How do you @ SR practice mindfulness & Stay present
 

Hello SR I wanted to highlight how important it is to stay mindful and to ask how do you stay in the present & what works for you when it comes to staying mindful

I've personally read some books and been practising for around a year maybe more ? I meditate & I'm reflecting more

Of course it's not always easy staying mindful so with that in mind how do you practice mindfulness & what's important about it to you ?

Kind thanks

SW

I try not to think too much!

I found this website. Ashley Pennewill - A Clean Mind To be very helpful. I didn't know anything about mindfulness and found a lot of good information on it.

Mindfulness involves paying attention “on purpose”. Mindfulness involves a conscious direction of our awareness. We sometimes (me included) talk about “mindfulness” and “awareness” as if they were interchangeable terms, but that’s not a good habit to get into. I may be aware I’m irritable, but that wouldn’t mean I was being mindful of my irritability. In order to be mindful I have to be purposefully aware of myself, not just vaguely and habitually aware.

Left to itself the mind wanders through all kinds of thoughts including thoughts expressing anger, craving, depression, revenge, self-pity, etc. As we indulge in these kinds of thoughts we reinforce those emotions in our hearts and cause ourselves to suffer. Mostly these thoughts are about the past or future. The past no longer exists. The future is just a fantasy until it happens. The one moment we actually can experience the present moment is the one we seem most to avoid.

TB

Hi SW.

Living in the now helps a lot , if one reverses the letters of NOW it reads WON , also Tolle has a book on Living in the Now , mindfulness is awareness or in the present. Not being morbid , but live each day as it was your last (someday you will be right ) , meditation if one makes lots of time for it pays off very well , but its impossible to do it correctly if your mind is constantly on other matters , take care .

Stevie recovered 12 03 2006

I find myself experiencing mindfulness when I'm spending time with my toddler. The past few weeks I've had plenty of 'Wow, this moment is amazing' moments while doing the simplest of things with him.

I've read plenty of books, and have even done a Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy workshop. But actually applying it to my life has been a constant challenge. Being in recovery gives me the ability to better apply my mindfulness tools and reap the benefits.

Thanks guys I wasn't asking for myself primarily but for the guests of SR and Newcomers but I take all good advice anyway

Read the power of now & new earth Stevie both great books I'm just rereading the Chimp Paradox at the moment I think it's a great book

Would love to hear from more at SR

I am trying to get into Mindfulness and DBT myself.

It isn't easy but I am trying. I think I get it - but applying it on a regular basis and breaking old thinking habits is tough.

I have many unresolved issues in my life that I have buried during my 27 years of self medicating with booze.

I feel I will never be truly happy but I am trying my best.

When I was suffering from clinical depression and anxiety, I never really understood the suggestions I read to simply state to yourself, 'I am feeling anxious', or 'I am feeling sad'. Stating the obvious didn't seem to me to be a step to mental health. Now I understand this is a step to mindfulness, to increased self awareness.

Detaching from this observation is where the real benefit comes, and this is what Tolle talks about. Making the observation without an emotional payload is the key. This translates to me into saying, 'Wouldja look at that! There's some anxiety right there. Huh!' instead of a silent wail of despair that spirals down into the dark.

As for becoming good at mindfulness or mediatation, I believe that's irrelevant. It is the doing of it that is good, bringing focus back to breath after observing the interfering thought and offering it acceptance. It is through the acceptance part that the light begins to enter.

I have GAD and PTSD so being present in the moment is pretty much survival. I have to first manage my anxiety because if I'm anxious, which is pretty much focusing on things that haven't happened, have all ready happened, and/or I can't control, I am by definition not being mindful. Exercise, sleep and diet really help.

Acceptance and surrender, not just of/to my alcoholism, but of/to life as it is also keeps me mindful. I focus on what I can impact and let go of what I can't.

I pray. And not in the sense of the lords prayer. Our culture is so steeped in Christianity that I think its hard for folks to see that word in any other way. Me included. So my prayer is focused on making a conscious contact with my higher power, then asking that power to help direct me to do the right thing, whatever that may be. I have a long way to go.

