Thought-action fusion is when we mistakenly believe that having a thought is morally the same as taking action. It’s also when we mistakenly believe that because we have a thought about a certain event, it increases its likelihood of happening. For example, maybe someone has the thought or image pop up of stealing something from the convenience store they’re currently in. Then this person has thoughts about this thought/image (“metathoughts”): “Oh, why would I have this thought? Maybe it means I’m at risk of robbing this store. I need to make sure I get this out of my head.” When we react to random thoughts with fear and worry, we inadvertently give them more power and reinforce them. It can be helpful to remind ourselves that our brains are noisy and random. Thoughts are like passing clouds. Most clouds aren’t indicators of a catastrophic storm on the way. And clouds always come and always pass.