LittleMissMuffet
Well-known member
Hi,
I have mentioned the following resource: www.mindfulrecovery.com
before. And I think I have also mentioned that the creator of mindfulrecovery.com, Cesar Bujosa, also offers a contact through email to him.
And all of this is given free of charge.
I have been following the program -one which appeals to me largely because of its Mindfulness-based therapy, but also there is given help with CBT-type of treatment -Cesar also gives thoughts, beliefs or attitudes to watch for and what thoughts, beliefs or attitudes are better substitutes.
Well, I wrote an email to him recently, and again he replied (it is my third email to him). For the benefit of anyone else, I have duplicated his reply email to me here.... (Cesar's reponses are in bold and italics and parts of my email that he highlighted to comment on I have underlined here)
-----Original Message-----
From: (email address of LittleMissMuffet)
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 15 May 2007 6:02 AM
Subject: Re: Hello again
Hi Caesar,
I've written to you a few times before. I also showed your website to my councelor and she had nothing but good things to say about it.
Very recently I have come to a real decision to let go of my thinking and trying to understand the psychology (of anxiety) and such things -I sensed strongly that this interest had too much a flavour of anxiousness it self. And last night I again read one saying included in your Treatment section at www.mindfulrecovery.com, which was:- "I don't know and that is what I know" and also was mentioned that the need to know is part of the anxiety. (certainly the driven way that I go about exploring such things has an anxious aspect to it.) ...I may have mentioned this "giving-up the need to know" before, it is only that I am much firmer in my decision to suspend my thinking and pondering until such a time as I have given my self and my mind a good rest.
This is the way. You sound like you are practicing.
This brings me to my next insight: I believe that my anxiety problem is likely to be linked with my overall tendency to become highly absorbed in some thing. I have tended to develop big interests which are like fads (a friend even dubbed me 'the phase queen'). Also, I have the unfortunate habit of making normal problems become major crises that interfere significantly with my quality of life (eg: at first I was agonising over my final grades in school, then in my early twenties I went through a crisis regarding sexual identity and now I have a social anxiety disorder.) And, I have had the benefit of observing my mother's own habits of brooding and -I think the proper word is- 'ruminating' over problems.
Ifyour mother was anxious, you would have endured early exposure. Such exposure naturally form schemas that are meant to be adaptive.
Interestingly, however, when I was a teenager I have actually used this same technique of focussing my concentration onto some thing other than what I was anxious about -'swapping obsessions' if you like- to bring my anxiety down to size. ...And yet, this 'technique' -one that is really swapping one obsession with another- actually seems a good description of Mindfulness -with its 'single pointed concentration' on the breath, which works to bring perspective to a person's thoughts. Although there is a difference that I don't yet comprehend; and the Buddhist notion of focussing on 'no thing' seems the antidote to my endless search for 'some thing'...
Yes, it is a better "obsession" that will ironically interrupt itself.
So, I have decided that I will use both my old method of focussing my attention on something of interest other than my problem (and this includes and thoughts about fixing or understanding it) -this way the strong imagination that I've always had will be channelled into something with more positive after effects; and also I will keep practising the technique of Mindfulness it self and your program's helpful application of it (I have no other help with Mindfulness as my psychiatrist won't help me with it and only had known of CBT).
Yes mindfuness may remain your own path of healing. Mindfulness is sometimes " a secret you would prefer to not keep." --- It is difficult for some to understand--it can also be threatening to some. I hopeyou find the right group of practitioners for support.
My councelor didn't seem convinced that my anxieties and my strong abilities at concentration and obsessive interests, were linked. However, I think I am correct about this. Also, I did come across the following description of anxiety:- "Anxiety is misdirected attention".
The definition is servicable.
Well, I hope that I have not taken too much of your time. Again, I thank you for www.mindfulrecovery.com -it has been giving me much needed encouragement and guidance; because there are times when I simply become frustrated and despair at my seemingly unending difficulties. It is great that there is someone who has the wisdom and knowledge and also the experience and understanding to serve as a guide.
Thanks again,
Elisa
P.S. I have tried the section where I focus on re-experiencing feared situations and I find that some times I get too deeply into the experience, finding it hard to switch to the next step of letting go of unpleasant emotions by being mindful of breathing; and other times I have found that my mind simply did not wish to re-live negative experiences and so my imagining was not very effective.
Elisa: It seems to me that you are on course. This is the path of well-being. Continue to use the exposures that are in my program. Adopt them to your practice. They will lead you in recovery and to the next phases. Practicing is the end. With mindfulness meditation or zazen we can loosen all schemas and liberate ourselves significantly. Regards Cesar
I have mentioned the following resource: www.mindfulrecovery.com
before. And I think I have also mentioned that the creator of mindfulrecovery.com, Cesar Bujosa, also offers a contact through email to him.
