Topic Tuesday//How can I be mindful when I have a mindFULL//Tues. 20 March. 7pm - 9pm AEDT

[Adge]

So we could put our attention on watching the flock of geese, except that there aren't any to observe...

Something in the room (close environment) instead?

Like the sound of my air conditioner rattling as it goes (right now) - which sounds sort of hypnotic...

Adge

[Teej]

Thanks @Former-Member, @Former-Member, @Adge. I have always struggled between distracting and mindfulness. I agree with @Former-Member about 'flow' feeling like the best kind of mindfulness. When we are absorbed in an activity is when I feel truly mindful and in the present. 

[Former-Member]

Your comment was definitely not stupid @BlueBay - it is a thought a lot of us have come up against when we try to understand mindfulness! That's why we are here tonight and I am glad you are getting involved. We will all learn together tonight! 

[Phoenix_Rising]

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@BlueBaywrote:
Sorry my comment was stupid. I didn't understand it.

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Your comment wasn't stupid @BlueBay. If we all already understood everything, there would be nothing new to learn, and that would make for a very boring world. 

[Queenie]

I have found mindfulness very helpful when I am dealing with intrusive thoughts and hallucinations. When I hear one of my key derogatory voices, I use mindfulness (remaining in the wise-mind) to challenge these. Sometimes it works better than it does at other times. I went for an amazing workshop on Mindfulness of the Breath, it's pretty cool how something as simple as breathing can help in self-regulation.

[Phoenix_Rising]

@Adge your comment about there being no geese to observe super made me giggle. 

[Former-Member]

Has anyone here found it helpful? 

Yes. A thousand times yes. 

I learned about mindfulness in my 20's somewhere, doing something with meditation and Buddhism. It was following one of the bad times and I was taught how to 'pay attention to the now' so I could work and be productive. Kindly,not meanly. 

I learnt well and these processes helped me get through birthing and raising children, going from one stepping stone to the next to get through daily existence. 

By making something else besides my pain the centre of my attention, I moved forward and learned other things. 

If there is one thing I am grateful for, it is for having been taught how to be mindful. 

[Former-Member]

@Queenie thats really interesting, thanks for sharing.

The breath is a big thing as part of mindfulness and as you say it can be so simple. Yet we can all at times forget to even notice we are breathing, so mindfulness can better connect you to that breath and the pace at which it is going. Trying to pay attention to it. Small task, hard to remember, but big positive impact!

[Phoenix_Rising]

So, mindfulness in recent times has been found to:

• Help us to reduce our emotional reactivity
• Can help to lower the overthinking monsters in our mind
• enhance our creativity
• help with our resilience
• create a better relationship between you and your mind, helping feelings of loneliness. Breaking through the struggle we may have with liking ourselves.

Has anyone here found it helpful? Does anyone have any other perspectives on why you may like to try mindfulness? Or even why you think mindfulness could be helpful if you haven’t already tried it?

I have found mindfulness super helpful. It super helps me to feel calm. 

[Shaz51]

@BlueBay , that is a good question my friend