mindfulness

Since this is a Practice, and in a practice, we must build upon our knowledge—here, I am going to expand upon my 1st post about the Beginner’s Mind, the first post of this new group - click to join and not miss the interconnected 9 attitudes of the wellbeing mindset of Mindfulness.

There is an emphasis on the importance of cultivating this mindset in all aspects of life.

Has anyone practiced this Beginner’s Mind or think that you will give it a try?
Any thoughts about this particular part of the whole?

Let’s break it down again:

Holding onto a particular belief limits the mind.
We accumulate a lot of conditioning along the way.
We tend to create a world where our opinions and beliefs are fixed.
As soon as we are attached to that one side, we shut off the other side-we don’t see it or hear it.

Only when we are willing to show up in each moment with a fresh, curious mind, willing to listen, knowing that possibly everything we believed and thought -that perhaps that’s not true. And, if we can maintain that freshness of mind, called a beginner’s mind—

then we can create a space where the mind can absorb, can respect the way other people think— take in new perspectives, and all of a sudden, we start to see not only a transformation in our mind, but a greater sense of calm, of clarity, and also a positive change in our relationships.

By letting go of preconceived ideas, expectations, and attachments, we can fully engage with each moment, experiencing life as it truly is, rather than through the filter of our thoughts and beliefs.

Key concepts:

Openness to possibilities:
The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.

No attachment to outcomes:
By approaching situations with a beginner's mind, one is less likely to be fixated on achieving a specific result, allowing for greater flexibility and adaptability.

And, the extremely critical skill of learning How to focus on the present moment:
This mindset encourages a deep awareness of the current experience, without getting caught up in past regrets or future anxieties; which we all know the negative consequences this has on our mental health.

We have to help ourselves to not be stuck dwelling on either the "what could have been" or the "what might happen", so that we can instead stay living in and fully enjoying the actual present moment. This is all a part of our role in managing our depression and anxiety and not letting these win and take from us and our potential and our lives that we can have.

It’s important to remember that all of this is not an achievement to be attained but rather a continuous process of self-discovery and self-transformation.

#MentalHealth #ChronicIllness #Mindfulness #MajorDepressiveDisorder #BipolarDisorder #BipolarDepression #MoodDisorders #Depression #Anxiety #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #Cancers #ChronicFatigue #AnorexiaNervosa #Selfcare #Addiction #Fibromyalgia #ChronicPain #Selfharm #Grief #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #Suicide #Trauma #Agoraphobia #ADHD #SocialAnxiety #SocialAnxietyDisorder #PTSDSupportAndRecovery #PTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Headache #Migraine #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Disability #IfYouFeelHopeless #EatingDisorders #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #MightyTogether #Caregiving #CheckInWithMe #DistractMe

TRY THIS PEACEFUL TEA MEDITATION TO BRING COMFORT TO YOUR DAY

Let me know in the comments who has tried this or will try it?

Read on to get the full picture-

I just did this and it was so much more than just drinking tea.

I chose to drink a mug of Vanilla Chai tea on this cloudy and rainy day to bring some zen into the ordinary thing of having a cup of tea.

I chose to not do anything else at all while drinking my cup of tea, except to live in the actual moment of this and broaden and build on positive thoughts and positive emotions.

I sat on the stool in my kitchen facing my backyard glass door and I took slow sips savoring the flavor and smell of the tea and I took deep breaths while just watching the raindrops coming down on the concrete of our patio. And seeing the beauty of the golden leaves 🍁 mixed in with the green leaves and some red leaves on one of the trees in my view.

I noticed and smiled a few times seeing one of my two kitties curled up sleeping in her “doughnut” shaped cat bed enjoying my presence next to her.

In the words of Thich Nhat Hanh:

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves...
Live the actual moment."

“Tea is an act complete in its simplicity. When I drink tea, there is only me, and the tea. The rest of the world dissolves. There are no worries about the future. No dwelling on past mistakes. Tea is simple: Loose-leaf tea, hot pure water, a cup. I inhale the scent, tiny delicate pieces of the tea floating above the cup. I drink the tea, the essence of the leaves becoming a part of me. I am informed by the tea, changed. This is the act of life, in one pure moment, and in this act the truth of the world suddenly becomes revealed; all the complexity, pain, drama of life is a pretense, invented in our minds for no good purpose. There is only the tea, and me, converging.”

This is just one of the ways we can consciously choose to help calm and center our mind, and invite a moment of stillness and ease into your day.

You can practice a tea meditation during anytime of the day — perhaps you try it in the morning (or coffee!) to start your day with PRESENCE enjoy it in the middle of the day for increased FOCUS AND CLARITY, or end your day with the PRACTICE for a more PEACEFUL mindset for a better night’s sleep.

