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Reddit mentions of Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
Sentiment score: 16
Reddit mentions: 27
We found 27 Reddit mentions of Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World. Here are the top ones.
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- Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
Features:
Specs:
| Color | White |
| Height | 8.4 Inches |
| Length | 5.47 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | November 2012 |
| Weight | 0.7495716908 Pounds |
| Width | 0.75 Inches |
/u/eirelav09 /u/brigadierNasty
I struggle with this too. Most of us here have been diagnosed with ADHD and attention disorders, including myself. Finding the ability to focus often involves a lot of self discipline. I personally believe that our phones and shit contribute to our weak attention spans. Just do like 10 pages today, 11 tomorrow, 12 the next day, etc.
Do it for yourself. Your future self will be grateful. Here are some good books to help you on your journey to better health:
https://www.amazon.com/Hardwiring-Happiness-Science-Contentment-Confidence/dp/0385347332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538822946&sr=8-1&keywords=hardwiring+happiness%2C+rick+hanson
https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1538822965&sr=8-3&keywords=mindfulness
https://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Mindfulness-Practical-Tessa-Watt/dp/1848312555/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538823015&sr=8-1&keywords=mindfulness+a+practical+guide+tessa+watt
think positive.
Mindfulness. It can be practiced without meditation but meditation is how a lot of people explicitly practice it. It can feel like the meditation isn't working but you have to stick with it. Meditating and noticing how your mind wanders then recentering is practicing mindfulness. When you start your mind will wander A LOT but it'll get better over time.
A book like this could be helpful: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955
I hate drugs and therapy too. It sounds schlocky, but mindfulness based meditation is really helpful. This book is my favorite because it's based on slowly building up over eight weeks and comes with guided tracks that focus on relaxing your body and refocusing your mind. You can just stick to doing the little five minute ones once a day or you can progress through the longer ones.
It really does help because it forces to you redirect your attention and correct your breathing. There's also stuff that teaches you how to deconstruct anxious thoughts and accept that it's all stuff you literally can't do anything about. It's definitely worth a try if you're at the end of your rope.
I practice mindfulness everyday. I started with this guide:
http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955
I believe it's fundamentally transformed who I am and how I live.
I highly recommend a book called "Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World." It was a great starting place for me if you're considering taking the plunge (and I think you should!)
https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540520886&sr=1-4&keywords=mindfulness
It may be worth it to check out Mindfulness. It's a westernized form of meditation that focuses on being a third party to your thoughts and realizing that your reactions to your thoughts are more destructive than the thoughts themselves. I've personally found it to be incredibly helpful in dealing with anxiety and stress in my own life and it's pretty straightforward too. The book I used is this one here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1609618955/ however there are tons of different approaches to it.
It's a good system because it teaches how to deal with negative thought spiraling and gives many strategies for giving yourself breathing space to collect yourself and re-center on the present moment. A lot of stress and anxiety come from worrying which gets triggered by overthinking things. Mindfulness has helped me notice when I'm overthinking and stop it in its tracks to get back to the present moment and what I can actually do about a situation.
May not be for everyone, but it works for me :)
Learn how to use mindfulness techniques. I personally found a CBT (cognitive behavioral therapist) who specializes in anxiety and uses mindfulness, yoga, and meditation in her practice. It works so well.
introduction to mindfulness meditation if you are unfamiliar.
A book I enjoy
Reddit communities:
r/mindfulness and r/meditation
THIS IS AWESOME !
I agree with every word, too…….the healing DOES continue. In my case I had a minor emotional set-back around a month ago when I lost a close family member unexpectedly……I started to delve right back into depression.
It was then that I decided I had to do something. because while I might be 'kratom-free'-----I was still a slave to bad emotional habits. And if I keep on stuffing shit down? I knew I'd end up using again……
So lo and behold…….all this forum talk of MEDITATION finally grabbed hold of me…….I decided to give it a real girl scout try. I tried during the week of my acute symptoms and had failed miserably (I couldn't sit still back then and had to constantly pace).
I said fuck it, what can I lose? I googled 'mindfulness meditation for beginners' and then after reading for around an hour or so (I am still obsessive as hell) I ordered this book on Amazon (it was $10 and I figured it had to be worth at least that) :
http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1448978170&sr=8-2&keywords=8+weeks+meditation
I have been faithfully meditating once per day for two weeks……and this is going to sound bat shit crazy…….but I feel like an entirely new human !
