What makes it a problem, and what does not

Almost everybody has strange, unwanted thoughts. In a study run across thirteen countries and six continents, roughly ninety four students in every hundred reported at least one in the previous three months. Having them is ordinary.

What turns an ordinary intrusion into something that eats your day is not the thought. It is the second step. Deciding the thought means something about you, and then doing something to make sure it does not. Checking. Repeating. Asking. Looking it up one more time.

That second step is where the whole thing lives. It is also the part where you have some room to move.