I'm nearing my 4th week of self training with the Full Catastrophe Living and the accompanying CDs. I have to say that my moments of meditation are now moment that I look forward everyday. It somehow feels good "not doing". I think that the storm in my head is generally calmer now. I often find myself mindfully thinking how calm things have recently been in my head.
I've started to observe my thoughts more and when things gets a little too exciting in there, I usually notice the thought(s) and then focus on my breathing or what I am actively doing in the moment.
Now I have a question about taking care of planning. Since I usually try to be mindful of the present as much as possible, I have been basically not doing any planning at all for the last month. As soon as my minds start to spin ideas about the future (good or bad) and things that I should probably plan, I usually notice the idea, and then return to the present through breathing or mindfully doing what I am doing as much as possible.
I'm getting married in a month and had done a lot of planning before going into a depression/anxiety episode that lasted for the better part of two months, my fiance took care of the rest of the planning with the help of my sister while I searched for help and saw doctors, psychiatrists, a psychologist and an osteopath.
But now I feel better and there are last weeks decisions I have to take and am wondering how I should plan things since I have to be mindful of the present... I feel a bit lost at how I should... proceed?
Is it as simple as being mindful of my planing... like planing out loud in my head in the present... feels weird
Mindfulness and planning future activities
Hey Paqman,
Unfortunately I'm Unable to provide any insight into your questions, but after reading your post I found things sound familiar. I've dealt with anxiety all of my life... for the most part it's been under control. But the last couple months have brought on major/cripling episodes. I too have seen doctors and etc... and about to start full catastrophe living with cds... but i'm just curious out of all the help you've seen... what have you found to be the most helpful? And what do you think of the full catastrophe living program?
Unfortunately I'm Unable to provide any insight into your questions, but after reading your post I found things sound familiar. I've dealt with anxiety all of my life... for the most part it's been under control. But the last couple months have brought on major/cripling episodes. I too have seen doctors and etc... and about to start full catastrophe living with cds... but i'm just curious out of all the help you've seen... what have you found to be the most helpful? And what do you think of the full catastrophe living program?
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Hi Paqman ,
Good to hear from you and great to hear about your imminent nuptials. Congratulations.
We can be in the moment and make decisions about the future. Being mindful doesn't mean that we stop making plans. We can make plans mindfully. That's to say, from a place of calm rather than panic. Perhaps we can also make plans without getting caught up in the possible outcome of those plans.
Again, this involves discernment - recognising the difference between thoughts we should act on and thoughts that only create turmoil or anxiety for us.
All good things,
Jon, Hove
Good to hear from you and great to hear about your imminent nuptials. Congratulations.
We can be in the moment and make decisions about the future. Being mindful doesn't mean that we stop making plans. We can make plans mindfully. That's to say, from a place of calm rather than panic. Perhaps we can also make plans without getting caught up in the possible outcome of those plans.
Again, this involves discernment - recognising the difference between thoughts we should act on and thoughts that only create turmoil or anxiety for us.
All good things,
Jon, Hove
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk
JonW, thank you for your reply, it confirms what I was imagining. I will keep this in mind this week
Hi Pipskid
Its hard to say what helped me the most. Its best to explain thing chronologically (Sorry for the wall of text):
I started having a problem that would later be diagnosed, by a psychiatrist, as General Anxiety Disorder.
So, when I realized that the my situation didn't look to be temporary, I started looking for help.
I went to see my family doctors which directed me to a relaxation therapy and 10 mgs of Cipralex (an anti-depressant, anti-anxiety and anti-obsessivity).
A few weeks later, after crying every day for a few days, I then ended up in the hospital with light suicidal ideas (I was very afraid of the fact that I had those ideas and thought I was going crazy)
In the hospital, I saw a psychiatrist. That is when I started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (a pinprick really). He understood what I was going through and reassured me a lot with the fact that I was not going crazy. He explained to me what is GAD and how it affects me. He augmented my medication to 20mg and suggested that I see a psychologist and that I continue the relaxation therapy.
Since I knew at that point that I wasn't going crazy and that I was simply living through a strong Anxiety episode, I started looking for more solutions to my problem. I then bought a book on anxiety management and that is where I found a reference on Mindfulness. So, I read on that subject and once I was convinced that it wasn't some kind of voodoo, positive thinking movement, I jumped right in and added this to my regimen every day. So every day, I did 30 minutes of relaxation (progressive muscle relaxation from Jacobson) and 45 minutes of body scan meditation. I bought the CDs accompanying the Full Catastrophe Living and started following the 8 week plan in the book instead of doing body scan every day.
