When I think Ugh Field, I am referring to a pattern of mental avoidance that develops sometimes because of anxiety, sometimes because of disgust, sometimes because of hopelessness... Maybe Ugh Fields my brain creates from different root negative feeling causes are sufficiently different, and calling them by the same name obscures something very important?
Hmm, perhaps it just seems that way to me is that anxiety is by far the most common reason for Avoidance behaviors for me (this also holds for my roommate). Also, I think the link between anxiety and avoidance is fairly well known to psychologists.
Here's an example of a mental manoeuvre I accidentally found, and thought might be generally useful (typical caveats apply).
I've had a manageable-but-important Problem for a few months now (financial in kind, details neither relevant nor interesting), of moderate complexity and relatively minor importance unless I leave it unsolved just a little longer.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the precise combination of things that triggers one of my ugh fields, which manifests subjectively as a fuzzy blank inability to maintain focus. Several times last week, it occurred to me that I should really Solve The Problem, but I wasn't able to get myself to spend any time thinking about it. Like, at all.
On Saturday, the Problem found itself top of mind once again. How irritating that I couldn't solve the Problem because it was the weekend, and when it wasn't the weekend, maybe Tuesday when work wasn't busy and the Bureau was open, I should really email Dr. Somebody and call Mrs. Administrator for the ...
*blink*
I had a solution, and a plan. What the what?
My working theory is that when there's no chance of actually Doing Something, this particular ugh field deactivates.
To me, this suggests a strategy (of uncertain generalizability): when an ugh field is preventing thought about something important, find a time when action is impossible and use it to generate a plan.
I would feel better about this advice if it had a deep theoretical backer. Anybody?