Any tips to use throughout the day?

[TomsThoughts]

Finding myself in deep thought recently and would like to know a few tips to get me through :D any advice will help.

Right now I find chewing gum helps but only to a certain extent.

[ricardo]

Always back the horse at the top of the handicap in all races on firm ground at a distance of 1 mile or over.:shades:

[TomsThoughts]

I'm never going to be able to understand this but I suppose it will keep me busy for a while LOL :wacko:

[Paul H]

Ah, half of my clients live in their thoughts. Chewing gum helps because it causes you to be aware of something else.

Listen to this recording. It's a part of the way in which I teach my clients basic mindfulness. Don't listen to it with the expectation of relaxing, just listen and accept whatever's there. If you can manage to do that then relaxation comes as a side-effect. Don't listen whilst driving.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/768iz679tkqzct6/mindfulness.mp3?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/768iz679tkqzct6/mindfulness.mp3dl=0)

Don't worry about the link, it takes you into my dropbox.Oh, you'll need to DL dropbox first. It's a free file sharing thingie and can be downloaded here:

https://www.dropbox.com/install

In as far as 'tips for use throughout the day', once you get used to the recording then you'll understand that it's simply a means of becoming aware of breathing, sounds, thoughts, body and feelings. During the day you can begin to tune into those things: simply observing - not caring or judging - until you begin to become aware of more than simply thoughts on an automatic basis.

Best wishes

Paul

[TomsThoughts]

Cheers Paul I will be sure to give that a try. I appreciate your effort :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you want some Mindfulness, check out the link in my signature for a load of free ones from various sites.

[TomsThoughts]

What exactly do they do? Is it a meditation technique? I find it really hard to relax these days not sure if it would have a good effect on me

[Thatfrodohobbit]

watch youtube videos.

[MissyMischief]

I've found that cleaning and doing chores helps much more than sitting around waiting for anxiety or depression to pass. I listen to music or a podcast or an audio book on my phone while I do this. It helps A LOT.

I'm still working on my mindfulness. Accepting all your feelings and bodily sensations is so hard at times.

I also downloaded this great puzzle app yesterday (free) called Monument Valley. It's beautiful and kind of fantasy/futuristic. The puzzles are challenging enough to be distracting but not so challenging as to be stressful (like I find some videogames to be). I also play Bubble Shooter on here a lot.

[MyNameIsTerry]

What exactly do they do? Is it a meditation technique? I find it really hard to relax these days not sure if it would have a good effect on me

Sorry Tom, I missed your post.

Do you mean what do they do in Mindfulness?

If so, Mindfulness is a Western adaptation of a Buddhist school of thought. Basically, the less spiritual elements were extracted to help in daily life.

Mindfulness comprises of traditional meditation, object handling, eating, walking, some movement techniques, etc. There are breathing exercises that you use within meditation to start the exercise before you move onto the watching phase. They act as a way to use your mind to focus so as to turn off the chatter ready for the watching phase but I found early on that this was impossible so don't judge it too early. It's a life skill and based on the experiences of a few of us on here, if you stop as you recover, you can backslide so it's worth keeping it up.

You will find Mindfulness in other techniques such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Yoga, etc. From reading about the yoga styles, the closest one to Mindfulness seemed to be Kundalina which came to the West more recently and is aimed at everybody as it is more meditative than physical.

[systemoverdrive]

I found that writing a diary really helped me. I could reflect on really anxious days or experiences I had. I wrote what I did in that scenario, like if I was googling my anxiety symptoms or even things like when I walked out of work, when my anxiety was really high.
I found that I could look back and realise that even though my anxiety was really high and I genuinely thought I couldn't breath, was going to die etc I didn't and it helped me to realise that when I feel those anxious emotions, it is, just anxiety even though it feels sooooo much worse!

I didn't just write about the negative experiences, but noted what went well, if I achieved a whole day without getting anxious, or if I felt I got anxious but managed to calm down. I found this really helped because I built on my confidence to do a lot of things anxiety has restricted me to do such as go shopping in big crowds etc

I hope that helps :)
all the best!