MS, Mindfulness & Me

Posted on January 20, 2013 //

After my own blog about MS & mindfulness, I came across this blog from Ilja Aussems who also uses mindfulness as a way of living with her. I have decided to make this the current Everyday Mindfulness blog, as it is a subject close to my own heart. The blog illustrates the central tenet of mindfulness in that it does not change the world around us one bit (Ilja still has MS,) but it changes the way that we relate to the world around us, making it a much more peaceful place to be. The orignal blog is here, although it should be noted that the site is in Dutch.

MS, Mindfulness & Me

I meditate every day. It is part of practising mindfulness. It helps me giving attention to myself, here and now.

MS hurts!

I am ill, very ill. MS hurts and the idea of not being able to do what I want to do / be who I want to be hurts. But mindfulness and meditating help me to handle these things. MS sucks, yes, butI am happy. I have a great husband, beautiful children and I am living in a beautiful house in a great village and region. Practising mindfulness helps me to be here and now, to experience what is here and now.

Attention to what there is here and now

Many people found their relief in mindfulness. Since Jon Kabat Zinn introduced the mindfulness based  stress reduction approach (MBSR) much research has been done on the effect of it on the wellbeing of ill people and of ‘normal’ people. Mindfulness has its basis in the far east and is finally embraced in the western world. So many people benefit from having their attention in the here and now. I feel relatively well. Or at least mindfulness helps me to stay happy instead of drowning in self pity.

I sleep better!

After reading Gareth’s blog of Everyday Mindfulness I was reminded of the fact that the lack of stress helps me to fall  to sleep easier too. I had sleeping problems before I knew that I had MS (I’ve had it for at least 13 years without knowing it). I had sleeping problems before I started practicing mindfulness about 4 years ago. Sleeping problems are one of the symptoms of MS,and fatigue is one too. So luckily I can sleep when I want to now. Nearly as fast as my loved one next to me. He starts to snore immediately after his head hit the pillow. That’s too fast even for me. Perhaps it’s because of the fact that he is being mindful too. It also helps care givers, I’m convinced of it.

As long as there is no medicine that helps MS patients to recover. we stay ill. I am being helped by giving the right self-attention.

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Our aim is to promote mindfulness.

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Filed Under: Chronic Illness, Mindfulness //
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Our aim is to promote mindfulness.

Comments

  1. Suzanne says
    April 20, 2013 at 11:31 pm

    Great to read your stories! I live with MS myself and after my diagnosis, I also began learning about + practicing mindfulness. It led me to yoga classes + now 10 years later I’m teaching Yoga classes for those living with chronic health challenges. I weave mindful practices with yoga (same thing really) + have found I’m able to live more fully + more peacefully. It’s so great to have found this site. I’ll check out the forums too 🙂 Thanks for doing this! Suzanne