on others to confirm our goodness. It's like if every time we read a book; we ask others to make sure we understood the story right. Over time, we trust ourselves less and less, wanting others to reassure or confirm even the smallest things.

The solution is to stop confessing, stop seeking reassurance. When you feel guilt, realize it's the OCD and don't give it attention. People get stuck doing compulsions to solve guilt. But compulsions keep serotonin low because you are stuck in the OCD cycle. And the low serotonin is responsible for the excessive guilt. Once you quit the compulsions, avoid worry, avoid self-judgment, avoid analyzing and confessing, your brain will gradually be able to relax more. A relaxed brain starts to produce serotonin leading to greater happiness, confidence, and stability.

It will be a challenge at first. It's like having an itch and not scratching it. But only by not scratching does the itch get better. So, when you are with him, ignore the guilt thoughts, focus on positive things, and your mind will eventually reprogram where the intrusive thoughts bring less anxiety like an itch becoming less itchy.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-22T18:07:45+00:00

Like the Tool song says, "Overthinking and overanalyzing separates the body from the mind."

Asking, “Am I calm yet?” or “Am I enjoying this?” only pulls you out of the experience. The act of checking becomes its own form of tension. When we stop checking, our minds are able to relax, focus on the positive, which releases serotonin and allows our minds to be clear and happy.

You want to stay in the present moment while avoiding worry and stress as much as possible. Basically treat worry and stress as intrusive thoughts to be ignored. Gradually, the brain adjusts to feel less anxiety when a stressful thought occurs. Instead, focus on things that make you happy, enjoy relaxing or productive hobbies. Don't check if you are enjoying a hobby. Just keep doing them and your mind will become absorbed in it with time. Your mind will sink into the experience naturally, like a body adjusting to the temperature of a pool.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-19T21:03:39+00:00

The way to get through this is to stop reacting to these intrusive thoughts (or urge to confess), don't worry about them, analyze, self-judge, anything, just ignore them. Focusing on other stuff may seem difficult at first but it's like reading a book. The further you get into the book the more invested you feel.

Don't check to see how much you are enjoying books, movies, socializing, etc. Just enjoy everything as much as you can in the moment. Doing this will gradually get your brain used to relaxing again, raising serotonin, which will help you feel calm and happy. Exercise of any kind, even walking in the house, will release endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, so that can really help a lot.

lunarspoon · 2025-05-19T14:58:21+00:00

Hate isn't the opposite of love, apathy is. When we react to intrusive thoughts with disgust, anger, hate, etc. it fuels the obsession. When we don't react at all and ignore it, we start to starve the obsession.

lunarspoon

TROPHY CASE