Survival skills

[[Be...]]

My Tip for today....

I don’t have to worry about making it through an entire day. Hell no, I don’t even have to tackle a whole hour. All I have to do is the thing right in front of you. “Do the thing right in front of you,” I am reminded today. “Nothing else.” Everything I need is in the present moment.

My only Job Is to Stay Alive

 

“All I have to do is stay alive for this moment,” I say to myself over and over again as a kind of mantra.

 

Remember

“As long as we are breathing there is more right with us than wrong with us ,” Jon Kabat-Zinn.

 

[[Be...]]

[[tr...]]

Tip #1: Letting Go of Worry

How much pain they have cost us,

 

the evils which have never happened.

 

Thomas Jefferson

 

Dear Bexlan,

 

  In our previous two healing tips, we spoke about the role of our thinking in contributing to depression or helping us to heal from it. As the poet John Milton said, "The Mind is it's own place and in itself can create a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven."

 

 

  When the mind is overcome by fear, we call this anxiety. It turns out that 80% of people who suffer from depression also suffer from anxiety. If you are one of those 80%, you may notice that you worry a lot. This is not surprising, since a depressed person's pessimism gives him or her a negative view of the future.

 

 

  Psychologists who work with anxious people have another name for the tendency to look towards the future and envision negative outcomes. They call it "fortune telling" or "catastrophizing." We look at what might happen, expect the worst, and are thrown into a state of chronic worry.

 

 

  When I was severely depressed, I constantly worried that I would never get better. I feared I might die in a mental hospital. I feared that I would always be dependent on my parents. I could not turn off the fear button in my head. This fear would inevitably escalate when I suffered an unexpected anxiety attack or was engulfed by a particularly bad depression. Self-statements such as "I can't go on like this" or "I won't live the rest of my life in this pain" further increased my despair and hopelessness and drew me closer to the prospect of the s word.

 

 

  As a way to keep me safe, my counselor and I devised a simple but powerful three-step technique for responding to catastrophic and despairing self-talk. I have rewritten these steps in a prescriptive fashion so that your use them to interrupt the negative thoughts in your mind.

 

 

1. Notice what is happening. Become aware that your mind is dwelling on thoughts of catastrophe and doom. Identify the catastrophic thought--e.g., "I'll never get better."

 

2. Realize that these thoughts are not about the present but about the future. Since the future has yet to occur, it cannot harm you.

 

3. Refocus onto the present moment through positive self-talk and constructive action. For example, you might replace the statement "I'll never get better" with "What self-care strategy (calling a friend, going for a swim, taking an antianxiety medication, etc.) can I choose right now to get me through this period?" Then put the strategy into action.

 

 

    I cannot recall how many times this simple process allowed me to endure a day, an hour, or a minute of intense pain. In giving me a way to manage my catastrophic (and potentially dangerous) thinking, this technique literally saved my life.

 

 

  Another worry-stopping tool comes from self-help author Wayne Dyer. He said that everything we worry about falls into two categories--those things we can change and those we cannot. If you worry about something that you have control over, then act to change it; if not then just accept it. As my friend says, "If you can't change the situation, then change your attitude." This is why the Serenity Prayer states, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

 

 

  Remember the words of Mark Twain: "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened to me." When we live our lives in the present, we can see that much of what we worry about never comes to pass.

This is by Douglas Bloch

 

love this! Even if we already know this - we def need the reminder as benzos like to make us forget any good coping/thought reframing we have

 

[[Be...]]

Tip 3

Why does anxiety make me hyper focused on such minor body sensations and how can I stop this?

 

You'll have to control your anxiety first!

 

Until your anxiety is fully under control, it is going to be difficult to stop disturbing thoughts and body sensations altogether.

 

But in the meantime, consider the following:

 

· Don't Be Afraid: Remember, thoughts are simply thoughts, even the most psychologically healthy people have the occasional strange thought, it is your reaction to them which is the problem.

 

Change your reaction to “no reaction” and try to learn to smile at these thoughts.

 

· Write Them Out: The mind relaxes on trying to remember things when it knows they're in a

 

permanent place, so when you write them out you effectively tell your brain it doesn't need to

 

focus on them as much.

 

· Mental Distractions : Distractions are an incredibly important part of coping with stress.

 

Start immersing yourself in normal activities (e.g. spending time with friends and family, listening to music, exercise, work, etc) to keep your brain as active as possible.

 

 

[[Be...]]

Take each day how it comes......

[[Be...]]

Managing withdrawal symptoms tips.Mostly for ADs

 

https://www.healingamericanow.com/chw-managing-withdrawal-symptoms/#pp-toc-5f79f930e3450-anchor-3

[[Ga...]]

I just wish I could find something that would help me get through my horrible very bad day headaches!  Had four days recently when I awoke to NO HEADACHE, now back to 4 a.m., wake up with headache.  Once in a blue moon, Tylenol will dampen it down a tad.  Neurologist keeps saying that the headaches will go away   Hope today is a very good day for all of you

[[Be...]]

I just wish I could find something that would help me get through my horrible very bad day headaches!  Had four days recently when I awoke to NO HEADACHE, now back to 4 a.m., wake up with headache.  Once in a blue moon, Tylenol will dampen it down a tad.  Neurologist keeps saying that the headaches will go away   Hope today is a very good day for all of you

In that post link there are headache remedies. Click on it and check out.It may be of help.

[[Ga...]]

Thanks so much....will do

[[Ga...]]

My GP is Chinese so very much into meditation, healthy eating, hydration, and walking.  Encourages me to practice all of these every day!!!  I do find that meditation by a running water pond in my yard in the morning starts my day nicely.  Have begun juicing also in the morning, then taking a short walk around the neighborhood.  He also believes that sitting around worrying creates anxiety which, in turn, makes my headache worse!  So, trying to get more serious about helping myself!  Have a weekend that is the best you can make it

[[Ma...]]

haha, you guys put pressure on me. I am just to finish my book with survival skills in wd. Thanks to Covid it is a problem to put it on amazon. So I have enough time to be the worst critic to myself When I was in wd, I swore I would put everything helpful into a book, big as a bible in order to help the people who are still in this hell. Hold on buddies! I was such a hopeless case and life is great now. and of course you do not have to buy my book. this is not an advertise, I just wanted to say, chin up! and keep going, guys.

[[tr...]]

haha, you guys put pressure on me. I am just to finish my book with survival skills in wd. Thanks to Covid it is a problem to put it on amazon. So I have enough time to be the worst critic to myself When I was in wd, I swore I would put everything helpful into a book, big as a bible in order to help the people who are still in this hell. Hold on buddies! I was such a hopeless case and life is great now. and of course you do not have to buy my book. this is not an advertise, I just wanted to say, chin up! and keep going, guys.

 

I def want to read it...  We can all learn from each other!

[[Ma...]]

haha, you guys put pressure on me. I am just to finish my book with survival skills in wd. Thanks to Covid it is a problem to put it on amazon. So I have enough time to be the worst critic to myself When I was in wd, I swore I would put everything helpful into a book, big as a bible in order to help the people who are still in this hell. Hold on buddies! I was such a hopeless case and life is great now. and of course you do not have to buy my book. this is not an advertise, I just wanted to say, chin up! and keep going, guys.

 

I def want to read it...  We can all learn from each other!

 

Totally agree