And all of this is given free of charge.
I have been following the program -one which appeals to me largely because of its Mindfulness-based therapy, but also there is given help with CBT-type of treatment -Cesar also gives thoughts, beliefs or attitudes to watch for and what thoughts, beliefs or attitudes are better substitutes.
Well, I wrote an email to him recently, and again he replied (it is my third email to him). For the benefit of anyone else, I have duplicated his reply email to me here.... (Cesar's reponses are in bold and italics and parts of my email that he highlighted to comment on I have underlined here)
-----Original Message-----
From: (email address of LittleMissMuffet)
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 15 May 2007 6:02 AM
Subject: Re: Hello again
Hi Caesar,
I've written to you a few times before. I also showed your website to my councelor and she had nothing but good things to say about it.
Very recently I have come to a real decision to let go of my thinking and trying to understand the psychology (of anxiety) and such things -I sensed strongly that this interest had too much a flavour of anxiousness it self. And last night I again read one saying included in your Treatment section at www.mindfulrecovery.com, which was:- "I don't know and that is what I know" and also was mentioned that the need to know is part of the anxiety. (certainly the driven way that I go about exploring such things has an anxious aspect to it.) ...I may have mentioned this "giving-up the need to know" before, it is only that I am much firmer in my decision to suspend my thinking and pondering until such a time as I have given my self and my mind a good rest.
This is the way. You sound like you are practicing.
This brings me to my next insight: I believe that my anxiety problem is likely to be linked with my overall tendency to become highly absorbed in some thing. I have tended to develop big interests which are like fads (a friend even dubbed me 'the phase queen'). Also, I have the unfortunate habit of making normal problems become major crises that interfere significantly with my quality of life (eg: at first I was agonising over my final grades in school, then in my early twenties I went through a crisis regarding sexual identity and now I have a social anxiety disorder.) And, I have had the benefit of observing my mother's own habits of brooding and -I think the proper word is- 'ruminating' over problems.
Ifyour mother was anxious, you would have endured early exposure. Such exposure naturally form schemas that are meant to be adaptive.
Interestingly, however, when I was a teenager I have actually used this same technique of focussing my concentration onto some thing other than what I was anxious about -'swapping obsessions' if you like- to bring my anxiety down to size. ...And yet, this 'technique' -one that is really swapping one obsession with another- actually seems a good description of Mindfulness -with its 'single pointed concentration' on the breath, which works to bring perspective to a person's thoughts. Although there is a difference that I don't yet comprehend; and the Buddhist notion of focussing on 'no thing' seems the antidote to my endless search for 'some thing'...
Yes, it is a better "obsession" that will ironically interrupt itself.
So, I have decided that I will use both my old method of focussing my attention on something of interest other than my problem (and this includes and thoughts about fixing or understanding it) -this way the strong imagination that I've always had will be channelled into something with more positive after effects; and also I will keep practising the technique of Mindfulness it self and your program's helpful application of it (I have no other help with Mindfulness as my psychiatrist won't help me with it and only had known of CBT).
Yes mindfuness may remain your own path of healing. Mindfulness is sometimes " a secret you would prefer to not keep." --- It is difficult for some to understand--it can also be threatening to some. I hopeyou find the right group of practitioners for support.
My councelor didn't seem convinced that my anxieties and my strong abilities at concentration and obsessive interests, were linked. However, I think I am correct about this. Also, I did come across the following description of anxiety:- "Anxiety is misdirected attention".
The definition is servicable.
Well, I hope that I have not taken too much of your time. Again, I thank you for www.mindfulrecovery.com -it has been giving me much needed encouragement and guidance; because there are times when I simply become frustrated and despair at my seemingly unending difficulties. It is great that there is someone who has the wisdom and knowledge and also the experience and understanding to serve as a guide.
Thanks again,
Elisa
P.S. I have tried the section where I focus on re-experiencing feared situations and I find that some times I get too deeply into the experience, finding it hard to switch to the next step of letting go of unpleasant emotions by being mindful of breathing; and other times I have found that my mind simply did not wish to re-live negative experiences and so my imagining was not very effective.
Elisa: It seems to me that you are on course. This is the path of well-being. Continue to use the exposures that are in my program. Adopt them to your practice. They will lead you in recovery and to the next phases. Practicing is the end. With mindfulness meditation or zazen we can loosen all schemas and liberate ourselves significantly. Regards Cesar