#MentalHealth #ChronicIllness #Mindfulness #MajorDepressiveDisorder #BipolarDepression #BipolarDisorder #MoodDisorders #Depression #Anxiety #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #Cancer #ChronicFatigue #Selfcare #Fibromyalgia #ChronicPain #Selfharm #Grief #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #Suicide #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #PTSD #Trauma #Headache #Migraine #RareDisease #Addiction #Disability #IfYouFeelHopeless #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #ADHD #EatingDisorders #MightyTogether #Caregiving

But, first a quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn who introduced these principles

“It is only when the mind is open and receptive that learning and seeing and change can occur.”
Kabat-Zinn, 2005, p. 31

Beginner’s Mind -The attitude of intentionally seeing things around you as if for the first time, by shedding our expectations and preconceptions and welcoming the possibility of a new moment, one that has never been seen before.

Curiosity, simplicity; Rather than coming to a situation with the weight of past ideas and experiences, the beginner’s mind asks you to arrive knowing that you do not know everything. As no moment is the same as another, every moment allows you a chance to learn. Being open and curious can help save you from being stuck in a rut.

#MentalHealth #MajorDepressiveDisorder #Anxiety #Depression #ChronicIllness #GeneralizedAnxietyDisorder #Mindfulness #BipolarDepression #PTSD #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Trauma #ChronicFatigue #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #BipolarDisorder #Selfcare #Selfharm #Grief #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #Suicide #CheckInWithMe #DistractMe #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Cancers #ADHD #Fibromyalgia #ChronicPain #Caregiving #MoodDisorders #Addiction #PostpartumDisorders #Agoraphobia #SocialAnxiety #Loneliness #Headache #Migraine #AnorexiaNervosa #RareDisease #EatingDisorders #IfYouFeelHopeless

Mighty friends, and friends you definitely are.

You invested energy you don’t have to spare to help me through my impossible decision about my mental health this week.

Just like we want to know what happens next in a good story, whether it is a good book or a brilliant TV show, I guess I should let you, my friends, know what decision I came to make after looking at all of the important perspectives so many of my friends here showed up to help me make the most informed decision.

The appointment for next week is canceled and will not be rescheduled.
I will stay with the once every 3 months of medication monitoring that honestly she really wasn’t doing that right either, and she admitted it to me when I caught her on something that she said she just assumed! For two years!
You might be inclined to say again that maybe I could find a better psychiatrist and maybe I can find an effective therapist-after about 18 years of trying different ones out, and I tried so many different ones out.

Therapy works, but my path somehow took me to see that one of the paths to therapy and processing our traumas from our past is also finding the right guidance from the right experts in a vast array of necessary resources and skills and applying them ourselves- since it is up to us to do the work anyway and every day.

And the proof is here in my authentic self when I interact with you.

It is very empowering too, knowing I made all of this happen for myself.
After 3 years straight homebound and almost entirely in bed with the subtype of MDD, catatonic depression because of a Psychiatrist that actually told my husband and I that I cannot be helped, to stop coming to him, to stop trying medications, which it took me years to learn is that nothing will ever work from a Professional if we are not understanding how to get our inside right first and foremost and to get our basic human needs met with strong bonds of true friendship—Connection- Befriending ourselves with Self-Love is always the starting point too and it is wrong that this key to everything is never explained to us until we suffered and had no resources or knowledge, no vocabulary to know what to learn to not suffer, even when there will be more pain in life.

I look at a note I put in my phone on 1/10/24 that was exactly what I was thinking at the time that I have never thought before— I wrote one of the best sentences that any human could ever dream to write down with true belief and with true trust in my gut — “My mind is free.”

And then I went on to write these thoughts down:
“I’m in love with this moment”

Songs play nowadays that make me feel so freed, the same songs that used to speak to all of my emotional pain built up for years and how lost I was.

Finally, I can listen to music just for the joy of it entirely— any of the artists I have loved- any of their songs. Instead of either only being able to listen to songs about bad feelings, or not wanting to listen to music because I didn’t want to feel what I was feeling.

Now songs that resonate with me are like “Feel Good” (Avicci version) with lyrics like “stars when you shine, you know how I feel…, freedom is mine and you know how I feel…It’s a new dawn and a new day, and I am feeling good.”

I used to say I took my life back, but now I’m living a new life, my honestly best life.

I smile out of nowhere all of the time.

I savor every moment that I feel not only so mentally well, but also so alive in the simplest of moments.

These are some the gifts I get to fully experience now

I am still here and thriving and from a different path to keep being a message of hope.

Please keep asking questions, please keep trying out new ways, please keep your mind open, please keep connecting and strengthening/fostering vital friendships even if it is here, but that could lead you to other friends in your life as well, as it has done for me. Please keep loving exactly who you are and remember that no one knows you better than yourself.

And please keep on keeping on firstly for YOU.
I am also an example of needing to push through hard just for me because I am 52 years old and I do not have kids, I didn’t choose that. So, I don’t have kids or grandchildren or actually any family members (because they were not good people)
I do have a husband. But, come on, we can’t just push through all of this for a spouse. Our most effective “Reason Why” is for Ourselves first and foremost, then secondary is for others who love us.