I also started seeing a psychologist and I found discussions with her to be very enlightening. I learned a lot about me, my ideas and how to cope with them with her help. Like for you, she also uses CBT techniques to help me.
My osteopath helped me with relaxing treatment and acupuncture.
Finally, I had a follow up meeting with another Psychiatrist and she was very happy with my progression and especially about the fact that I was undergoing relaxation techniques from Jacobson and mindful meditation from Zinn. She highly recommended both of those solutions and this reinforced my decision to commit to those techniques.
So, what helped me the most? I can't say up to now, but the whole package is definitively helping me. Once my marriage has come to pass, possibly after a few months, I will start planing reducing and completely removing the medication. I am very eager to know if all I am doing right now can help me deal with anxiety and obsessivity without added chemicals.
There you go. Hope this helps.
All I can say is that, contrary to my initial ideas, there is hope. I am feeling centered on the present and feel very happy again and that is quite an achievement.
Edit : Like you, most of my time was spent worrying about worrying, worrying about the future and feeling sorry for myself for how I was in the past and why I couldn't be better like then.
Hi Pipskid
Its hard to say what helped me the most. Its best to explain thing chronologically (Sorry for the wall of text):
I started having a problem that would later be diagnosed, by a psychiatrist, as General Anxiety Disorder.
So, when I realized that the my situation didn't look to be temporary, I started looking for help.
I went to see my family doctors which directed me to a relaxation therapy and 10 mgs of Cipralex (an anti-depressant, anti-anxiety and anti-obsessivity).
A few weeks later, after crying every day for a few days, I then ended up in the hospital with light suicidal ideas (I was very afraid of the fact that I had those ideas and thought I was going crazy)
In the hospital, I saw a psychiatrist. That is when I started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (a pinprick really). He understood what I was going through and reassured me a lot with the fact that I was not going crazy. He explained to me what is GAD and how it affects me. He augmented my medication to 20mg and suggested that I see a psychologist and that I continue the relaxation therapy.
Since I knew at that point that I wasn't going crazy and that I was simply living through a strong Anxiety episode, I started looking for more solutions to my problem. I then bought a book on anxiety management and that is where I found a reference on Mindfulness. So, I read on that subject and once I was convinced that it wasn't some kind of voodoo, positive thinking movement, I jumped right in and added this to my regimen every day. So every day, I did 30 minutes of relaxation (progressive muscle relaxation from Jacobson) and 45 minutes of body scan meditation. I bought the CDs accompanying the Full Catastrophe Living and started following the 8 week plan in the book instead of doing body scan every day.
I also started seeing a psychologist and I found discussions with her to be very enlightening. I learned a lot about me, my ideas and how to cope with them with her help. Like for you, she also uses CBT techniques to help me.
My osteopath helped me with relaxing treatment and acupuncture.
Finally, I had a follow up meeting with another Psychiatrist and she was very happy with my progression and especially about the fact that I was undergoing relaxation techniques from Jacobson and mindful meditation from Zinn. She highly recommended both of those solutions and this reinforced my decision to commit to those techniques.
So, what helped me the most? I can't say up to now, but the whole package is definitively helping me. Once my marriage has come to pass, possibly after a few months, I will start planing reducing and completely removing the medication. I am very eager to know if all I am doing right now can help me deal with anxiety and obsessivity without added chemicals.
There you go. Hope this helps.
All I can say is that, contrary to my initial ideas, there is hope. I am feeling centered on the present and feel very happy again and that is quite an achievement.
Edit : Like you, most of my time was spent worrying about worrying, worrying about the future and feeling sorry for myself for how I was in the past and why I couldn't be better like then.
Last edited by Paqman on Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
piedwagtail91:
Acceptance isn't easy but it is the quickest way to peace.
Acceptance isn't easy but it is the quickest way to peace.
Hi Paqman
Being rather new to mindfulness myself, I fell into a bit of similar thinking. I found this article (among a few others) that I found helpful with sorting this out. Maybe it can help you also?
Being rather new to mindfulness myself, I fell into a bit of similar thinking. I found this article (among a few others) that I found helpful with sorting this out. Maybe it can help you also?
Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering: I a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe.
-Richard Feynman-
-Richard Feynman-
MiM wrote:Hi Paqman
Being rather new to mindfulness myself, I fell into a bit of similar thinking. I found this article (among a few others) that I found helpful with sorting this out. Maybe it can help you also?
Interesting. Thank you
piedwagtail91:
Acceptance isn't easy but it is the quickest way to peace.
Acceptance isn't easy but it is the quickest way to peace.
That's a great article MiM. Thanks for sharing.
If you come across any more, come and share them in the resources section.
If you come across any more, come and share them in the resources section.
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