Mindfulness Issues

[wer]

Lately, for unknown reasons, my mindfulness has been very poor. Its like I've been acting on auto-pilot or something. Its been affecting my memory and concentration. I used to be very mindful, but for some reason I just lost it. Lately I have been dealing with stress due to a lowered confidence in myself, and various other issues. What could be the problem here? What do you guys suggest I do to improve my mindfulness?

Its been very troubling :cry:

[Tom]

That is SO not enough information to tell you something useful.

[wer]

What information do you need?

[CFTraveler]

Lately, for unknown reasons, my mindfulness has been very poor. Its like I've been acting on auto-pilot or something. Its been affecting my memory and concentration. I used to be very mindful, but for some reason I just lost it. Lately I have been dealing with stress due to a lowered confidence in myself, and various other issues. What could be the problem here? What do you guys suggest I do to improve my mindfulness?

Its been very troubling :cry: To start with, what do you consider mindfulness to be?

[Tom]

You said it yourself that you are currently mindful of many things right now: being on auto-pilot, memory and concentration difficulties, stress, low confidence, whatever various issues means, that you are not happy with recent changes, that you want things to be more like the way they used to be, and that it is possible you can get answers here. Mindfulness means being aware of what you are experiencing while you are experiencing it. If your mindfulness were not functioning you would not even be aware of having difficulties. Oddly enough this is how a lot of people coast through their days.

[Korpo]

I agree with Tom wholeheartedly - mindfulness is not to be mixed up with happiness. It is being aware of the condition you are in. As your mindfulness deepens, you may become aware of a lot of stuff that is not to your liking but that is there and will need to resolve over time. As long as you can observe the processes that work within you, as long as your mind can retain awareness of itself, you are mindful.

Would you supply more information on what you think your problem is?

Take good care,
Oliver

[Hibby]

I think i get what you mean, there was this period when i was surprised i could not remember things that i've done during the day, the day before or even days during the week. I think when you mentioned mindfulness, i assume you're talking about the state of being alert and awareness?

I can relate auto-pilot to being mentally disconnected from your environment to kind of ease the pain. In your case the pain caused by stress and lack of confidence. I'm pretty sure that when you're on auto-pilot you don't focus on what's happening around you and that leads to the lack of memory. The lack of concentration is really just the lack of willingness to suppress annoyance and this lack of will, i believe is caused by dimming of you're inspiration/goals because it just looks like they're getting further and further away, and the further these goals are the less confidence you have in yourself. It is a downward spiral.

I don't really have any ideas on how to help you because essentially this is a journey to finding your own identity. once you do that you will begin to have more self-confidence and get back on track to your goals. I don't know if what i'm saying is right, maybe it's alot more simple than what i have in mind.

[wer]

I think i get what you mean, there was this period when i was surprised i could not remember things that i've done during the day, the day before or even days during the week. I think when you mentioned mindfulness, i assume you're talking about the state of being alert and awareness?

I can relate auto-pilot to being mentally disconnected from your environment to kind of ease the pain. In your case the pain caused by stress and lack of confidence. I'm pretty sure that when you're on auto-pilot you don't focus on what's happening around you and that leads to the lack of memory. The lack of concentration is really just the lack of willingness to suppress annoyance and this lack of will, i believe is caused by dimming of you're inspiration/goals because it just looks like they're getting further and further away, and the further these goals are the less confidence you have in yourself. It is a downward spiral.

I don't really have any ideas on how to help you because essentially this is a journey to finding your own identity. once you do that you will begin to have more self-confidence and get back on track to your goals. I don't know if what i'm saying is right, maybe it's alot more simple than what i have in mind.

You nailed it. That is exactly what I meant. When I said "mindfulness", I was implying the state of being alert and aware of what is going on around you.

I think I'm overcoming my problem. Despite the stress I'm dealing with, I have to force myself to pay attention to everything I'm doing, and process everything I do before I do it. Thank you for the insight :)

Also, if you don't mind me asking, how old were you during this period of memory lapse?

[Hibby]

I don't really know when it started but i'd say it happened within the last 12 months, i only recently recovered about 3-4 months ago. i'm not sure whether it was because this stopped happening that i was further able to discover myself or the fact that i was discovering myself that led to me getting out of it. I kind of suddenly realised i was remembering most of the things i did. Btw i'm 18 this year - still in high school.

Because of the lack of memory i had in this period i really have no idea how i got out of it. I'm kind of just blind guessing here.
There was a time when i just thought, "okay, i'm going to focus on what i'm doing and remember it".
i think its being aware that we aren't aware and as a result we start to be more aware, or any combination of things.

anyway its good to hear that you'd overcoming it, it may take alot of willpower to get out of it so it might feel like a swing at times - sometimes you're going forward and sometimes you're going backwards to save momentum.

If you feel the stress is overcoming you maybe you'll have to step back to see how small the problem is in face of the greater goals, although it doesn't solve the problem and may or may not be beneficial to solving that problem (stress stops your brain from functioning properly to solve the problem and not being able to solve that problem brings about more stress) it'll allow you to see how you've reacted to the problem and whether it's worth the stress/willpower you're putting into it. Stress does kill brain cells after all and brain cells are non-regeneratable so it maybe wise to take good care of the little buggers rather than let them die over a simple problem. :D

The more i think about it the more i get confused, when i first got out of it my memory was as clear as crystal but now i'm not so sure any more. I'm also starting to think it's a cycle that's happened throughout my life but never as strong as it was this time.

