I'm Maggie Smith, and this is The Slowdown.

I'm a pretty practical person, but that doesn't mean I don't entertain moments of magical thinking.

I make wishes when the clock reads 1111.

I've been known to carry good luck charms or talismans, especially when I'm traveling, a piece of my grandmother's

jewelry, a crystal, a little gift from someone I love. For years, when I had to get on an airplane

without my children, I would take items of theirs on the plane, drawings, or notes,

or little treasures of theirs. I would grip those items tightly during takeoff and landing,

and whenever there was worrisome turbulence. For a while, I was flying with a letter that my daughter Violet wrote to one

of her stuffed animals, a cheetah she named Spots. The note read, High Spots, we will play Legos after

school. I loved that note, her cute little kid handwriting and the crayon

drawing she did of spots. While I knew, logically, that holding that note in my hands didn't keep

the plane in the air, I felt better when I had it with me. It was as if my love for my

daughter was a protection spell of its own. I wanted to believe in the power of that love,

as if it were protective, like a force field around us.

Magical thinking is a way we try to protect ourselves in a world that feels unsafe.

It's an attempt to feel a little more in control when so much is clearly out of our control.

And it's mostly harmless,

but in some cases we can become trapped by our own thinking.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is a vicious cycle.

People who live with OCD have unwanted thoughts and fears known as obsessions. Those obsessions lead to repetitive behaviors called compulsions. People often check

doors again and again to make sure they're locked, or silently count or repeat a word or phrase.

The ritual is about protection. The thinking is, if I do this, then there's a better chance that the terrible thing that I fear won't happen.

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