The process of reducing the power of intrusive thoughts by acknowledging and observing them takes time and effort, and they dissipate slowly as their energy diminishes.

“You took the energy out of them, you made them go away, which happened over time. And then the energy that was so powerful becomes less and less and less. And what happens? They dissipate, they atrophy. That's how they go away, because there's no more power. There's no more power in them. And that really is the way that we make change. And I think your emphasis upon the fact that it takes time, the fact that it takes effort, the fact that it only goes away slowly.”

“But I have found that if I just say, okay, this is spontaneously coming up through the neural circuits of my subconscious, and they're intrusive, and I don't like them, but I eventually arrive at exactly the place that you describe, which is that there's nothing actionable here. They go from being intrusive and troubling to intrusive and just kind of mildly irritating to intrusive. And like, okay. And yes, I go through some redirect, like, try and redirect my attention from time to time when they're happening, but I eventually just get to a place where it's like, okay, it's just a boring story or boring imagery. There's nothing there. There's nothing there. And then they eventually break up like clouds.”

“And then there's strategies of what we can do. And and they can range from thought redirection. Sometimes we think something because we're thinking it over and over again. And if we thought redirect, it gives us greater control. Sometimes we diffuse some of the energy in it by understanding, you know, why we're thinking that thing and maybe taking measures.”