#WellnessWednesday on Mindfulness :)

[BethIOCDF]

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to share a tidbit with you all on using Mindfulness to combat OCD.

"Mindfulness means paying attention to the present moment without judgment. When you have OCD, this is no easy feat. The present moment can include painful and confusing intrusive thoughts, feelings, and sensations that seem to lend themselves to judgment. Rather than attempting to neutralize (or get rid of) these internal experiences with compulsions, mindfulness asks that we allow the moment to stay as it is."

Have any of you tried practicing Mindfulness? What was your experience like (good or bad)? Please share.

OCD Stories: theocdstories.com/podcast/j...

Source: iocdf.org/expert-opinions/m...

[Selesnya]

To me the chief benefit of mindfulness is to be able to see a thought as a thought. All of the other bits of mindfulness were useful as tools, but not life-changing by themselves.

It took me about 4 to 5 years of effort to get so that I could observe a thought and not just react to it automatically. It is possible to change from being fused with your thoughts to being able to see them as thoughts and information to take into consideration (instead of fact). I wish that I could lay out how to do it, but for me it was a lot of small realizations and re-orienting that took place very gradually.

The best exposition of this mindset that I have seen is through ACT-based therapies. If you don't have an ACT-focused therapist, there are lots of ACT resources out there, including my favorite book on the topic, A Liberated Mind by Steven Hayes.

Supposedly meditation and other mindfulness practices are helpful, but I don't use them.