Lived Experience Forum

[Former-Member]

@Teej Usually I just tell myself, "Well, no one else is going to do anything for you so you might as well get started now." or something similar. I know if I leave tasks undone for longer than they should be, I will feel even worse about stuff, things and be angry at myself for not getting on with what needed to be done. So, simple and effective thing is to just get on with it, and work on being mindful about it when I do should I feel like doing so. 

My best work is done when I am mindful. Maybe test yourself and see if it works for you too. 

[Shaz51]

Good @Former-Member, and now i am looking into improving my green thumb xx

Hello @Former-Member 

[Former-Member]

@soul @Former-Member that's what I'm wondering too. 

The best tactic I have come up with is what I mentioned up there to @Teej

[Former-Member]

Excellent @Shaz51 I'm working on house plants to be more relaxing inside. 

I can just sit and look at them and feel better. 

[Marie7]

I should have mentioned reading, something I have always lived doing but even this has become hard. Diagnosed with GAD last year but its also to do with female hormones that are all over the place. I go back to gyno soon and hope to have a hysterectomy as last op worked up until a few months ago. Peri menopausal.

[Teej]

I’ve been kind of trying more lately @Former-Member. Personally concentrating on one thing and not being distracted is a huge challenge. It is something I’m trying to work on and my therapist is pulling her hair out with. 

[Phoenix_Rising]

@Former-Member I think it's super helpful to start off by knowing that this mindfulness thing is difficult. We aren't SUPPOSED to be any good at it when we start off. It is perfectly normal to be really really bad at it. It saddens me when people say they tried mindfulness and it didn't "work" for them. I fear that this reflects poor instruction on what mindfulness is/isn't. I mean, how can focusing your attention fully on what you are doing in the moment not "work?" I think a lot of MH professionals present mindfulness in an overly simplistic way, as though it's something you learn within a few days and then hey presto, all your problems are solved. Thus people are disappointed when it doesn't happen this way and abandon it as something that didn't "work." 

[Former-Member]

A tactic I sometimes take, is to let myself notice the overwhelming feelings - I may even wave to them or say hey there annoying overwhelming thoughts 

Then I will invite them all with me to a mindful activity. Like I may bake something all the while letting those thoughts and feelings just be there, playing along to their tune....while I activiely engage in something that has helped me be mindful before. 

Sometimes the cookies are all baked and I feel even just a little bit of relief for giving myself a mindful moment regardless of how crappy I may have felt. Getting that body moving, or the eyes looking - its hard but it can draw our body away from our mind and keep us a bit better connected to rationality. 

Being mindful, won't always be fun or joyous, but it can still be helpful - if that makes sense!

[Adge]

Yes the term Mindfulness is mentioned a lot by Therapists these days (I've heard it).

They do seem hard-pressed to actually explain what they mean, or to give useful specific examples of "how to be mindful" (when asked).

That's my experience.

It's definitely still a work in progress for me - as I feel unable to put it into practice at work or when in stressful situations.

eg when being hit & kicked by my clients (on a regular basis). I just seem to go into "stress mode".

Mindfulness (being mindful) gets delayed until I get home, away from the triggering situation....

Adge

[soul]

I think we are all capable of focussed thinking but mindfulness is downright difficult when you're in crisis mode. It's then that it is really needed.