What to do when I
drop a connection?
An important thing I do is let folks who are close to me
know when I’m having an episode. It helps me not feel like I am going through
the experience alone, even if it feels like it. It also alerts them to help me
out if I start really suffering through one. Even if the universe seems unreal,
the loving hug and kiss from my dearest can work wonders.
I have to keep in mind that all Dissociative episodes,
whether they are perception problems about me or everything else, are
temporary. If I was cruising along unaware of the disconnected feeling, the
moment I start having one is proof that an episode has begun; therefore it will
also end.
My biggest strategy is to ride it out until the episode
passes. This means I need to employ many tools in my Mindfulness toolkit:
Faith – it started, and it will stop. It will start again
sometime, and it will stop in that case too. I am okay regardless.
Acceptance – yeah, it’s happening. Face forward and deal.
How I’m feeling about myself or my surroundings doesn’t change their reality or
mine; it merely colors my own perception of my reality. If the world doesn’t
seem quite right, it’s okay. If I don’t feel quite connected to humanity at the
moment, it’s okay.
Be Present – especially when the universe doesn’t feel quite
real. I can re-establish my connection to the universe through focus and
awareness if I patiently choose to. See, my awareness has shifted without my
say so: it’s up to me to get it back. If it’s an internalized thing, then I can
be an alien all I need to be, but I’m Here and Now regardless of my perception
of self.
Rest – man, I can’t emphasize this enough. Whatever issue a
person faces, it’s a tougher slog if they’re worn out.
Take action – one common strategy for coping is to immerse
oneself with sensory input that reconnects us with the world around us. Engage the universe perceptually through the
senses. When we perceive the universe it becomes real to us. The more we
perceive it, the more real it becomes. Therefore as we engage the universe with
our senses mindfully, consciously, reality reasserts itself in our minds.
Engage – by staying social and involved in routine and life,
the episodes are likely to pass more quickly and cause less anxiety. Let the
people closest to you know you’re struggling if that would help them not feel
so shut out all of a sudden or distressed as you seem to be very distracted.
Sure, you might need to limit your social activity at times, but make sure you
are just visiting the cave and not moving into it.
Be aware – view it realistically and gauge how “bad’ the
situation really is. The earliest episodes seem horrible, because you suddenly
feel like everything you believed (that is, took for granted) about the real
world is turned on its ear. But if you can understand just how relative the issue
actually is, you can adjust your response mindfully.
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