CONGRATS WORDY…….( and also I want a signed copy of your first book, too, BTW ;-)
You sound like me. Here are some helpful resources I've found on reddit and elsewhere. Obviously, this is just my personal list so please ignore anything you don't think will help you.
Self-improvement subs: like most subs, there is a lot of junk but sorting by best all time/year/month leads to some good articles and posts.
Self improvement books
Fitness Subs
Fitness App (free)
Sites You Might Find Helpful
Hi there /u/kungpowchick_9! Super happy that your husband is in remission! You're awesome for supporting him and continuing to do so!! Seeing a therapist helps, especially one that's had experience with cancer patients. I had a great therapist, but she retired.
Post chemo, for a good year or so, I was taking (daily) 2Mg of Xanax, 20 Mg of Lexapro and for insomnia 20Mg of Ambien. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma and the 12 cycles of ABVD chemotherapy that cured me also did a number on my body.
Although these meds made my anxiety go away, I was numb to the world. I was going through the motions of life but I wasn't ever really there. My memories of the year or so post chemo, in my minds eye, is very hazy... it's a lot like looking through a window smeared with vaseline.
At a very low point in my life I decided to wean off the meds and get some control over myself. I can't say that I wasn't terrified of that feeling of dread that would take over my body without warning.
In addition to the stabbing pain I'd feel in my chest, my body always felt "noise". Picture a television set on channel three... that's the closest I can get to describing it.
I had issues getting back into the swing of things at work, and life in general... the routine of chemo, office visits, scans, were comforting to me. After I was done I found it difficult to acclimate, the new normal wasn't what I was expecting it to be.
My job at that time consisted of going to people's homes and repairing computers. As I was waiting on a program to install, on a particularly rough day, I saw a book on my client's desk called, ["Mindfulness" An Eight-Week Plan for finding peace in a Frantic World."] (https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1523081157&sr=8-3&keywords=mindfulness)
I asked my client about it when he came in to check on the progress of his machine and we had an hour long conversation on how the book helped him, what mindfulness was. He pointed me to some videos on YouTube that described the science behind it and I was intrigued. I completed the service call and went on my way. When I looked in my bag at the end of the day, he had placed the book in there without my knowledge, along with a note saying that he knew it would help me and that he hoped that I found the peace that I was looking for. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I find it easy to discuss what I went through. So, I felt obligated to try it and I'm glad I did, as cliche as it sounds, it changed my life. I currently meditate twice a day, 10 minutes in the morning, 10 at night before bed. The book has instructions on how to download some audio tracks that you can use to follow along with the exercises in the book. If they aren't available please PM me and I can get it them to you. I have the ebook as well. I don't listen to the tracks anymore, well, from time to time I may... meditating is second nature now. Like /u/unicorn-81 I listen to Pema Chodron guided meditations every once in a while. Mindfulness taught me live in the moment. It feels as if life has slowed down for me and not a lot of things bother me like they used to. Most importantly I don't feel that heavy burden anymore. When I do get overwhelmed, taking a walk helps, before I was diagnosed we adopted a Labrador named Charlie and he was with me (and continues to be) for the entire experience.
I also came across a breathing technique (which is ultimately what meditation is fundamentally about) called the [4 - 7 - 8] (https://youtu.be/_-C_VNM1Vd0) it helps reset your nervous system, [here's] (https://blog.spire.io/2017/08/09/use-4-7-8-breathing-technique-reduce-stress/) a great blog post that describes it. The more you do it, the more it helps. I do it from time to time to get a grip on things if I'm feeling wonky.
The false positive happened to me as well. I can't say anything really helped me climb back up. Time did that. After going through what we did those scans are very stressful, you run the gamut of joy and despair as you wait on those results. Having to go through all of the treatment again isn't something any of us want.
Although, I did save a ton of money on shampoo... =)
I really hope these suggestions help you guys!!
Something I haven't seen mentioned is to have him to come and take a look at this sub, /u/unicorn-81 created something very special here. I've been visiting for quite some time, lurking here and there, just recently decided to contribute to the conversation. The community here has reminded me that although I may feel alone sometimes, I'm really not. Good luck!!
Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
I'm only partway through it but good so far. I checked it out because it came highly recommended from another thread like this one. Very practical and hands-on, written for Westerners. It's big on the callouts with lots of different meditations.
Many, many things actually. I like the following books. They contain tons of helpful information and techniques without fluff:
edit:typo
I believe myself to be more optimistic than OP, but I'm still going to read that book you listed. I'm sure it has some solid info in there worth reading.
