my first post in here. Nice site you have. My name is Dave & I suffer with mental illness. It's taken me quite a number of years to get my head around mindfulness and I still don't know. That's the way I like to keep it.
Not knowing is actually part of the process. If you get a hold of Jon Kabat-Zinn on YouTube and spend a few months listening and the listing again and so on; it eventually sinks in. "To do so that I do not do" or that's how I say it now.I started of breathing and doing the body scans quite a long time ago. It eventually just carried though to doing the things that I enjoy doing as well as learning to enjoy things that where once unpleasant, but now routine as if it's never happening or happened. However every day is not as smooth as the other. Without thinking about it, I can just say that the extent of my "Pain Body" (Check Eckhart Tolles book "The Power of Now) is rather significant, that I have many years in which to work on my focus. I focus less and less on my story, but rather learn to quieten my thoughts through understanding the process in which my mind works.
For me, I have actually always been pretty good at calming myself down through breathing techniques. I was a very active child and excelled at sport which gave me a keen sense of being body awareness. Emotion has always been my weakness and something that my Mind likes to feeding me so that Time keeps spinning at a rate that weakens my resolve, preventing me from living life as it comes and goes.
I am working hard to understand how my anxiety is fueled by none other, than same automated process my mind uses. A mirror image that keeps me in a state of heightened emotion as I continually seek to question the past whilst at the same time fret about what has not yet happened in the future. Living life in a state of perpetual fear.
I've kind of picked up a cross of ideas between Both Jon Kabat-Zinn & Eckhart Tolle, however I also like how Dr Judith Orloff Author of "Emotional Freedom" Liberate yourself from negative emotions and transform you life. Specifically how she teaches one to become body aware with emotion on a chemistry level.
I can feel I have reached my limit here, so will pull up. Essentially I am a very mindful person in my own surroundings. I am reasonably versed in the concept however do not tie myself down to any on way ... I am also prone to falling over often as my mind is still easily trigger. Currently I have crawled my way back from a recent long bout of despair ... I use my camera to remain present and enjoy life from day to day. I also blog about how my Photography is a great tool for myself and Anyone for that Matter ... to connect with the concept of mindfulness.
My blog address is as follows:
http://photographyformentalillness.blogspot.com.au/
The Introduction Post may better explain the above.
Nice to meet you guys and thanks for listening.
Dave.
