MemberWing

What do you do to get your mind back in order when finding yourself in the middle of super strong escalating stress, debilitating depression, violent uncontrollable anxiety or disastrous circumstances with seemingly no way out?

I am looking for interesting and reasonably quick "fire extinguishing" self help techniques vs. "take vitamins"-type of ones that usually doesn't help under strong pressure of life situations.

Gleb

DynamicMentalFitness

The state of mind you have described is something that is most likely not a one-time phenomenon - quite likely habitual, and arises ANYTIME the bearer perceives a similarly 'threatening' life situation.

The only REAL solution is a drastic (though not instant) alteration in the way one not only thinks in reaction to the perceived events, but in the way one thinks, period.

That takes training, and practice.

However, there is a technique in my Neuro-Sculpting!©
program (currently a ridiculously affordable WSO) that one can practice with a minimum amount of knowledge that can, momentarily, distance one's attention from being totally immersed in a thought-based reaction. That 'distancing' is not cold or aloof or even unconcerned, but is instead a simple redirection of mental focus, freeing up the bearer, temporarily, to ACT, rather than merely suffer in the moment.

The state of unrest requires constant, involved attention to continue its circular, repetive assault. Without attention to feed it, the associated thoughts and emotional content MUST FADE AWAY in the moment. It may arise again later, but one need simply REMOVE ATTENTION to starve it, until the pattern itself is utterly disrupted.

Again, this is NOT a FIX, but the BEGINNING to a REAL fix. It affords TEMPORARY RELIEF, but ONLY with committed effort to stay with the technique for, perhaps, minutes at a time; and THEN, it must be repeated as often as necessary, perhaps even dozens of times throughout the day. The reason for THAT is, once again, that the bearer does not wind up in that particularly painful mental state unless the matter is habitual under similar circumstances.


• Practice Session Time: 5, 10, 15, or 30 Minutes
• Use a timer, watch, or clock with an alarm to notify that the session is over
• Conduct the exercise in a place where you will not be disturbed
• Use a comfortable place to sit
• Slowly, comfortably inhale fully, then exhale fully, and repeat.
• When you take the breath in, don’t focus on your chest pulling the air; instead, with a relaxed torso, inhale from the bottom of your lungs near the lower sternum and fill upwards.
• Example: Conceptualize the way a balloon fills from the bottom and expands upward

• On exhale, release the air slowly so that it seems it’s exiting from the top of your lungs on down to the bottom; when you let the air go from the balloon, the top air goes first and then the bottom.
• Try five full breaths, although you may not be able to complete three full breaths before you get caught up in some thought or self-talk.

• When you can do five fully attended breaths without thought or other distractions stealing your attention away from the rich, full experience of breathing, then extend the number until you can reach 50 to 100
Thoughts will arise - you’ll start analyzing - but NONE of that is of use to you as you direct your attention to remain targeted onto the breath itself. Keep carefully in mind that your ‘attention target’ is your breath. As long as you have a target on which to direct your attention, you can always regain control of a wandering mind by willfully centering your onto the target once again. As you master the ability to catch your mind going off task, and establish the habit of continually brining your attention back to your chosen target, you’ll be able to apply that mastery in every area of your life!

If this is the manner of technique you'd like to master, let me know, contact me by email and I'll send you a tracking sheet you can use to practice it.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

WSO - 1 Year BRAIN TRAINING Membership For Mental Focus, Concentration, and Willpower For Just $67
T. Lavon Lawrence
Author, NEURO-SCULPTING!© and Mental Trainer
www.dynamicmentalfitness.com

ZigZag

Sometimes these kind of things take some time. Be patient. I probably shouldn't be telling people this but I'm on leave for Christmas from a Mental Hospital because I had something of a psychological breakdown. I hadn't eaten for 3 or 4 days and someone called the police when I was wondering around on the street with no shoes on. The most challenging and terrifying experience of my life so far. Which I'm kind of thankful for because I'm stronger, more intelligent, happier, and more appreciative than I've ever been. Kind of cool because that's happened before. I'm thinking of writing a book and this will be a good chapter.

I thought I would never get out of there. I thought there was no way out. I had lost everything including my mind. So I suppose the point is that nothing is permanent. With patience, and effort, everything comes good in the end. Takes things one day at a time.

There's a wonderful book partly based on cognitive behavioural therapy (or CBT) called "The Feeling Good Handbook" which is amazing and many people have reported it to be more effective than anti-depressant medication. Check it out on Amazon because I think it will be helpful. Amazon.com: The Feeling Good Handbook: David D....

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

MemberWing

Thank you.
So breathing is one answer. I think it makes perfect sense and often a required element of helpful techniques.

Zig, why don't you start writing a book now? Not too many people:
A: been through what you been
B: know how to write
C: know how to help/share/reach millions of people through internet via blog/website.

One page at a time - and google is your friend. I bet you can help lots of people getting into similar circumstances. Once content is ready - package it together in e-book and do with it what you feel is best.


Gleb

ZigZag

Yeah that's an excellent suggestion Gleb. Thanks for reminding me because some time ago before I got sidetracked I was thinking about starting a self-development blog titled "Fighting Demons" and now that I've had some time to think about what's important to me I think I'm going to action that. Get some more experience writing and helping people. Sometimes I think it's amazing how challenging, difficult, and frightening experiences can inspire people. As long as a person is learning, evolving, and improving everything's good. That's what I always say.

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Mari_Quint

Breathing exercises do help. I also do meditation usually in the mornings. I find a quiet place and meditate. It helps me get through the day. Stress is an everyday component in our lives. It's here to stay. What we can do is to manage how we react to stress.

ZigZag

I agree. Mediation is great. Something I used to practice a lot. I also recommend The Power Of Now by Echart Tolle as a good book for overcoming some of life's challenges and being more in control of your mind and dealing with stress. His teachings really helped me to evolve personally by being less wrapped up in my ego and not identifying so much with the content of my mind which is similar to what happens when you mediate. Here's some videos which may be helpful:

YouTube - eckhart tolle

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe