Day 14. Meditation hasn't been this clear for years. I'm becoming visible. Thought is the result of my activity. As the underlying activity of myself becomes visible and is understood it stops briefly. In those moments there is silence and the void is revealed, beckoning me to join the eternal celebration. Then fear begins to surface and thought returns. Thoughts of self-doubt creates a pull to give up but I can't. She keeps me going.
Animals have a natural tendency to avoid pain. A species must have a strong biological desire to avoid injury in order to survive.
Psychologically, traumatic memories triggered by new information has measurable physical side effects. Someone who is severely depressed can experience extraordinary discomfort and agony without any cause outside of the brain.
Instead of literal fight or flight, the brain tries many things to control or escape the pain of depression. This may help in the short term and you may even be able to live with the depression by managing it. Unfortunately, many people accept this as the best possibility achievable. It's what my doctor believed. Learn to manage your issues. Learn to control them.
I maintain and will do so for the rest of my life that it is possible to rip the fucking root of depression out once and for all. This isn't a belief I have or based on anything I have read. It is a fact I have accidentally discovered that I cannot possibly prove as true.
A completely different approach must be taken to heal psychologically. You have to go towards the pain. You have to face it and question it to understand it completely.
The body's natural path is to heal and thrive. All that is required is giving your attention. It's not easy. It's painful. Not doing this though is much more difficult, requires more energy, and is more painful in the long run.
Do nothing, psychologically, for ten minutes. I bet you can't at first. Understanding why will lead you back to peace. Nobody can do this for you. Nobody can help you. Nobody is an authority.
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by @skypal
Meditation does a lot of good. I did not believe it until I tried. I will follow you because it is a subject that interests me very much.
I also didn't believe it would do anything but it literally altered the course of my life.
I have been chasing pain all day. I experience derealization and depersonalization. It takes me away from everything when I'm triggered. On days like today, I fight to stay present and with the pain. That's when healing happens. Great post. Am following.
Thank you. I like that you stay present and with the pain instead of escaping it. That is when the healing happens.
You are so right, avoiding pain by "thinking positive thoughts" doesn't work, the underlying problems are still there, and most likely doing more damage than if they were looked at, acknowledged. The new age spirituality bullcrap drives me crazy...don't look at problems, just think of something you like. Imagine how you want things to be bla bla bla.
My response to that line of thinking is, if you have a sink full of dirty dishes, and you want them clean, do you just think some positive thoughts about your clean dishes, or do you roll up your sleeves, dive in and do the job.
LOL, oh wow. So true. "positive thinking" or "positive affirmations" is literally self-hypnosis. This is why it's so challenging to talk about meditation because people think about it as "metaphysical" or "spiritual" replacing one belief system for another. Ugh.
Good analogy. Tell a starving child they need to think positively to manifest their desired food. Spiritual my ass.
Yes, you so get it!! We need positive action mixed with positive, confident thoughts. Avoiding problems does not make it go away no matter what the spiritual guru's say!