To OP. A lot of your "shortcomings" are only shortcomings because you're making them just that. As I'm reading here I'm just thinking. Whats so bad about that?... Stop being so mopey and make an effort to improve your life. I cant I cant I cant.. You need some good mental advancement to get your head right. Personally, I'm not big on meditation, but I've heard it does wonders. Maybe you can give this a try Amazon.com - Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
I read a book on mindfullness a while back that had 8 week program with meditations. I made it about halfway through. It helped calm my mind in the moment but didn't seem to have any long term benefits for me. I want to try it again because I still got a lot out of it and it was a great read.
Exercise never seemed to help much if at all and I can't see how nutrition would do much of anything.
Whatever I got going on in my head, I feel like my brain is hard wired incorrectly. I talked to my aunt in Colorado last month who is a social worker and does family counseling and other stuff. She knows a lot of our family history and informed me that my mothers side of the family has a history of mental illness. Several of my cousins deal with anxiety, panic attacks and/or depression. I knew of a few cousins that were dealing with something but I was not aware of the extent of not only them but others in my family.
I do have occasional problems with depression, but I think it's a side affect of anxiety and how it's affected my progress with my work and social life. I doubt medicine alone will be enough. I haven't taken any but I'm pretty sure I'll need to talk to someone at some point.
I sped through this really fast. Sorry if my thoughts jumped around a bit.
I just started with guided meditations on youtube.
This one is quite good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vx8iUvfyCY
books are not required in my opinion, meditation is very easy to learn, the hard part is constantly doing it (like exercise)
But if you want a book, this one is good:
https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510155649&sr=8-1&keywords=Mark+Williams+Danny+Penman
Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman is an excellent book with a scientific foundation. Both authors are accomplished psychologists that have used Mindfulness-Base Cognitive Therapy with success.
They specifically approach it with a scientific eye and reference studies throughout the book to back up the theory.
It's really a great book and sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for. As someone who also dislikes the "hippy dippy" stuff, I highly recommend it.
Amazon
I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1609618955/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1450641587&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=mindfulness&dpPl=1&dpID=41V9Ds-LbpL&ref=plSrch
I suffer from anxiety and depression and it's helped me so much. I recommend listening to the audiobook - which can be done in a day - and starting the program the next day. All of the guided meditations are included and are great. The book and meditation are narrated by the author, who's an expert in the field and professor at Oxford. No BS, it's awesome.
The idea is basically to notice the cycles of drifting thought. E.g., you brush your teeth. As you brush, your teeth, your mind automatically goes to the fight you had with your SO, or your neighbor's barking dog. You get angry, you get tense. You go out with the same anger, get angry at the barista who is slightly late at delivering you coffee. They look at you and just see a weirdo being overly aggressive.
Now, the final goal of meditation is to basically interrupt the cycle of drifting thought at the start. However, that is hard. Like asking a newbie to deadlift 4 plates, hard. So, in a counter-intuitive way, you start by learning how to focus.
There are multiple ways to do this:
One is to focus very closely as a cycle of thought begins, as it progresses. The very fact of focusing carefully on it, seeing how it automatically evolves and spirals into streams of irrationality, helps you realize that it doesn't define you, it is not you.
Another approach is mindfulness. That is things like breathing in and out, brushing your teeth, whatever. You simply do a task, continue to do it, focusing on it very carefully. Not giving yourself shit if you do get interrupted by thoughts drifting off. Notice that that has happened. Go back to the task.
I recommend this book for more.
If you are really anti-medication, then look into cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Both are counseling techniques that are clinically proven to be effective against depression. Regular exercise (ideally at least 30 minutes most days of the week) is also clinically proven to be effective for depression. You might find that to be enough and you may decide that you don't want medication. If not, you'll still have medications as an option.
There are various physical problems that can manifest as depression. You may want to talk to your doctor about those just to rule those out.
Here are a couple good books that explain the counseling techniques listed above.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0380810336?pc_redir=1411719113&robot_redir=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1609618955/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1411750842&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40
If one of those techniques appeals to you more than the other, be sure to ask the therapist you choose if that's part of their practice.
