there has been some expression of interest in mindfulness so i thought i'd post a mindfulness exercise.

MINDFULLY OBSERVING

t says (and i know he is right) that a good way to start mindfully observing is to focus on something external rather than internal. so focus on a leaf or a pen or a can of coke or a book or a sunset or a building... instead of focusing on a thought or a feeling or a body part or breathing.

(this is partly because panic is often induced by awareness of bodily states and also because it is harder to be non-judgemental about internal processes).

30 seconds is a useful timeframe initially. if you have some kind of alarm clock that can keep that sort of time and isn't too sudden and horrible with the noise it makes then that can be useful...

the idea is to focus all of your attention as best you can on the object. mindfully attend to it so you are feeling it and smelling it and hearing it and tasting it etc with your full attention. when you become aware that your attention has wandered (so you become aware of thoughts like 'this is stupid' or 'i'm not doing it right' or 'gee this leaf is dirty and icky' or emotions or whatever) then refocus your attention back on the object. your attention probably will wander... and when it wanders just become aware that it has wandered and refocus your attention back on the object. if you become aware that your attention has wandered and you become aware of thinking 'i'm so stupid i can't even focus on an object for 30 seconds' then become aware that your attention has been diverted by that thought and refocus your attention back on the object.

it isn't about successfully attending to the object for 30 seconds without your attention wandering... it is about the process of focusing on the object, becoming aware when your attention has wandered, and refocusing your attention back on the object. it is a process rather like lifting weights over and over.

for 30 seconds every day.

anyone willing to start?

(this is the first mindfulness exercise i learned in DBT group. we practiced that every day for one week. then next week we increased the time to one minute and learned another exercise - describing mindfully / non-judgementally).

if i make a committment to practice daily (and practice daily) then i find myself becoming aware of the possibility of mindfully attending during the day. when i find myself ruminating i can refocus my attention on my cigarrette or the computer screen or a tree or whatever. i have the choice. the practice helps me be aware that i have a choice whether i ruminate or not. the practice also helps strengthen my control over my attention so that i can be mindfully aware of external objects even when i feel really depressed or when flashbacks and the like are very intrusive. one needs to practice when one is in a fairly good place in order to have the 'mental muscle' to do it when one is in a fairly bad place. but still... the committment means i'll do it no matter how i feel).

anyone else want to practice with me?