The white bear and ironic process theory.
Or, why you can't stop thinking about it.
"Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute," Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote.
What we do not want to think about, what we most want to not do, becomes an object to us. In order to know if we are successful at controlling …