# Mindfulness??



## Courtneylynn (Nov 23, 2010)

I have read several people mention that being "mindful" of what they are doing etc., has helped them recover from DPD/DR. I have been suffering from DPD/DR for almost 20 years, and I am not sure I understand the concept of what it means. Can someone please break it down for me really simply- even what it feels like? OR how to be? My counselor has also suggested it, but I just don't understand. The concept seems very forgien to me. Simply having/being aware of what you are doing? Which means what? Concentrate on what you are doing rather than how DPD makes you feel?

Thanks


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## Emir (Nov 20, 2010)

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## Onibla (Nov 9, 2010)

It starts off with just focusing on what you are doing a few minutes a day, and I mean really focusing (no thoughts of DP/DR). Go outside, look at the trees, do something mindless like counting how many there are or the different colours or trying to find which ones look the wierdest. Maybe for just a second the DPD/DR thoughts will not be in the front of your mind if you are sufficiently abosrbed in your act. 
I always felt more real when I stood in my garden (smoking obviously, bad me) and just watched the birds or my cats moving around, I let my mind go blank (this can take some practice) and just watched what was happening with no thoughts.
After a few months I started to apply this to TV shows, I tried to get as into them as possible, I forced myself to think about the characters and what impact their actions had no matter how bad I was feeling about the DP/DR. Eventually I noticed that I had honestly become interested in the outcome of the show, while I was watching it I was more interested in it that I was in DP/DR. For that 1 hour a week I stopped having horrible thoughts about how unreal everything was. 
Much later on, I had successfully become more interested in life than I was in DP/DR, my mind no longer raced 24/7 with thoughts, I no longer cared how real things looked, I just got interested in what was happening. 
This was when reality slowly came back for me. I had bad days where I thought of nothing but how I didn't feel like myself, how I didn't even remember who I was, but I did my best to ignore it and focus on what was going on that day.
Just saying how I applied mindfulness. 
And yeah, just feeling your limbs is a good start. No need to obsess over whether or not they feel connected to you, or even like your limbs. Just that fact you can feel them and feel different things with them. Focus on the feeling.


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## babybowrain (Aug 24, 2010)

It's sort of like paying attention and noting without words all the sounds and feelings you get while you for example breathe, or just listening to sounds. It helped me.


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