It’s awesome that you’re able to help people so well. At the same time, though, I get the feeling that you’re falling into the trap of other-optimizing. In-person support is probably a lot more helpful than internet-based support, I suspect. But when the right people aren’t around you, and you can’t go to them, having instant communication over the internet is a good second-best. Certainly over the internet there’s things you can’t do, like determine a physical state. But if people refused to use any method but the absolute best, we’d spend more time trying to find optimal strategies than anything else, and humanity would die out because we’d be too busy designing soylent to eat.
It’s not like I don’t give out any internet based advice.
In this thread I did make a point to recommend gratitude journaling. It’s good even if you don’t do it in a group.
I haven’t heard from anyone messing themselves up with gratitude journaling.
Another recommendation would be meditating. Meditating is more risky. It makes suppressed emotions come up and you have to deal with them. I have no way of judging to what extend a person like you will handle that, because I don’t know much about you. I know that on average meditating is great, but it’s not without risks.
The standard advice would be to find a good local meditation teacher but I can’t say anything about the quality of your local teachers.
I don’t think it’s impossible to give good advice via skype in principle but it’s not a skill in which I’m well trained.
I meditate regularly- not quite daily, because when I get into a meditative state, I tend to not want to come out. When I do meditate, I’m still and quiet for at LEAST an hour. If I try to meditate for, say, 30 minutes, I end up setting another timer because I didn’t get deep enough into quiet state. Meditation doesn’t bring up suppressed emotions for me, though.
I do journal, but not gratitude journaling. I haven’t tried that one because it seems more suited to a sad, apathetic person than a person who cares too much about everything and tends to minimize the good and maximize the bad. I like tracking the anxiety, though, and writing down thoughts lets me temporarily remove them from my mental state.
I meditate regularly- not quite daily, because when I get into a meditative state, I tend to not want to come out. When I do meditate, I’m still and quiet for at LEAST an hour. If I try to meditate for, say, 30 minutes, I end up setting another timer because I didn’t get deep enough into quiet state. Meditation doesn’t bring up suppressed emotions for me, though.
To me that description suggest that are not meditating in an effective way. An hour meditating alone is likely too much. You likely aren’t present but are disassociating.
Doing 20 minute sessions where you focus on feeling your breath in your hara while sitting still in a stable position would likely bring up emotions from time to time.
Otherwise meditating with a good teacher beats doing it alone. But of course I don’t know the quality of teachers where you live.
Huh. That actually does sound like what I do. Everything I’ve come across has suggested that’s what you’re supposed to do, though. And it is very relaxing.
I have no idea if any good teachers are around, but if they were, I couldn’t afford lessons. Is there a reason why dissociating is bad? Because it’s really enjoyable and makes me feel energetic and relaxed- even more than a full night of sleep does.
If you don’t process the emotions that are in your body, they build up. In your case from time to time they release themselves in a panic attack.
Detachment from emotions is useful disassociation isn’t.
In detachment an emotion can dissolve on it’s own. You are aware of the emotion but you don’t get meta emotions. You don’t do anything with it. Without a new trigger that usually means that the body can go and work through the emotions.
If there only one emotion in your system and no meta-reactions towards it, then the full processing ability can be used on that one issue. That’s what happens during mindful meditation.
Instead of doing 10 things at once, there’s actually rooms to really process on thing at a time.
I have no idea if any good teachers are around, but if they were, I couldn’t afford lessons.
That doesn’t have to be a case, it’s quite frequent to have meditation events on a donation basis.
It’s awesome that you’re able to help people so well. At the same time, though, I get the feeling that you’re falling into the trap of other-optimizing. In-person support is probably a lot more helpful than internet-based support, I suspect. But when the right people aren’t around you, and you can’t go to them, having instant communication over the internet is a good second-best. Certainly over the internet there’s things you can’t do, like determine a physical state. But if people refused to use any method but the absolute best, we’d spend more time trying to find optimal strategies than anything else, and humanity would die out because we’d be too busy designing soylent to eat.
It’s not like I don’t give out any internet based advice.
In this thread I did make a point to recommend gratitude journaling. It’s good even if you don’t do it in a group. I haven’t heard from anyone messing themselves up with gratitude journaling.
Another recommendation would be meditating. Meditating is more risky. It makes suppressed emotions come up and you have to deal with them. I have no way of judging to what extend a person like you will handle that, because I don’t know much about you. I know that on average meditating is great, but it’s not without risks.
The standard advice would be to find a good local meditation teacher but I can’t say anything about the quality of your local teachers.
I don’t think it’s impossible to give good advice via skype in principle but it’s not a skill in which I’m well trained.
I meditate regularly- not quite daily, because when I get into a meditative state, I tend to not want to come out. When I do meditate, I’m still and quiet for at LEAST an hour. If I try to meditate for, say, 30 minutes, I end up setting another timer because I didn’t get deep enough into quiet state. Meditation doesn’t bring up suppressed emotions for me, though.
I do journal, but not gratitude journaling. I haven’t tried that one because it seems more suited to a sad, apathetic person than a person who cares too much about everything and tends to minimize the good and maximize the bad. I like tracking the anxiety, though, and writing down thoughts lets me temporarily remove them from my mental state.
To me that description suggest that are not meditating in an effective way. An hour meditating alone is likely too much. You likely aren’t present but are disassociating.
Doing 20 minute sessions where you focus on feeling your breath in your hara while sitting still in a stable position would likely bring up emotions from time to time.
Otherwise meditating with a good teacher beats doing it alone. But of course I don’t know the quality of teachers where you live.
Huh. That actually does sound like what I do. Everything I’ve come across has suggested that’s what you’re supposed to do, though. And it is very relaxing.
I have no idea if any good teachers are around, but if they were, I couldn’t afford lessons. Is there a reason why dissociating is bad? Because it’s really enjoyable and makes me feel energetic and relaxed- even more than a full night of sleep does.
If you don’t process the emotions that are in your body, they build up. In your case from time to time they release themselves in a panic attack.
Detachment from emotions is useful disassociation isn’t. In detachment an emotion can dissolve on it’s own. You are aware of the emotion but you don’t get meta emotions. You don’t do anything with it. Without a new trigger that usually means that the body can go and work through the emotions.
If there only one emotion in your system and no meta-reactions towards it, then the full processing ability can be used on that one issue. That’s what happens during mindful meditation.
Instead of doing 10 things at once, there’s actually rooms to really process on thing at a time.
That doesn’t have to be a case, it’s quite frequent to have meditation events on a donation basis.