Many of my friends and associates are not only long time practitioners of mindfulness, but are now involved in teaching mindfulness for a living in religious and therapeutic settings.
For myself I've gone in the other direction, exploring therapeutic applications of distraction. Not paying attention to the here and now and not paying attention to my emotions. Instead, choosing some external task (for me it's usually writing) that is working towards some goal and getting on with it in a deliberate attempt to take myself out of myself, to get out of the present moment because it's often unbearable, and to keep the future very much in mind (deadlines, word counts, etc).
There's often no mileage for me in the present, or in how I feel right now. I've tried it and it inevitably turns into rumination which magnifies any difficulties. Distraction is a better bet.
Its a niche field. I think I'll call it: Constructive Distractedness™.
If mindfulness just makes you mental, ask me about Constructive Distractedness™.
For myself I've gone in the other direction, exploring therapeutic applications of distraction. Not paying attention to the here and now and not paying attention to my emotions. Instead, choosing some external task (for me it's usually writing) that is working towards some goal and getting on with it in a deliberate attempt to take myself out of myself, to get out of the present moment because it's often unbearable, and to keep the future very much in mind (deadlines, word counts, etc).
There's often no mileage for me in the present, or in how I feel right now. I've tried it and it inevitably turns into rumination which magnifies any difficulties. Distraction is a better bet.
Its a niche field. I think I'll call it: Constructive Distractedness™.
If mindfulness just makes you mental, ask me about Constructive Distractedness™.
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