tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980515926340769054.post1599195546626393436..comments2024-02-09T14:26:00.025-05:00Comments on Pure Ness: A New ThingVanessahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14768473078536830905noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980515926340769054.post-54914109509366826362011-08-29T11:39:04.699-04:002011-08-29T11:39:04.699-04:00Thanks, Hannie. Your words are encouraging and giv...Thanks, Hannie. Your words are encouraging and giving me perspectives I have not seen before. Thanks so much for your support, hun!Vanessahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14768473078536830905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980515926340769054.post-58630933323527594172011-08-26T11:11:16.972-04:002011-08-26T11:11:16.972-04:00It would be rather alarming if you weren't hav...It would be rather alarming if you weren't having bad moments in your situation. Things are ambiguous and uncertain and difficult.<br /><br />Your grief is a holy thing, if you don't mind me using the word. You and Aaron's willingness to stay the course and continue to pursue what you feel called to is also a holy thing. These are uncomfortable, difficult, holy things. They are the values you are pursuing. They come with bad moments.<br /><br />So these bad moments will come. You don't need to figure out how to never have a bad moment ever again — that would get in the way of pursuing the path you've chosen. It's more that you need to figure out how to lead the kind of life you want to lead WITH all of the uncertainty and bad moments.<br /><br />I'm in the midst of a similar situation: A job that I feel 'called to' in a very secular way, and a gap in funding. It's nerve-wracking, but I also think it's worth the wracked nerves.<br /><br />One of the things ACT suggests that I'm finding useful is to simply ... feel anxious. <br /><br />By which I mean, don't try not to feel anxious. Don't worry or rant or struggle against it. Just note what it feels like in your body and what happens when you just watch it.<br /><br />For me, it's a pounding heart, nervous stomach, furrowed brow, tight mouth, faster breathing. As I watch these things without squirming away from them or ruminating on my worries, these physical sensations ease. Who knows why?<br /><br />I spend so much time trying to avoid that feeling that it's been surprising how bearable it can be.Heather Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04084760093354979692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980515926340769054.post-20473537667614457092011-08-26T10:39:45.463-04:002011-08-26T10:39:45.463-04:00Thank you so much, Heather Ann. Your support and a...Thank you so much, Heather Ann. Your support and advice mean a lot to me. You're completely right about the circular nature of anxiety. I get so freaked out that this will be my life now and it just makes things worse. I am trying to tell myself that it's ok that I have bad moments, and that they don't define what the rest of the day will be like, or the next day, or the next.<br />I don't know if I can fit a book into my life, but I'm looking up some articles on ACT and I'm finding ideas that look very interesting and useful, so thank you. I do want to find a way through this time without falling apart.Vanessahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14768473078536830905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4980515926340769054.post-68152396562741927432011-08-24T20:05:35.276-04:002011-08-24T20:05:35.276-04:00I got off my anti-depressants in January, and had ...I got off my anti-depressants in January, and had a similar worrying bout of depression in June. It was a big relief when it passed.<br /><br />Now I'm hitting a similar "new thing" phase in my journey with anxiety and depression. I read 'Things Might Go Terribly, Horribly Wrong' this summer and it really spoke to me and helped me make some shifts that I needed to make.<br /><br />I'm now working through the 'Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Anxiety' and it's changing my whole approach to it. Less struggling against anxiety, more relaxing into the discomfort of it and discovering that it is not as terrible as my fear of it suggests. It's a lot of work, but I'm finding it effective.<br /><br />One of the things it talks about is this pressure to be constantly happy, and how when our mood dips, it's easy to become fearful and that triggers a further downward spiral. It's a curious thing, this idea that we can be constantly joyful. I suspect it's an idea I need to release my grasp on, and only then will I have a chance to nurture a calmer life. These books compare anxiety to a Chinese finger trap — the more you struggle, the tighter it grabs you.<br /><br />So I'm taking up embroidery instead. It takes all my focus and creates a worry-free zone in my evening.<br /><br />P.S. Both of these books draw from meditation and mindfulness practice, but I don't see any bits that would be incompatible with Christianity.Heather Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04084760093354979692noreply@blogger.com