10 Feb 2014, 12:25 pm
Thanks Adamantium, that's a helpful explanation! Okay I can definitely see the usefulness in being able to control your thoughts, and set them aside and focus on the matter at hand. That's basically my problem with being unable to focus on reading a book, or watching a TV show.
Maybe I would have better luck practicing it while I'm watching TV, rather than just focusing on my breathing (since that just makes me frustrated, and accomplishes nothing!) At least I want to watch my favorite TV show, and so that would give me incentive to try to set my other thoughts aside, and not allow them to distract me.
Though that's pretty much what I do anyway, when I watch TV. So in the end, it's no different from what I've always done, and – yeah, like I said before, I think I just fail to understand the concept altogether.
(Sorry, I didn't mean to derail the topic for those who do get it... Carry on! 
)
12 Feb 2014, 12:50 pm
12 Feb 2014, 6:23 pm
Waterfalls wrote:
Who_Am_I wrote:
Quote:
as a more ordinary/dull world of labels
That's not how I see the world.
I don't have thinking problems. I have processing problems. Mindfulness DOES NOT help me.
It makes things worse; actually: I already have problems with not being able to shut sensory stimuli out, and I'm supposed to pay MORE attention?
The therapist who suggested that and CBT can go f**k herself.
(Can you tell that I'm angry with her?)
Not meaning to run you down, OP; this stuff is just a sore point with me at present.
Maybe I am making this too simple, but when therapists talk mindfulness to me, it seems to be a combination of acknowledging and including in awareness and acknowledging then removing painful stimuli.
Just to become aware the light is too bright and the computer screen glare has made my head hurt at work helps me, as it's often hard to notice why I'm tense. Once I do, I can turn the screen down or in some other way make a change that helps at times.
I didn't get that far with the two therapists that tried to encourage mindfulness, though helps some for sure. However, both took on responsibility for helping with the overstimulation. One by adjusting lights down, one turned off the buzz of his computer I had not even realized was bothering me. Only sort of had.
I'd be furious too, though, if they'd asked I figure it out and do it all on my own, it takes some help to do this.
That only works when you can control the situation. It doesn't work in situations such as
"I have had to go to the grocery store because if I do not buy food then I will not be able to eat. The noise of the other people is causing me to move beyond pain into shutdown. My visual processing is now not working properly. I must somehow find the food I want on the shelves, while my ability to make sense of things is diminished. Every second I spend in this situation makes it worse."
because you can't tell everyone around you to STFU, and you can't tell the shopping centre management to turn their music off. You can wear earplugs, but they don't entirely remove the problem.
Quote:
Example:
You breath in through the nose and feel the air flowing into your lungs.
You become aware of a small muscular pain in your right ankle.
"I am experiencing pain in my ankle," you acknowledge and then return your focus to the air as it fills your lungs.
You recall that your mother in law is coming to visit on the weekend. You start to recall your last conversation about this.
"I am thinking about my mother in law's visit," you acknowledge and then return your focus to the air as it empties from your lungs and you breathe out through your mouth.
You suddenly think that you are getting the hang of this and wonder what happens next.
"I am thinking about progress in my meditation," you acknowledge and then return your attention to your breath as you begin to draw air in through your nose again.
Etc.
You breath in through the nose and feel the air flowing into your lungs.
You become aware of a small muscular pain in your right ankle.
"I am experiencing pain in my ankle," you acknowledge and then return your focus to the air as it fills your lungs.
You recall that your mother in law is coming to visit on the weekend. You start to recall your last conversation about this.
"I am thinking about my mother in law's visit," you acknowledge and then return your focus to the air as it empties from your lungs and you breathe out through your mouth.
You suddenly think that you are getting the hang of this and wonder what happens next.
"I am thinking about progress in my meditation," you acknowledge and then return your attention to your breath as you begin to draw air in through your nose again.
Etc.
And here's how it might actually go for me on a bad day.
I breathe in through the nose and feel the air flowing into my lungs.
I become aware that people talking at an ordinary volume is making me feel nauseous with pain.
"I am experiencing pain to a nauseating degree due to people talking at a reasonable volume," I acknowledge and then return my focus to the air as it fills my lungs. While somehow not vomiting.
I recall that I have 3 new students coming on the most difficult day of the week, and that my boss has been a douche and refused to tell me any useful information about them. I recall how exhausted it made me the last time I had to deal with a completely new person with no information when I was already tired.
"I am going to be to exhausted to do anything at all on Tuesday evening," I think, then I ignore the fact that a large portion of my life consists either of tiring activities, painful activities, recovering from tiring/painful activities or resting to shore up energy for tiring, painful activities, and return to focussing on my breathing.
"Breathing is an involuntary activity, and thus I do not need to focus on it," I think. "Furthermore, this has not improved my life in the slightest, and I may be better served by more productive things such as using noise-cancelling headphones and making myself a visual work schedule."
I acknowledge those thoughts, then ignore them completely and focus on my breathing.
LiamRodgers
Tufted Titmouse
Joined: 26 Dec 2013
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Posts: 34
Location: The True North, strong and free!
12 Feb 2014, 7:41 pm
| Similar Topics | |
|---|---|
| Are McJobs Asperger's Friendly??? |
13 Jun 2025, 1:35 am |
| Asperger Diagnosis in adulthood |
16 May 2025, 4:53 pm |
| Did I Just Find a Girl with Asperger's or ADHD in the wild? |
09 Jun 2025, 1:27 am |
