[Lovejack]

Medications, therapy, on-going agony. It's so, so, so hard. So grateful for fleeting moments of "feeling normal." Recently read---feel the anxiety/panic, accept it, then move on and act/behave as the person you want to be. Tried this today. Helped in coping with a few rough moments.

[gracez]

Hi Lovejack,
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I've been curious about the same thing and asked this question on PC sometime last month. Sorry to say I don't have an answer for you. I haven't been able to hit on anything. A counsellor asked me this question too, and all I could discover was that there's nothing at all I hold onto to get me thru the day. And I never feel like I can get thru the day. So I don't have any good advice at all! But glad u found something a bit useful today, and hope you receive some better advice from others here.

Grace

[H3rmit]

I have learned to develop my own coping skills. I am working on a particular huge problem right now. I use the mind model given by DBT:


Obviously many problems are in the emotional area, when it dominates, and wise mind isn't engaged. I have been studying to develop my reasoning mind. In examining the emotional problem I have, I try to access the two aspects of the mind and then synthesize them. Does that make sense? I was having a great time pondering this on the bus today, and then I made the right choice in handling the emotions a couple of times. Felt good. I hope this can work.

[Little Lulu]

Lovejack - I use your idea of accepting anxiety and moving on and it works well for me. The more I fight anxiety, the worse matters become so accceptance is key once anxiety starts.

H3rmit - I like your DBT model. The "mind" is a tool, to be used and then put away when we don't need it. Most of us are addicted to "thinking" and often it is unhealthy thinking i.e. worry.

My understanding is that those fleeting moments of "feeling normal" Lovejack describes are when our ego/mind-based self drops away are we are simply our "selves", without the mind chatter. Focusing on breathing helps me get away from mind activity when I don't need it and it is unproductive.

Thanks to both of you.