| While it might seem like a good idea to push away thoughts or feelings that you don’t like, unfortunately it tends to result in a boomerang effect by increasing the frequency with which you have the thoughts. |
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Over time, it may seem like you’re playing a game of ‘whack-a-mole’ where as fast as you’re “whacking” a thought, or emotion away, the faster the same one seems to “pop” up. |
| Let’s do a simple experiment to demonstrate the boomerang effect of cognitive avoidance. For the next two minutes, try to think of anything but a pink elephant. You can think about what you’ll do once you’re finished this module, what you’ll have for dinner tonight, absolutely anything but pink elephants for the next two minutes. |
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A little harder than it sounds, huh? And that’s just for pink elephants, which likely don’t have a lot of emotional meaning for you. Imagine doing that with something that is important to you.