I never considered myself an obsessive person until recently, but in reflection, it’s always been part of my life. It’s like the cognitive bias called the frequency illusion—officially the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon—where you observe something, like a certain type of car, and then see it everywhere. Obsession is part of me, past and present. When I’m working on a project, whether a short film or changing the exhaust fan in my bathroom, it shows up early and often. I try to visualize how everything will play out. I research what I don’t know—poring over instruction manuals, books, and videos—then update my visualization. This behavior has served me well in the past, but lately I’ve noticed an increase in rumination and anxiety. What if there was something I could do to offload my obsession, so I can have some peace and learn to trust myself in the process?

A quote from After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield: “The true task of spiritual life is not found in faraway places or unusual states of consciousness: It is here in the present. It asks of us a welcoming spirit to greet all that life presents to us with a wise, respectful, and kindly heart.”

Three ways to offload your obsession:Get it out of my head and into some sort of system. Document the remaining tasks—as you currently understand them)—that need to be completed. Take action.Show Links

• After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield
• What’s the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon?
• Photo by Heber Davis on Unsplash