Staying in the moment

[Blueberry]

I stayed in the moment a few hours ago! Some pain came up, triggered a bit by my posting on hugs. I stayed with the sadness, the pain and it passed very quickly. I had no impulse to resort to any of my unhealthy coping mechanisms.

This is the first time that I've consciously stayed in the moment outside therapy since I've consciously known about staying in the moment. I may well have done it in the past anyway, but when I consciously do some healthy coping skill, then it's much easier for me to resort to it later and begin to implement it more often.

[Hope66]

This is great Blueberry.    

[woodsgnome]

Blueberry: "This is the first time that I've consciously stayed in the moment outside therapy..."

From those reading: Congratulations!   

                                             

[rbswan]

That is so awesome Blueberry!  This is something I'm working on as well and having a hard time with.  It's inspiring to hear that you have noticed the grief, felt it without disassociation and processed it.  Thank you for sharing.   

[Dee]

That's wonderful.  It is something I struggle with and I understand just how big that was!!!

[Three Roses]

 

[Blueberry]

Thank you everybody. I had another episode of staying in the moment today too, of feeling pain and sadness. And I thought that I certainly wouldn't be able to go and hear a talk I planned to hear this evening. But after a nap I really needed because of not sleeping well last night and after a stint of work, I was able to go to the talk.

At the end of this week I'm doing a four day stint of intensive group therapy. Last time I was in my normal one-one-one therapy I mentioned just having to hold out till the 4 days session, but my T was working on getting me to see that that's not the case, that I can start processing before the 4 days session, so that's what's happening now. This time the sadness and pain haven't actually disappeared the way they did at the top of the thread, but I'm feeling the pain/sadness and not dissociating or self-harming or resorting to addictions etc. So that's all good. I know that the better state I'm in when I go to my 4 days session, the faster I'll be able to profit from the time there.

[AphoticAtramentous]

Thanks for sharing this, Blueberry. ^^ It's nice to hear of your progress.
You also reminded me that I too need to work on 'staying in the moment', and gave me some inspiration to do just that yesterday when I was feeling a bit down. So thank you.

[I like vanilla]

Wow Blueberry! That is fantastic! It sounds like you are starting to get the hang of staying in the moment. Congratulations! It takes a lot of courage to stay and be with painful feelings. Wonderful work! 

[Sceal]

  That is really great progress! And its such a hard thing to accomplish. Well done!

[Blueberry]

Sceal and I like vanilla,

Your posts suggest to me that I give myself a break for not staying in the moment too much this week. I'm totally surprised for some reason "It's not easy to stay in the moment?? You mean i'm not the only one? Oh, OK, that explains why I didn't do much of it this past week.."

[Sceal]

Dear Blueberry,

I think it's a brave thing to do. To stay in the moment! I rarely am able too. I try, but I tend to either dissociate if it's scary or I brush it off and avoid it all. I'm an expert in avoiding. You're inspiring me to try to stay more in the moment. 

[EliseB]

I agree, it's very difficult to stay in the moment and to stay with the feelings. So congratulations on your progress! For me the hardest feeling to stay with is usually sadness, because it reminds me of an episode of clinical depression I had many years ago. With my therapist I learned that just feeling my sadness and grief does not have to turn into a downward depressive spiral. Once I get over that fear, and let myself stay with the waves of sadness, I find that although it seems  like it might be crippling,  it actually passes pretty quickly. It's still not easy though, and the fear is very real inside of me.

I think it takes a lot of courage to do these things, but on the other hand it's encouraging to know that if we let ourselves feel the grief, then we can eventually move past it.  I know this seems true because I usually feel lighter afterwards.
Keep up the good work!!