Silencing Intrusive Thoughts: A Psychiatrist’s Journey to Finding Peace Through Laughter

On Saturday night, I was told to silence my intrusive thoughts.

It happened just before a show in NYC.

I’ve been working on silencing my intrusive thoughts for so long and in so many different ways.

Anyone else who has struggled with anxiety will know what I’m talking about.

As a psychiatrist, it’s hard for me to admit that constant worrying sometimes gets in the way of a fully productive day or a good night’s sleep. I do my best to try and stay ahead of the anxiety.

For example, I’ll occasionally have a 4-week stretch of exercising three times a week. The workouts definitely help.

I even kicked off the year with a 60-day run of daily 10-minute meditations on the Ten Percent Happier app. I enjoy the variety of the app’s content so that I can pick a meditation focus that matches my mindset for the day.

I’ve also found that meditating on days that I’m not particularly anxious is most effective. I feel much more prepared for the days when worry resurfaces.

All of this maintenance work, of course, accompanies seeking out evidence-based clinical help as well.

On Saturday night, I sought out what usually helps me the most: laughter.

My wife had accompanied me on a work trip and we decided that we both needed a good laugh. After some research I bought tickets to an improv performance at the Magnet Theatre on West 29th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenue.

At 7:30pm, the lights went dark and a male voice gave us the following instructions over the theatre’s speakers:

“Take a moment to silence your phones, noise-making devices, and intrusive thoughts so you can enjoy the performance.”

I laughed so hard and the show hadn’t even started.

I’m glad I had been training to silence those thoughts. I knew it was going to be a great show and I was ready to enjoy it.