41–49 of 49 posts
Personal history for anyone suffering from serious anxiety: Anxiety destroyed my 20s. It kept me home-bound. I rarely went out and would have attacks at the grocery store all of the time. Early on I hoped that things would come to a head and that I would eventually be immune to it, and stronger for it. But that never happened. I was afraid to seek help because I assumed they'd put me on meds that would dull my thinki…
Feel the fear, and do it anyways.
That's pretty much what it's like.
Or you can get high: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hallucinoge... I've found that the best way to handle anxiety to stop talking about it all the time, and just fill your mind with living . When HN gets in a spate of depression/anxiety discussions, it drags my mental health down. It's almost enough to get me in support of the concept of Trigger Warnings.
"When HN gets in a spate of depression/anxiety discussions, it drags my mental health down." Psychedelic experiences and meditation are closely interrelated. Filling your mind with one thing instead of the other is a temporary solution. It's another form of avoidance. Anxiety arises from an underlying emotional issue that someone is avoiding. In the psychedelic and meditative states, it is entirely possible to feel o…
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"When HN gets in a spate of depression/anxiety discussions, it drags my mental health down." Psychedelic experiences and meditation are closely interrelated. Filling your mind with one thing instead of the other is a temporary solution. It's another form of avoidance. Anxiety arises from an underlying emotional issue that someone is avoiding. In the psychedelic and meditative states, it is entirely possible to feel o…
This is an incredibly well written reply; it sums up the basics of mindfulness in a very short space. Have you written any more on the subject?
Much of the language and frame I use comes from Daniel Ingram's "Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha". You can check that out if you want more. If you've got some meditative experience, that has some good stuff. If you're coming in from entheogens, that is a great book to read after a couple breakthrough experiences. One note though: Ingram is considered controversial by a number of people for some reason.
As for my own stuff, I have written a cheatsheet at some point: http://www.quora.com/Meditation/Whats-a-nice-little-cheat-sh...
... though I will be updating it soon from the things I've been learning from practicing pranayama and yoga.
Feel the fear, and do it anyways.
Guessing you've never experienced an anxiety-type disorder. Imagine feeling like the breath is being pushed from your body, like you're about to lose control of your mental faculties, but not having anything physical you can fight back against. Doesn't matter where you are, at home, at work, playing with your kids. That's pretty much what it's like.
Personal history for anyone suffering from serious anxiety: Anxiety destroyed my 20s. It kept me home-bound. I rarely went out and would have attacks at the grocery store all of the time. Early on I hoped that things would come to a head and that I would eventually be immune to it, and stronger for it. But that never happened. I was afraid to seek help because I assumed they'd put me on meds that would dull my thinki…
What's anxiety like?
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What's anxiety like?
It's like being chased by a tiger, except there is no tiger, and you know it. So it's some of the worst fear you've ever felt in your life, coupled with feeling stupid because you know it is irrational and you should just "get over it". Except you can't.
From my own explorations, I've come to the conclusion that my anxious mind was a product from my parents. My dad is a fly off the handle, every small thing is a disaster. My mother is a chronic worrier. It wasn't until I moved to CA where I had a chance to remove myself from it did it start to make sense. Our emotional responses are learned and engrained from our earliest years. I see it in my parents when I go to vi…
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> I switched to diet and dropped about half of my daily anxiety in a few months. My wife had panic attacks for years until she was persuaded, for other reasons, to stop using caffeine and artificial sweeteners. A couple of months later, her panic attacks stopped, and they haven't returned. She's convinced one of the sweeteners -- she mostly used cyclamates, but also some sucralose -- screwed with her brain chemistry.…
-stops consuming caffeine, a drug known to exacerbate anxiety, and artificial sweeteners -stops having anxiety attacks -blames artificial sweeteners for anxiety attacks ???????