Connect with people who understand what you are going through, seek advice and surround yourself with support. We're free, anonymous, and professionally moderated 24/7.

47,612Members
1,358,869Posts
1,400,000Visitors

Do you have a Hobby?

theaveragejoeSenior Contributor06 May 2016, 1:29 pm AEST

Do you have a Hobby?

If you have a hobby, like me (I have a few), you can do mindfulness while having fun. For example, if you like collecting stamps, growing plants or flowers, growing vegetables, or doing anything else that you like doing, that is mindfulness.

When I paint, or play music, or write, I go into another world and all of my problems vanish. Sometimes I forget what time it is if I get really involved and I can go for hours. That is mindfulness.

One needs not try to do any forced meditation or anything that is an effort. Just do something that you love doing, get immersed in what you are doing, and that will be mindfulness or the act of being in the Here and Now 🙂

17 replies

11 - 17 of 17

1 2

In response to: Do you have a Hobby?

theaveragejoeSenior Contributor19 May 2016, 12:53 am AEST

Re: Do you have a Hobby?

HI there Pirate,

yes this person may have had a negative impact but maybe this person is not the whole reason for why you have discontinued to pain or draw or do the things that you used to do. We do go through faces, in life, but our talents never leave us, they are always inside, waiting to be woken up by something. You will probably get the urge to do it all again when the time is right, and you will find that everything you need is still there, it never left you. No one can destroy something like that, is indestructable 🙂

In response to: Re: Do you have a Hobby?

GonePirateSenior Contributor19 May 2016, 8:41 pm AEST

Re: Do you have a Hobby?

oh how I hope your right

that its all just laying dorment and not lost

I was gifted with a muse for so long I don't know what to do without it

In response to: Do you have a Hobby?

Bimby2Senior Contributor20 May 2016, 9:48 am AEST

Re: Do you have a Hobby?

Yes, art work, which, when I get involved with can help me become so absorbed in, that I forget about

anxiety and depression. Doing art projects is a great soother to one's mind. Bimby2

In response to: Re: Do you have a Hobby?

GonePirateSenior Contributor23 May 2016, 6:15 pm AEST

Re: Do you have a Hobby?

I was having a restless night the other night it was about 2 am

I put pen to paper so to speak
I have a notepad app on my phone

and I wrote out a synopsis for a story I started getting into in about 2009 I was tappa tapping away until 330 and was finally done with it

it felt good to revisit this old world again

In response to: Do you have a Hobby?

EricGNew Contributor31 May 2016, 3:21 pm AEST

Re: Do you have a Hobby?

It seems to be contradictory: talking about lettting the mind go and wander and calling it mindfulness: noun: "a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique". You could call it day-dreaming instead.

In response to: Re: Do you have a Hobby?

EricGNew Contributor31 May 2016, 3:35 pm AEST

Re: Do you have a Hobby?

@Bimby2 wrote:
Yes, art work, which, when I get involved with can help me become so absorbed in, that I forget about
anxiety and depression. Doing art projects is a great soother to one's mind. Bimby2

Yes I too have these mechanisms for getting absorbed and carried away by a pleasurable task forgetting the torment of poor mood. However this has changed dramatically as I have got the bipolar under control with the right treatment. Once I was never bored always able to obsess about something that would be an escape -not mindfulness at all but escapism - that is what everyone is describing. Now that I am relatively well I cannot obsess although I remain interested in the same topics and therefor I cannot escape and, after many years, I find myself bored for the first time. So for me this escapism is a measure of my wellness. I have the privilege now of expanding my life beyond the escapism. I still escape but my life isn’t fritting away whilst I do it and I’m not neglecting my life like I use to with cooking, cleaning and socialising say kept to a minimum. I have a new lease on life I don’t have to escape from – all because I chased treatments and got the right one for me.

In response to: Do you have a Hobby?

Sweet_cheeksSenior Contributor20 Mar 2019, 10:07 pm AEDT

Re: Do you have a Hobby?

Hi Gone PirateThat is sad. I've had that happen a couple of times. Family members have told me it's madness and that my ideas or bad or they don't get them. But I just have to create. I can't help it. When I am manic and just normal and not depressed I am full of ideas. It is so much fun. You're a very creative person, obviously. You say you still come up with words and rhymes and that's great. Stick at it. If you have a crummy thing like mental health issues, having an outlet is so important. It's got me through some really hard times. I wish you all the best in your creative pursuits. I was going to start a thread on creativity and people could share there work or at least talk about their projects.and we're all mad so if the stuff is weird people will probably get it. I started the thread with my crazy stories but took it down next day because I was embarrassed. I was a bit manic. So maybe you'd be interested. I'm going to call it Sane creative people. There's one for craft but not writing or painting or anything like that.

11 - 17 of 17

1 2