How To Turn Off Anxious Self-Scanning and Checking | EP 354

About this episode

Send in a question or comment via text. "How do I stop scanning and checking myself all the time?"  If you struggle with anxiety or OCD, you've probably asked some version of that question. Scanning your body for sensations. Scanning for bad thoughts. Checking whether a thought or emotion is the right one. I get asked how to make it stop almost every day. In this episode I tell you the honest answer. You can't turn it off. Even my therapist brain scans and checks. I get migraine aura, and while I've learned to carry on with my day when it happens, my fully recovered anxiety expert brain still spends hours afterward scanning for signs it might come back. I know logically that it's over. My brain scans anyway. That scanning function is normal and it serves a purpose. It's thinking that happens outside our awareness, and it naturally goes after the things that matter most to us, like safety, health, identity, and what we value. So the work in recovery is learning to recognize that process running and let it do its thing without making it the most important thing in the room. That takes practice with attention and a willingness to act courageously when your brain is telling you som