[Korpo]

Stress does kill brain cells after all

That would be news to me...?

Stress is a natural functioning of your body. It is just your fight/flight catching on. Why should a natural process kill brain cells? You function differently, you use up your energy reserves, you cannot think as clear, precise and openly, but I never heard that it kills brain cells. That's usually the result of suffocation or poisoning, at least I thought so.

Oliver

[Hibby]

Your body’s stress response is perfect in the short-term, but damaging if it goes on for weeks or years. Raised levels of cortisol for prolonged periods can damp down your immune system and decrease the number of brain cells so impairing your memory. It can also affect your blood pressure and the fats in your blood making it more likely you will have a heart attack or stroke.
So, does stress kill brain cells?

The answer seems to be yes.

Stress excites brain cells to death


A chronic overreaction to stress overloads the brain with powerful hormones that are intended only for short-term duty in emergency situations. Their cumulative effect damages and kills brain cells.
the common term is that stress kills brain cells, and thats how i remembered it, but after reading a bit more i found it is mainly heavy stress or long term stress that leads to loss of brain cells whereas some forms of stress are healthy, so then again stress in moderation = good, but i am pretty sure stress reduces your ability to creatively think to solve problems. And in wer's case, for stress to reach levels where it can affect the functioning of the brain to whatever extent must not be all that good. I don't think stress and fear are the same thing though, stress is kind of forcing your mind, the kind you get from trying hard to think or do something mentally, whereas fear is a natural defence mechanism to increase mental and physical capacity which would in turn create a different kind of stress altogether. And no one should be in fear for any extended lengths of time.

[Korpo]

Well, I would think Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome kind of stress might have the power to kill a few brain cells, and I know stress has all kinds of effects that can lead to an early death (e.g. heart attack). But in general for most kinds of stress, even middle-to-long-term stress I would think things are reversible until a certain point.

I mean, I had a decade of self-hate and this kind of self-induced problems, and they are reversible. I'm dealing with that now. I don't think anything your body can do to itself as a young person (without the aid of drugs or other agents of self-destruction) is irreversible. It takes decades to wear yourself down to that point, IMO.

Oliver

[Mystikal]

Also, in the past decade, it has been shown that brain cells do regenerate.

[Hibby]

But the thing is they don't regenerate at a rate to replace the dying ones, they can never be regenerated to 100% and can only decline as you grow older. So it is still important to take care of them as any damage to the cells will still increase add to the overall decrease in brain cells.

Say you have 100 cells, 5 dies every second but between 2-5 and rarely 6, is regenerated every second, so you are still losing brain cells in the long run, it isn't like muscle cells which regenerate to 100%+ after they get damaged so every other extraneous causes to the loss of brain cells can be considered permanent.

Korpo:
what do you mean by reversible though? if you're talking about normal functioning then yes because the amount of brain cells we lose due to stress is very little but in the long run that builds up to be an effective amount. don't get me wrong though, i'm not saying stress is bad, but stress is like worrying, it gets you no where while at the same time doing damage, even if it's very little. especially in situations where people may make a habit out of stressing over little things. Stress is not inflicted by the body, it is inflicted by the conscious mind, that is the decisions we make.

[CFTraveler]

Stress is not inflicted by the body, it is inflicted by the conscious mind, that is the decisions we make. Not really. The fight-or-flight reaction that causes the initial adrenalin jolt is purely physical, and caused by either the reptilian brain or the old mammalian brain (or a combo of both). Our decision to not fight and not run (but internalize) is conscious- but the stress effect on braincells is not caused by option #2. Ulcers, high blood pressure and psychological problems are.

Item #2: Even though it was erroneously thought that brain cells never regenerated and it has been shown not to be true, that is not the only way the brain corrects trauma. When there is physical trauma (such as a punch to the head or surgery, a stroke, etc.) recovery is directly proportional to how much of the corpus callosum is being used, and how well developed the connection between hemispheres are. People who use both sides of the brain are more apt to regain function if they had fairly synchronized sides. So it's always a good idea to use the nondominant side of the hand/eye as much as possible and practical, and I'm sure hemispheric synchronization tapes have a good effect on corpus callosum connections, although I don't have any proof of this. (I'd have to go hunting for it).
But it has been documented that stroke victims recover better if their corpus callosum is well-formed with lots of connections formed.
So if you're artistic, dabble in science. And if you're mathematical, take up art. Etc. etc. Your brain will thank you for it.

[Tom]

It helps to realize that you were never actually in control to begin with.

[Hibby]

Not really. The fight-or-flight reaction that causes the initial adrenalin jolt is purely physical, and caused by either the reptilian brain or the old mammalian brain (or a combo of both). Our decision to not fight and not run (but internalize) is conscious- but the stress effect on braincells is not caused by option #2. Ulcers, high blood pressure and psychological problems are.
woops, i was talking about the stress people put on themselves when they're trying too hard to think. the stress inflicted by fear and other events is defiantly a function of the body.

About Item#2 & Tom: yeah, its kinda weird when you pick, say a cup, up with your dominant hand and then compare what it feels like when you pick that same cup up with your other hand. I've always questioned whether this body is me or i'm just merely controlling it then that leads to me asking who or where am i really. and the brain really is an amazing organ, the more i learn about it the more i find how naive my understanding of my own mind is. literally mind boggling stuff. anyway, still waiting on you, wer!