I used to have severe anxiety. I still feel extremely anxious on a regular basis. Feeling like I have to build and muscle up my emotions just to be able to walk to the end of my road without being stared at.
So 2 years ago I was recommended mindfulness. And I hated it. I found it useless and I just didn’t get it. And so every time there was a mindfulness class I’d never give it a thought. Until this September when My college started to offer a 6 week mindfulness course. I was inspired by Ghandi over the summer so I was all pumped up. And surprisingly, I found it to be the best treatment I’ve received for my anxiety. Now I can wrote down everything that I’ve learned, but here are some really useful mantras that I took from the course:
“ these are just thoughts, not facts”
“ thoughts come, thoughts go”
And the snap is to repeat these mantras over and over again in your head whislt FOFHOT - ing. This just means feet on floor, hands on table. This is a really in public situations as no one can even tell that your practising mindfulness.
I think the whole point of mindfulness for me anyway, is to slow down my breathing and heart rate, and just reposition myself in the presence and then after I’ve calmed down I can take the next steps.
My six week course is over now, that makes me sad. But I’m glad I’ve taken away something. It is difficult and there are always fall backs and down days to least I know how to organise my brain by doing mindfulness you know.
Hope this helps someone 🤷♀️
I’d love to hear someone else’s tips for midfulness too!
X
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We are all too good at putting ourselves down, too eager to think that people are looking at us, judging us, and thinking how we do about ourselves. I use the headspace app a lot, and one of the early sessions, I’ll never forget it, had me imagining traffic flowing past me... like my thoughts the cars come and go. I always thought of meditation as to getting into a non thinking state and it was surprising to see it’s not the case. Letting that thought come, and then letting it go again is hard to explain... and was a strange thing to do at first. I’d been taught to think for years and worked in jobs where I had to do it for even longer... but I never let thoughts and ideas come and go before.
Yes! I have used this analogy previously, it was hard to get used to it, but I understand it, and I think understanding how to organise your thoughts is one of the most important things in mindfulness. And headspace is great! It’s converted me to listen to relaxing ocean sounds before bed now 😂 I really relate to your comment and I couldn’t explain it better myself X
Those mantras are useful, as well as the idea that thoughts come and go like traffic as UNM says. It’s not something I find very easy: I have a busy brain, but for me, running, taking the time for me, focusing on my form, pace, etc, is a great way to have a break and give me some headspace. I’m finding I am stressing less about work when I’m not there and while a good work:life balance is some way off, I feel I am coping better. Thank you for the thread: it’s got me thinking x
Thank you! And I totally relate to you, I used to run a lot, and I’ve started to get back into jogging with the dog and taking easy steps while focusing on my dog and jogging in the moment rather than what’s going on around me. Mindfulness is not easy, it takes a lot of time for it to become natural and I think the key is to find something you’re comfortable with X
I suffer from anxiety too. While driving (I get panic attacks ) shopping centres , public places , open spaces with other people ... it is a nightmare ... but I know I have to get up and get on. Running (I am now at week 8) has helped so much. I’m trying to get my life in order . I smoke drink n I’m overweight. That is all a symptom of my anxiety. I wish u well n hope and happiness . It will come if u want it and believe u are worth it. Muscle up . You are doing this for you . That is not selfish or anything else . It is what you have to do. If we are healthy n happy so are those around us. We have to face are demons. Good luck 😉 To is both 💪
Thank you! This comment is actually a mood! I got a panic attack two days ago when a lady in her car let me cross the road by pointing at the pavement ( you know, body language ) and for the first time in forever I managed to calm myself down within a few minutes using mindfulness. I’ve stated to get back into jogging and then hopefully a gym this year to build up my upper body strength. Yes! Good luck to us both !! X
Also a sufferer from attacks by the Panic Moth ! I like “5 Things”, which was something a psychiatric nurse once suggested to my husband. When you feel overwhelmed, ask yourself for 5 things - 5 things you can hear right now is my favourite, but 5 blue things you can see or 5 favourite holidays or 5 most hated smells or whatever all work just as well. Your mind refocuses for a minute or two and you come back calmer.
Wow 😮 I haven’t heard that yet, I know of the 3 thins your greatful/thankful for each day, but I’m definitely going to try the 5 things ! Thanks for the panic moth hack ! C
That’s okay! Anxiety and mental health issues hits home To a lot of people, and knowing how to deal and understand your thoughts is extremely important. Try different things out, let HealthUnlocked know how it goes, we’re all here to support each other, one step at a time X
Hello, thank you for sharing your thoughts and being honest about your anxieties. I too have suffered with anxiety and depression. One of my longest standing thoughts of myself is-
'It is not what has happened to me in my life that has made me who I am, it is how I have dealt with it that has made me the person I am today'
A more recently acquired thought is - 'I'm not running away from my past, I'm running towards my future'
For me it has been about reconditioning my thought pattern to accept, acknowledge and move on. I took up yoga and part of our practice is meditation, we use our breathing as a point of focus to enhance the depth of the breath and prepare for class. The skills it has given me enables me to calm myself in stressful situations and now I am passing these skills on to my children xx
Yes! I understand you, those thoughts are great I think I’m going to make them into a mood board ! My mum has previously tried to encourage us kids to join in with yoga, from what I remember when I wasn’t laughing my head off because you can’t be serious when doing family yoga, it did exactly what you said and calmed me down and gave me TIME to reassess my situation. Thank you so much for this comment I’ve found it really helpful X
A wonderful, invigorating post. My son suffers terribly with anxiety and depression and as he has chronic pain he uses other ‘tools’ to help him such as yoga as something like running is painful. That is so interesting about the 6 week course, thank you for posting 🙂
That’s okay, there is anathor reply about yoga too! I feel like I need to start doing home yoga myself ! I hope things start to improve for your son, yeah I didn’t even know there were midfulness courses for most of my life so is definitely research things in your local area if you’re interested, mine was completely free X
Interesting reading this. I wouldn’t consider myself to be somebody who suffers from anxiety at all but I do find myself struggling to sleep at night my mind constantly racing. I have a technique which helps me focus. I go through the alphabet and think of song titles beginning with the letter A and B and C etc - if I get the end of the alphabet I go back to the beginning I think I’ll song title with two words, the first beginning with A, B, C etc. I guess this is a form of mindfulness.
Yes, I mean mindfulness can be for anyone! It’s good to reorganise your thoughts and know where you sit from time to time. I’m definitely going to try that alphabet game btw because that sounds super interesting so thanks X
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