As we’re striving to accept and embrace uncomfortable emotional experiences, we want to use metaphors to facilitate our personal internalization of relevant ideas, frameworks, and concepts. While the concept of going towards our internal experiences is theoretically simple, it isn’t easy to do and there are numerous nuances to it that can make it hard to remember. Metaphors fall into two major categories: identifying symptoms through personification and metaphors to help you remember effective processes.

Your incidental exposure is your real life. You're in your real life and you get triggered. What do you do? Run after the bus. That is, let yourself feel anxious and embarrassed and do what you value anyway. Do the thing that's hard even if your anxiety tells you not to do it. And, if the hard thing is to stop running, just stand there.

A major difference between intentional practice and incidental practice is creativity. Intentional practice is our creative attempt to trigger what you fear on purpose so that you have the exact opportunity you need to face your fear. We don’t have to be creative for incidental practice because life gives it to us.

Exposure is putting your body in a feared situation, letting yourself feel scared, and staying in the experience while feeling scared. Response prevention is refraining from physical or mental compulsions, reassurance seeking, or avoidance of any form after the exposure.

Exposure is the willing act of putting yourself in psychological and physical situations that induce fear and anxiety. Willing exposure is challenging in the moment of anxiety, but in the long-term it decreases anxiety.