Hot Chocolate Anyone ?

I think it depends on how we choose to use it @Former-Member. A lot of people think you have to clear your mind to be mindful. That isn't the case. I attended a monastery and an insightful monk told me it is more about focus rather than mind clearing. And that is how I use it because that is how it works for me.

🙂 you do that @soul was lovely to meet you. 🙂 Thankyou for making me feel not so alone in my experiences.

@Anony18 oh you poor thing. It's just been one thing on another this week for you! Have you been able to have that "chat" yet?

@Smcoh I wish I could play a musical instrument.. another form of art in which I am devoid of talent. 😞

it's about speaking to yourself. So if you choose to call a spade a spade.. or a material object that scoops soil for example.. then that is up to you @Former-Member, that is where the self awareness factor comes into play.

I think a certain amount of rifling through the cr@pola has to happen, before the mindfulness. Which is why I think the princples of CBT (thinking through it) is step one... once we can think through the clutter, unclutter our minds of the aforementioned rubbish... THEN we can proceed with the mindfulness.

Hi @CherryBomb

Can I also pass on my thanks re tonights topic discussion, I have just finished reading the discussion now. Unfortunately i had to leave early, fogot i was supposed to be at another meeting.

Whoops 😲

@Former-Member That article linked to anti-depressant study. So if you are speaking from experience with this kind of treatment or diagnosis I have no experience in the area. I suffer or suffered from PTSD so I have an actual event or rather series of repeated events to focus on and sort through. In that respect I think CBT would be more effective. So.. that could I stress could be an explanation for the vastly differing experiences.

Hi everyone .... 😊💕

I just wanted to add something into the conversation here ....

@Former-Member I know you have just said that you are opting out of any further mindfulness discussion .... so this is not intended to pressure you in any way .... feel free to skip over this post.

A couple of years ago I found myself experiencing panic attacks in a couple of different forms without understanding what they were. Once I realised (in the back of an ambulance) that while I appeared to be coping with the stress of our situation mentally and emotionally, my body was capable of enacting its own physical reaction, I also became aware of how it felt to have a panic attack spiralling.

Then I realised that it is sort of like a virtual vertigo, so if I could virtually "hold on" to things around me it would likely disable this spiral before it had taken a true hold.

Holding on to things around me is the mindfulness .... smelling, really smelling the coffee in my cup .... feeling the warmth of the cup in my hands and closing my eyes to concentrate on that warmth .... tasting, really concentrating on the taste of the coffee .... looking with the thought to notice the colour of the coffee, like how milky it is ....

Like deep breathing, this helps me to be in the moment with my intellect, and calms by body's fight-or-flight response.

💜🌷