I have found that I have not been obsessively thinking as I normally do. Obsessive thinking, for me, is the complete opposite of mindfulness. Let alone serenity. Constantly analyzing and dissecting. Its crazy making. Taking things personally, over thinking. Its all about control. And controlling behavior again, for me, is the opposite of mindfulness. I have a long way to go. But I am really enjoying just 'being' rather than 'doing'......when I get out of my own way, things work out better.

There are lots of ways.... but one that I use ALL. THE. TIME. is this;

"It's FINE"

A variation on that is;

"Everything will be OK. It always is."

These are responses I offer audibly to my own fretting and worry, my own fears, concerns and anxieties. They crop up and I observe myself projecting into the "what if", being distracted and stressed by the things that MIGHT happen, that NEED to be done, that COULD befall me....


"IT'S FINE" brings me back to the moment.

"EVERYTHING WILL BE OK. IT ALWAYS IS" gives me a break in the chaos and lets me get back to right now.

I guess in a nutshell

I stay very grateful and pray throughout the day

mostly just thanking Him.

M-Bob

Great thread SW.
I'm working on it and it's slowly becoming part of my life. I'm attending a weekly meditation group and I've also got into the app 'headspace', all beginners type stuff which is what I need. I've been one of those folk who could always talk about it as if I knew things, but a good friend said to me, " you don't get muscles by not exercising" very good grounding advice.
I now try to meditate every day and the rest of the time, when I notice my mind is everywhere but the present [most of the time] I take 3 mindful breaths.
Xx

In early recovery it was somewhat easier as I could only contemplate staying sober for that day. As a 56 year old man I am not exactly "new age" but I have found that occasional mental reminders to appreciate who I am with and where I am makes the days somewhat better

Great thread, SW.

I took a Mindfulness workshop and I really enjoyed it but I found it difficult to apply what I learned.

I've read Power of Now but maybe I read it with my mind vs shutting off my mind? I had a difficult time absorbing what I was reading.

I'd love some suggestions of good beginner books/websites.

I have a daily meditation practice that I have been developing and reinforcing for years. I am very fortunate, in that my graduate program has a five hour per week meditation requirement in the curriculum. This forces me to keep up my practice, even when I am feeling lazy or apathetic. The biggest thing that I have noticed as a result of my practice, is the extension of my mindfulness away from the meditation cushion, in to every day life. I find it much easier and more habitual to notice my mind. Instead of having a dark thought and running with it, creating stories in my head about all of the horrible outcomes that will surely come my way, I am more able to recognize this as just "thinking," and return my focus to the actual experience that caused the thoughts.

I was taught by a brilliant woman in my meditation practice. And the most important aspect of my practice is simply the act of coming back. When I find myself lost in thought, whether on the cushion, pr just in life, I come back to my direct experience. Returning my attention to my breath, the connection of my feet to the ground, bodily discomfort, or anything else that is a "real" and tangible experience is my refuge from the stories going on in my mind. And when I feel like I have a "bad" experience meditating, I come back to the cushion to practice again. Repetition reinforces the practice, and it allows me to practice simply for the sake of practicing, rather than to fulfill some lofty and unattainable expectations.

the best answer

my thinking is the problem

i go to a meeting everyday, stay active in service to others and ask God for help ... even when I'm pissed at God!

:tyou

Letting go of the past has been very important in my recovery, because that has allowed me to live in the present moment with my eyes on the future. I think about where I am and where I want to be. It includes coming here to help others and occasionally discuss things that are tripping me up, but it doesn't include dwelling on the fact that I had a drinking problem, it doesn't include discussions about alcoholism and associated mistakes and mishaps, and it especially doesn't include shame and self-loathing.

Thank you all so far

I hope this helps guests & newcomers primarily but of course I hope anyone who reads this thread will get something from it all I can ask is keep them coming

Thanks :)

I use a free android app called
insight timer
thousands of various things on it