Hard times

[Gareth]

I've been practising mindfulness for six years, and I still get lost in my mind. Don't judge yourself for this. The mind never stops - constantly producing thoughts. Sometimes they hook us, and we follow them; it's inevitable.

[mybubble]

I'm 20, and for the last several months I've been dealing with lots of depression, anxiety, obsessive thoughts, and existential questions. It got to the point where I had to drop out of college and move back home.

Hi Brent,
You are not alone, the same thing happened to me and many others. It is a really tough period in ones life. On the bright side it looks like you have come across mindfulness nice and early. Its takes some people, myself included decades of depression or anxiety or non-existance before landing up here, you have a great head start.

I am 3 months in and recognise the judgements during practice, they keep happening to me. I have much less experience than those here but yesterday I happened to read a post about this that made sense and I am eager to try and that is.....

It's ok to be judgemental and it is almost a natural behaviour however just realise it is yet another thought and almost smile at it, glad you are aware of it.

In one way where do judgemental thoughts end. "I am not focussed" , "that's bad", "I have just been judgemental", "that's bad", "I done it again - judgemental". Surely at some point the best thing to do is just smile inwardly at the nature of the mind and let it go.

I have yet to try and "master this". Someone with more experience can jump in hopefully if I am way off track.

[Brent]

Thanks for the support Gareth and mybubble. Being nonjudgemental is definitely challenging, but it is beautiful to see the world in its full spectrum of colors, rather than just black and white.

It's always helpful to hear from others who have gone through similar situations. I think in some ways it can be beneficial, as we can take it as a literal wake up call, becoming more aware and compassionate.