This video is about something I’m still learning. Being awake, or present, makes such a big difference to my experience of life that it may be the only thing that really matters. If you overthink, or you’ve been through anxiety or depression, this one is especially for you.
In this video
- I picture presence as a spectrum. It runs from numb and depressed at the bottom to almost overwhelming bliss at the top.
- During a severe depression in 2017, I suddenly woke up for a few hours, like breaking through cloud cover. Nothing outside me had changed.
- Numbing out, like vegging in front of the TV, gives some relief for a while but tends to make the problem worse.
- A lot of meditation is taught as something you do with your mind. That can backfire if you already overthink.
- Introspective writing, a specific writing technique, has let me use my overthinking mind to calm my mind.
- Two things made the real difference for me: shadow work (being willing to feel what I usually resist) and embodiment.
- I notice body sensations before a label arrives, and I do complex movement like climbing, martial arts or dancing. Both keep me present.