#MajorDepressiveDisorder #MentalHealth #MightyTogether #Trauma #Mindfulness #ChronicFatigue #ChronicIllness

Do I Risk My Most Mentally Well Full In With Daily Practice Of Living In The Now/Mindfulness and Meditation Practice That Has Taught Me Protective Cognitive Abilities—-because my Psychiatrist who used to be a therapist thinks it could possibly be a benefits way out the risks thing for me to let her dive into my subconscious and rip open my healed wounds basically- all for her crossing her fingers that this may (but may not!) take away my sometime debilitating fatigue that is the only residual symptom left of my conquering my mind and my recurring major depressive disorder into achievement of partial remission?

I am weighing all of the Pro’s and Cons to make the most informed decision possible as to in my particular life journey huge progress with my healing, and achieving Partial Remission of Major Depressive Disorder with only the one common residual symptom of fatigue that can be debilitating, especially in the fact that I am 52 years old and for a few years now, my fatigue has become a disability in that my husband showers me and brushes my teeth. It remains a mystery as to why I can conquer so much, but not these 2 things or the physicality involved in some of the chores of cleaning our house— I recently cleaned one shelving unit and I needed to rest & recharge for the rest of the entire day. Not taking a nap, not going back to bed - I never go back to my bedroom even when I am home not able to keep up the pace needed to continue my career or do any job.

If you were in my predicament, wise and empathetic Mighty Family, what would you do from my standpoint—-

I will give as much context as I can think of at this moment, feel free to ask me any questions to help you undeterred all sides of the coin that need to be extremely well-informed.

My best friend in my life offline that knew me from high school, who came to my rescue when I bravely posted on my FB personal page in 2017 that I needed some support from any friends from my past that knew the real me before major depressive disorder took me for the first of many times beginning at the age of 34. Before then, I was known as so incredibly happy, loving and living life to the fullest, very laid back in life and very carting and a great friend to all types of people.

This best friend of mine took a hiatus from our friendship for a few more years due to her own very difficult everyday life struggles.
Then, I was left again with no support system at all in my every day life. No friends and societal isolation from the stigmas and myths about living with a mental illness, plus I had a lot of learning and growing and healing to do still.

This best friend of mine called me out of the blue a year ago and this time after she was affected by suicide again in her own life, with another one of her family members and friends of her kids, she chose to stay and nurture our friendship no matter what else was so difficult and draining and time-consuming in her life. She told me a year ago and she tells me all of the time today that she can tell that I am since a year ago and on this very day today -that she knows that I am the mentally healthiest that I have ever been in my life- that she who has heard the changes in my voice, my way of speaking and interacting, and she had heard my darkness back then before I healed and freed my mind from becoming a dedicated Mindfulness Awareness and Meditation Practitioner learning from the greatest in these fields— Andy Puddicome, former monk who created the life-saving Headspace app that I took every single course in and wrote down notes and studied his every word and I can apply it all extremely well. And, learning from the other greatest minds in this realm - Jon Kabat-Zinn, Eckhart Tolle, Pema Chodron, Brené Brown, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson through a top University course I took online to learn even more about mental agility and resilience interventions, protective factors against stress and anxiety and depression, the science of positive emotions…directly from Dr. Karen Reivich, and the research studies and teachings of her mentor Dr. Marty Seligman.

More back story- I have in my part endured deep traumas that now never come up in my mind as more than a passing thought that is akin to a cloud in a windy sky- just coming and going and I stay in ease, calm, peace, and balance — from my everyday continual work that not only includes the above big list of hard earned achievements but also doing all kinds of introspective work, learning myself too how to apply cognitive behavioral therapy skills, so both incorporating an integrative whole body, mind, and soul self-work approach that pulls from both Western medicine in our part of the world’s psychology and the game-changing life-saving benefits of Eastern Psychology which is more based in spirituality and Buddhism. Well actually these days, Mindfulness as a Cognitive Skill For Wellbeing comes from early Buddhism to contemporary neuroscience. #MentalHealth #MajorDepressiveDisorder #Mindfulness #Trauma #MightyTogether

This is the importance of Each one of us.

Please don’t lose sight of this dear Mighty Family, dear Mighty Friends.

#MentalHealth #FamilyAndFriends #inspire #Inspiration #Motivation #Motivational #Depression #MajorDepressiveDisorder #Anxiety #ChronicIllness #Disability #positivethoughts #Positivity #Mindfulness #DepressiveDisorders #MoodDisorders #BipolarDepression #ChronicFatigue #ChronicPain #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #PTSD #Trauma #Selfharm #SuicidalIdeation #SuicidalThoughts #SuicideAttemptSurvivors #Suicide #SuicidePrevention #youmatter #SocialAnxiety #Empowerment

#PTSD
#Mindfulness

#Bipolar #workaddition #Mindfulness #InTheMoment