Mindful….or mind full??? Posted on July 8, 2013 by Healing From Complex Trauma & PTSD/CPTSD Mindfulness, is something I know is a vital part of recovery from trauma and PTSD. I used to be a Buddhist, for about 5 years in my late 20’s. Not to a very serious level – I didn’t shave my head and wear the orange robes…. But, I did become vegetarian and meditate etc. One of the most useful things I learned about apart from compassion, was mindfulness. I quit Buddhism, because I didn’t believe in the more advanced beliefs, and it didn’t make sense to me and being someone who does not just go along with anything that doesn’t make sense, I stopped, realised whilst it was all very lovely, as a ‘religion’, it didn’t make sense. Now I know why, because now I am a Christian, which I do ‘get’, completely. But, I also see God used this period of my life, to gain skills that would help later on. God always uses bad, for good, for His purposes. Mindfulness, is an important skill needed, in every day life. The ability to concentrate, focus on what’s needed, all things that every persons life requires, in order to balance life’s stresses and constant busyness. Life is very demanding, especially for those balancing family, relationships, work, financial stress and all the demands of modern day life. When you have PTSD on top of all that, life is beyond hard to manage. PTSD management is all about reducing stress, having constant self awareness and constant management of symptoms. PTSD forces you to have to focus on yourself, forces you to be constantly self aware, because if you’re not, the symptoms can become overwhelming, which sadly, becomes fatal in many PTSD sufferers. It is very easy when you have a severe trauma history and PTSD, to allow your mind to wander and focus on the trauma – 24/7. I can’t help the nightmares at all – I am not able to control those. I can’t avoid all triggers to flashbacks and intrusive memories, but I can learn to reduce/manage these thoughts while I am awake, with mindfulness. It’s really bloody hard, takes considerable persistent and effort – but it does help considerably. I try mindfulness as much as I possibly can every day, to varying levels of success. But I am a strong, determined woman who takes on any challenge that is required of me. I have also taken the advice of finding creative outlets and ways to focus, as I am home a lot and no longer work. This being lovely things I can be ‘mindful’ of. So, instead of immersing myself in my community support page for hours a day – which yes is helping people (my passion) but leads to me focussing far too much on trauma – I decided to take up my creative interests of scrapbooking, craft and desire to start sewing again. This coinciding with my mood lifting and energy levels increasing, praise God. This mindfulness and ability I have to focus, has enabled me over the last month in particular, to move away from trauma and instead focus my mind on nice, lovely, creative interests, which is also good for the PTSD brain. Being constantly aware of being mindful of what I am doing throughout the day, having positive, creative focuses, ensure my mind is not ‘mind full’ of all the negative, painful memories. This has made a huge difference for me recently, and is something I strongly encourage every person to consider, persist in, as like all PTSD management strategies – its takes practise, determination and a strong desire to do what’s needed, to heal. Mindfulness, is for every person, and especially for those with PTSD to manage. It works. healingfromcomplextraumaandptsd.wordpress/2013/07/08/mindful-or-mind-full-2/#more-497
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 11:08:52 +0000
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