Best Of
Re: Getting better "blog"
I am trying to apply the method as explained on the overcoming-anxiety YT channel.
The acronym is ALARM which stands for:
A - Acknowledge - Note and observe the symptom, do not deny or suppress
L - Label- Give it a name, either a general "anxiety" or something more specific
A - Accept/Allow - Just let it be there, say "OK" to it, do not try to fix it or go down mental rabbit holes.
R - Refocus - Refocus on something other than the symptom
M - Move on - Move on with your activities/day.
I find the first three steps very good, beneficial and easy. The allowing is very good, it results in a relaxing, which, according to the YT channel, leads to the gradual desensitizing of the nervous system. It makes sense, we relax in the face of something that the anxiety keeps telling us is a great big problem. An overly sensitized nervous system is the cause of anxiety, according to the channel, and went out of whack in the past when the body reached its "stress overload level". After that, it got stuck in "danger mode". We recalibrate the nervous system by relaxing in the face of the faulty signals that it is sending and doing what we want/need to do anyway, not giving in to the "run away" signal. This all makes sense to me.
However, I have trouble with the refocusing and moving on, since I've developed a habit of often being passive due to "not feeling good enough". The instructions are to refocus on something else and move on (do something else) even if you feel lousy. "Whatchya mean I have to do this thing when I'm feeling so lousy?!". But I do believe this must be the correct way. I cannot be running away and hiding all of my life - this is actually anxiety being in control - not me.
Yesterday, using this method, I was doing well and being productive until about half the day when I just could not make myself do a hard job-related task. And since then I've not recovered my energies. Hopefully, I will soon.
The good development from watching the YT channel is that for the first time I have hope that anxiety can be cured. I've tried many different things previously, but never got the message that it can actually be cured. That's an excellent development.
Today I've done my morning routine in part, am going to lunch with a friend, have a Zoom call with a professional mentor, and will be working after that.
marcitko
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
I'm 6' 1'' & do the same except I skip lunch whenever my weight rises above 185 lbs. and only resume eating lunches again when my weight drops back below that threshold. It's not Buddhist in the traditional sense but is gentler in its daily time spacing when fasting is being called for.
Since my diet is pretty healthy (Ovo Lacto vegetarian and usually local & organic) my weight is** best** controlled by being mindful that any meal's true volume matches what I really need over what I want, along with a general avoidance of snacking between meals. Being careful of my sugar/salt and fat intake also seems to help.
In addition to daily walks and bike riding, on every even-numbered day, I do a half hour of weight exercising at a gym, and on odd-numbered days it's a cardio-taxing hill climb.
All of this just allows me some mobility that many of my peers are no longer able to match but time eventually evens out everyone's physical & mental differences.
how
Re: Buddhist quotes
Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is, in fact, the reservoir of infinite possibilities.
~D.T. Suzuki
Re: Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
I came across this…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/06/whistleblower-ufo-alien-tech-spacecraft
And it seemed interesting that The Guardian would publish it, the guy must have a pretty good reputation. Maybe there is something to this UFO malarkey after all…
Jeroen
Re: No Buddhist Quotes
“Truth is greater than all the parts joined together. It is not just the sum of the parts, it is greater than the parts. A melody is not just the sum of all the notes, of all the sounds. … I am speaking to you: you can dissect my words, they will all be found in a dictionary, but you won’t find me in a dictionary.”
—Osho, ‘The Mustard Seed’
Jeroen
Re: How deep does the dharma go?
So here is a question for you: say you have lived a meditative life and followed the dharma, been peaceful, generally an advanced practitioner. Then when you are 70 you get Alzheimer’s and you become grumpy, cantankerous, and you start hitting your wife. What has happened to that peaceful practitioner? Is all that you’ve worked on gone, was it just a thin surface layer?
According to neuroscience the seven parts of the brain control
Thoughts and decisions.
Memories and emotions.
Movements (motor function), balance and coordination.
Perception of various sensations including pain.
Automatic behavior such as breathing, heart rate, sleep and temperature control.
Regulation of organ function.
Speech and language functions.
Also one has to take into account what happens to the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers, its gradual deterioration...which includes the part of the brain which controls the central nervous system for example....
The hypothalamus handles information that comes from the autonomic nervous system. It plays a role in controlling functions such as eating, sexual behavior and sleeping; and regulates body temperature,emotions, secretion of hormones and movement.
No doubt there's also a Karmic element to it...bearing in mind karma is neither good or bad it's just results of past ( this life or past lives) actions...
And in a sense we are just vibrating bundles of energy flux held together by karmic glue...the physical part (the part which we need to communicate with other sentient beings) is prone to deterioration...making communication difficult...
The more we can understand what the person with Alzheimer’s is going through, may assist us in how we react to their often 'incontrollable' nature...
It must be a very scary time for them...and their loved ones...
Shoshin1
Re: Buddhist quotes
To abstain from evil
To cultivate the good
And to purify the mind
This is the teaching of the Buddhas
Dhammapada v.183
Bunks
Re: How deep does the dharma go?
How deep does Dharma go?
How deep does life go?
Same question.
Fathomless
When you begin to understand that life, your life, extends from your deepest core within to envelope the entire universe, you will have a a glint of a glimmer of the depths of the Dharma.
Good hunting.
Peace to all.
Lionduck
Re: Buddhist quotes
“If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”
― Dogen
Kotishka
Re: India Pilgrimage December 2024
The last time I was in India was in 1997, and I remember staying in a little apartment next to the burning ghats where all the cremations were held. There was at least toilet paper. But I never did go to the Buddhist places of pilgrimage.
Jeroen