# Three techniques that help me



## all is full of love (Dec 2, 2011)

Hello! This is my first post here, and I'll definitely be posting a lot, as I've been experiencing this for awhile and ruminating constantly. I look forward to interacting with you all more. Anyway, I don't have time to go into my experience right now; I just thought I'd share a few things that help me so some of you could try them out as soon as possible.

The first thing that helps me feel more real is thinking about or writing about myself in third person. This might be counter-intuitive for some people, but it benefits me quite a bit. I used to entertain myself by thinking about myself in third person when I was walking home from school as a kid. I find it to be a very grounding exercise. "She picks up her pace as she crosses the street to avoid the loud pickup lumbering toward her in the north-bound lane. As she walks home, the same worries cycle through her head over, and over again." It helps me because it puts things in perspective for me, so I feel myself as just another person, and in the current moment more. I'm more able to know that yes I'm worrying (as I cross the street right now), and yes I'm ruminating (as I'm waiting in line right now), but other people do that too.

Another thing I do when I am becoming very anxious is play with a ball. This is mostly while I'm walking (I don't have a vehicle so I walk several miles a day) or in my room. It's about the size of a small orange, and made of foam, so it's fairly light. I bounce it around, trying to keep it from hitting the ground. Not only is it just a distraction, but when I do it while listening to music sometimes I can feel "in the zone" for a couple seconds, where I feel alive and the "magic" of the moment, rather than the usual feeling of flatness and being outside of time.

The last tip I have is the most powerful to me. At some point, wherever I am or whatever I'm doing, I make the conscious effort to switch and feel like I am a divine being (as we all are) and this life, this moment, these surroundings all belong to me. "Belong to me" is a misleading term, I don't really mean I "own" them, just that they are mine to interact with. It's like you are a video game character, and this is your setting, these are your tools, etc. This might be very difficult for some people experiencing DP/DR, in fact, it might be how every person who isn't feeling depersonalization feels all the time, but I've never really felt like this, even when I haven't been intensely depersonalized. It's really difficult for me to describe how to do this one, as its just a feeling.

Thanks!


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## nafthegr8903 (Jul 16, 2010)

all is full of love said:


> The last tip I have is the most powerful to me. At some point, wherever I am or whatever I'm doing, I make the conscious effort to switch and feel like I am a divine being (as we all are) and this life, this moment, these surroundings all belong to me. "Belong to me" is a misleading term, I don't really mean I "own" them, just that they are mine to interact with. It's like you are a video game character, and this is your setting, these are your tools, etc. This might be very difficult for some people experiencing DP/DR, in fact, it might be how every person who isn't feeling depersonalization feels all the time, but I've never really felt like this, even when I haven't been intensely depersonalized. It's really difficult for me to describe how to do this one, as its just a feeling.
> 
> Thanks!


There's a concept in Judaism that "bishvili nivra haolem"-the whole world was created for me-meaning it would be worth it for god to create the whole world just for me (or you), this all reminds me of a novel i read by R.L. Stine when i was little where the whole camp turns out to be fake and the person who is the protaganist finds out it was all a test for him and he's really an alien. Have a good shabbat everyone!!!


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