Keep in mind what you want when looking for a practitioner. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who have taken some counseling classes. They are going to strongly prefer medication. Psychologists are completely different. They have a doctorate in psychology and are very good at talk therapy. They can't write prescriptions but can refer you for that if needed. Some work in a practice with a psychiatrist so this referral may be pretty simple. Social workers may not have as much formal education as a psychologist when it comes to talk therapy, but they tend to be cheaper and they also tend to have a lot of good practical experience. They're the best choice if you want practical advice from someone who has probably seen just about everything.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Here are two books that you can use to teach yourself on these therapies:
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955
Designed as a jump in and try course which adds theory as you go. Certainly pragmatic, designed with sceptical westerner in mind.
My 2 year old daughter was just diagnosed with cancer this past july.
I have been an open atheist for more then a decade, however, people still try to push their religious paradigms on me and my wife.
The one that really gets me is "You are probably asking 'Why us?'"
No, we are not. These things happen, and without a magical thinking world view of causation, we do not, and have never, question "why us."
The religious minded seem to think atheists should crumble under the pressure of grief and loss with out a god to "help make them strong."
This world view is built on the Christian ideal that humans are weak and powerless, and our only means to strength is through the worship of god.
Strength only comes from within. Christianity tricks people into locking their strength away, and taking only small portions at a time, and believing that it was god who granted them that strength.
Look into your self, see how strong you really are and come through this a better person then you were before.
Give yourself the space to grieve in your own way, but dont ever let anyone tell you what you feel, why you feel it, or what you should be feeling.
Meditate, allow yourself to gain a perspective separate from your thoughts [mindfullness] (http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955)
I sincerely wish you the best of luck, love, and comfort to help you endure this tragedy. No one will ever know your pain, but some of us can understand it.
I really relate to that 'lost at sea' feeling (and I also think sports is 'rubbish,' generally). I think a great work-around to this is finding structured but doable meditation 'plans' that guide you through the process in a way that will bring benefits.
Many people seem to be doing this with success through the HeadSpace App, but if you want an offline guide, maybe you can try 'Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World.'
Eight weeks may sound like a while, but the amount of time each day isn't much and the payoffs start quickly when you stick to it. Eight weeks seems to be the rule of thumb for neuroscientists who are looking for the hard evidence of changes in the grey matter, but subjectively, people report benefits earlier. In other words, you can surely get something after eight weeks but will probably get there earlier, if you follow one of these guided plans.
Some people don't like plans, but a structure like that can really help alleviate the 'lost at sea' feeling and it helps put us in touch with the details little by little so we can remember it each lesson, instead of reading on our own and forgetting to re-read later on.
Hey man I know I'm replying late, didn't forget about you!
Overthinking isn't abnormal; most of us do it.
But it can be damaging and it should be tamed if possible.
I'd advise you practice mindfulness meditation. I think it would help you. It changed my life over the past few years and I wish I knew about it earlier.
This book is the perfect starting point: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Eight-Week-Finding-Peace-Frantic/dp/1609618955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492290462&sr=8-1&keywords=mark+williams+mindfulness
Definitely do your best to visualize how excited not only you, but the people who you are going to be attending the events with will be to see you. Anxiety is very close to excitement and sometimes it's easier to flick a switch to excitement than it is to quash the anxiety. I personally keep 2 CDs in my cars stereo, one with a bunch of super mellow tracks that my mind fixates on to keep my chill, and one with some really amp it up blood pumping fuck the world I can do anything music, for when I start flipping over to panic and need to channel some bravery and excitement.
On the other side of things, work on your coping skills, meditation, deep breathing exercises. I particularly like the Rodale book on Mindfulness Meditation.
It was actually incredibly helpful for me with coping with my anxiety, possibly even more helpful than my therapist had been, it gave me the tools to make my therapy worthwhile.
If it helps at all, 4 years ago I couldn't leave my street. This past year I had a wedding that I was CONVINCED for a long time I would not make. It was in an incredibly high traffic area, over a draw bridge (in a shore town on the beach) in the middle of the summer. I told everyone to prepare for the possibility of me not making it, but I did. You can do this.
If you have a problem, just remember, it's not because you don't want it enough or you don't love the people enough, it's because you're going through something, you're sick, and you will get better. It's really important to remember that it's not because of a lack of will, or a lack of desire, sometimes things are just hard to get over and the time frame number crunch isn't in our favor. But you can and will do this.
This is the book: Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World https://www.amazon.com/dp/1609618955/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_lr3nDb8JVZ1KD
So far so good, I don’t remember where I got the recommendation but it is well written, practical, and easy to implement
> Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anything I can do every day that helps the stress.
Meditation can be helpful. Even just sitting still, "mindfully", for 5 minutes can be surprisingly relaxing. Sounds hippie-ish, but I found it rewarding.