THE DETOX PERIOD
“When you refrain from habitual thoughts and behaviour, the uncomfortable feelings will still be there. They don’t magically disappear. Over the years, I’ve come to call resting with the discomfort “the detox period,” because when you don’t act on your habitual patterns, it’s like giving up an addiction. You’re left with the feelings you were trying to escape. The practice is to make a wholehearted relationship with that.”Pema Chondro
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
Myths about Mindfulness
Some people worry that if they practice mindfulness in form of acceptance and letting go of their experience that will mean that they are not acting powerfully to change the situation in their life that need changing. You don’t need to worry about that, withdrawing from situations and not taking responsibility. Evidence shows that the opposite is true…
I was in the midst of a personal crisis, or what I believed was a personal crisis, I turned to Daniel for help, and was introduced to MiCBT.
I had never heard of the program, but was willing to undergo the treatment, as I has lost faith in my ability to overcome. The outcome was more than I could have expected. Too often I think we allow our minds to be negative vehicles, and just train ourselves subconsciously to accept negative thoughts and the impact on our bodies. I now know we can fight back. MiCBT taught me how to deal with negative thoughts, in a positive way, without medication. MiCBT is now in practice every day of my life, I owe a lot to its teacher, and its design.
“If your relationship to the present moment is not right – nothing can ever be right in the future – because when the future comes – it’s the present moment.”
What we think, we create.
What we feel, we attract.
What we imagine, we become …
Eckhart Tolle
Are you stressed, depressed or affected by anxiety?
What is mindfulness?
There are many ways to explain what mindfulness is. This simple explanation summarises all. Mindfulness is paying attention….To anything, but especially to those aspects of life that we most take for granted or ignore. We can pay attention to any given moment, how it feels, what is arising in our mind, and how we perceive it. Mindfulness means paying attention to things as they actually are in any given moment, giving up the idea that they should be different then what they are. This way we will be able to stop ruminative thinking that makes us feel heavy and discouraged. Mindfulness is intentional, we are choosing paying attention, which is available to us rather then being lost in thoughts. Mindfulness is experiential. It helps us to stay connected to the present moment rather then getting stuck in doing mode, ruminating about the past or future. Mindfulness is non-judgemental. It allows us to see things how they actually are rather then what we think about them. Instead of limiting our self to experience everything around us by judgement viewing everything by being good/bad or right/wrong, we are opening our heart to wonderful experiences which are available to us. Mindfulness is not just noticing things around us. It is learning to become aware of a particular mode of the mind that gets stuck when misapplied to ourselves and our emotional life. The main point is to disengage from this mode of operating and shifting to an alternative mode of mind that will not get us stuck. Mindfulness teaches us to operate in ‘being’ mode so we can stop struggling with our thoughts, feeling and emotions instead of viewing them as the enemy.
How can mindfulness help?
Very simply, one of the first impacts of practising mindfulness can be the capacity to move out of an aroused, activated, stressed state into calmer, reflective, regulated state. A state where we can have the choice to respond to any situation with an open spacious mind. As we know many of us spend most of our time with the hyperactive nervous system. This is associated with the more active emotions such as anger, rage, fear, irritation and frustration. So when you are challenged by life, people at work, your nervous system responds by a stimulation of the sympathetic branch – preparing the action to help with survival, this is commonly call fight/flight response. Excessive ongoing experience of the hyperactive nervous system, which is not regulated and modulated, is experienced as stress and distress. This common situation is painful and can lead to other problems if you can’t find healthy adaptive ways to calm down and regulate your responses. Mindfulness helps us to regulate our response by simply cultivating our innate capacity to pay attention, on purpose in the present moment and non-judgmentally. Research indicates that practicing these skills is effective for a range of human difficulties including stress, anxiety, depression, chronic pain and illness as well as dealing with major life changes. It also works powerfully to enhance health, wellbeing, performance and sense of connectedness.
Through mindfulness training you develop skills to:
- Consciously act and respond with awareness and clarity rather than react out of habitual pattern
- Bring greater concentration and focus to all your daily activities, becoming more efficient
- Monitor levels of stress and distress, and take effective steps to address them, having more psychological flexibility in difficult situations
- Knowing what actions to take, strengthening your energy, physical, emotional and mental health
What is this course really about?
This course is about giving you choice not to react out of habitual patterns by connecting with what is important in your life, instead of running on autopilot driven by feelings and thoughts. This course is about bringing awareness so we can cultivate our innate emotional intelligence and the skills and the wisdom to respond with choice to all moments of our lives as they unfold.
If you’re like most people, as soon as you awaken, the mind is already busy compiling to-do lists and thinking about how you’ll accomplish everything. When you’re at work, you may find yourself thinking about your next task rather than what’s before you, or just wishing the workday was over. A feeling of being rushed or overwhelmed may follow you into your household tasks, relationships, and even recreation, so that no matter what you’re doing, part of your mind is thinking about other things you need to do or rehashing what has occurred. Mindfulness is a skill that helps you to be mindful from the moment you wake up to the moment you lay your head on the pillow at the end of your day. By choosing to become mindful throughout the day, you can bring greater focus and appreciation to whatever situation you find yourself in. You’ll also feel more calm and at peace. As you continue to grow in mindfulness, you’ll see the potential for informal practice in any situation. If you need some more help getting started, please email me on info@migrate.wellnesswithdaniel.com.au
Call the clinic on 9894 0014 for bookings or make an appointment online for mindfulness therapy on my website