This Week in The Feel Better Letter 👇
✅ Fear creates illusions — and the more you feed them, the more distorted your perception becomes.
✅ Rumination, analyzing, and checking don’t bring clarity; they amplify the illusion and deepen the loop.
✅ Delusion isn’t a moral failure — it’s what happens when fear becomes the lens you view life through.
âś… New episodes: From OCD & Intrusive Thoughts to Inner Freedom | Kyle's Recovery Story and Knowing Alone Doesn't Change Anything | OCD & Anxiety Truth
Matt's Message of the Week
Fear, Illusion, and Delusion
One of the most misunderstood parts of OCD, anxiety, and the fear loop is how fear distorts your perception.
When you’re in a neutral state, you see the world clearly — like looking through a clean piece of glass. But as you drop into lower emotional states like guilt, shame, anger, or fear, the lens changes. Fear starts projecting outward, making it appear as though the world outside of you is the cause of what you're feeling.
That projection is the illusion.
But the more you feed the illusion — through rumination, checking, analyzing, or trying to “solve” it — the deeper you drift into delusion, where the mind’s story feels real even when it isn’t. This is why people can go from “I know this isn’t true” to “What if this is true?” to “This must be true.”
The further fear pulls you down the rabbit hole, the harder it becomes to see what’s actually happening:
➡️ You’re experiencing fear.
➡️ The mind is projecting content onto the fear.
➡️ Feeding that projection makes it grow.
One of fear’s greatest traps is that it promises protection while keeping you enslaved.
It convinces you to use fear to solve fear — which can only lead you right back into fear.
This is why recovery cannot happen from within the same distorted lens. You can’t think your way out of an illusion while you’re inside it.
Freedom happens when you stop feeding the illusion and learn to step outside the projection entirely.
(Click below to listen to the full message.)
Helpful Episodes for the Week
From OCD & Intrusive Thoughts to Inner Freedom | Kyle's Recovery Story
In this powerful recovery interview, Kyle shares his journey from debilitating OCD, intrusive thoughts, panic, and feeling “broken” — to discovering inner freedom, emotional regulation, and peace.
👉 [Watch Episode]
Knowing Alone Doesn't Change Anything | OCD & Anxiety Truth
In this episode, we break down why information alone will never create recovery — and how the real transformation happens through implementation and embodiment.
👉 [Watch Episode]
Having A LOT of Anxiety Symptoms? Here’s How to Manage Them
Feeling overwhelmed by multiple anxiety symptoms? Learn how to break the anxiety cycle, manage intrusive thoughts, and trust your body’s natural ability to regulate emotions.
👉 [Watch Episode]
Interested in Working Together?
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đź“– The Book: From Stuck to Unstuck
Learn the Triple-A Response™ and discover a clear, proven path for stepping out of the fear loop and reclaiming your life.
👉 [Get the Book]
🌱 Taking Back Control Program
Join our 12-week recovery program and get the structure, support, and guidance you need to create lasting change.
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🗣️ Work 1-on-1 with Matt
Get personalized coaching and direct support from Matt to solidify your recovery and deepen your practice of trust.
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This Week’s Reminder
You don’t escape the illusion by analyzing it.
You escape it by refusing to feed it — and returning to what’s real.
To your freedom and success,
Matt
