Racing Mind - Feel Insane at Times

[Grama-Herc]

A Drunken Monkey.

How cool. That is the perfect way to describe the racing voices in our mind that constantly "bug" us about stuff. Mine "bugs" with "junk worry". Stuff like---you need to call her, you need to vaccum tomorrow, the chair would look better over there but then you would have to change that picture---and the next thing I know I am mentally redecorating my bedroom when I am suppose to be going to sleep.

Keep us posted on the effect meditation has on this drunkken monkey of yours

 

[missy8888]

Drunkin monkey.... LOVE IT!!!! lol.... well i don't have PTSD.... (but i would say i have OCD....)you should see my house....i hate mess....

I can't go to sleep unless the house is perfect.. otherwise i will lay in bed..... thinking there is a dish in the sink.... and i make my bed before i leave for work....otherwise it will bug the crap outta me all day....

my boyfriend is affraid i will make the bed with him still in it..... the thought of him lying there pinned between the sheets...makes me giggle just a little...lol

and post-it notes......OMG.... u have no idea.... usually when i have 500 things going on in my head....if i transfer each idea onto paper....i am somehow able to release it in my mind... then get some sleep......then when i wake up i have my list of crap to think about again.... hahahaha.. Then i cross it off when i complete the task and it can find something else to add to my list....lol

Grandma-herc.... we would so get along!! oxoxoox

Missy

 

[cragger65]

What seems to work for me is to picture each train of thought as a coloured ribbon, and to watch them all unwind and flow out through space. You no longer become attaced to the content of the train of thought, it just becomes a ribbon of energy in your head so to speak. This probably sounds wierd, doesn't it?

Another visualization I use is that I'm sitting on the bottom of the sea watching a kelp and seaweed forrest swaying in the tide. My tangled up thoughts are represented by some strands of seaweed being tangled together. I picture the currents teasing them apart, so they can flow straight up and free again. OK, again, might sound wierd but it really brings me relief.

Another thought is that being in service, tackling and solving problems is probably the main stay of your job. Is there an unconcious belief that if you don't CONSTANTLY hone your diagnostic skills, you might "fail" somehow?

Just some ideas.

 

[Tinyflame]

I am also plagued by constant thoughts. I can even hold simultaneous conversations with others , listen to them all, -and still have the thoughts continuing in my mind. It feels like a curse.

I think Dave your suggestions are not weird but excellent because the visualization- part I find is really powerful. I am starting to realize that I "take in" thoughts of an experience, -or when I dream- with all their detail very explicitly - the colors, sounds, feelings etc all associated with them, so it only makes sense to me that to "let them go" is a lot easier when you can "assign" a "picture to them, too" and make a "choice" to really "let go"-and "watch them" go!
I personally like the idea of the ribbon one- I'm going to try that.

I also think that I associate overthinking with a (false sense) of control- I'm oftentimes thinking, "what else can I do, what did I miss, how can I change this, how can I fix this".

I think that after 25 years I have to do actually more of the opposite, realize my limitations and let it go in order to learn how to relax and be a lot less hyper-vigilant.

 

[patrick]

Aaron,

When I read your first post I could hardly believe it. My wife of twelve years told me a year and a half ago that she had never loved me and never wanted to marry me in the first place. Our divorce was final a couple of months ago. At least for us there were no kids involved. That's gotta really be a bitch.

At the time, I was a long haul truck driver and I got completely obsessive. I don't know if your experience is like mine, but I would just grind on the same thought over and over and over again. What I should have said...what she said...how she misinterpreted me...how she didn't understand. Sometimes I would think about what I would say in my mind over and over for hours at a time. Just couldn't stop, and nothing to distract me driving on Interstate 80 across Wyoming.

When I described what was happening to a friend, he introduced me to the concept of obsession and obsessive thought. Hard to tell if that's what's going on with you or not. If it is, the one thing that worked for me was to change the talk. To just say out loud what was happening around me on a continuous basis. Stuff as simple as "a car is coming up on my left...my ass is getting sore...that cloud looks like a hippo...my neck is starting to itch." I would say this stuff out loud and feel like a complete moron while I was doing it, but after a while the gears grinding in my head would stop for a little while. Took quite a while to remember to do it, and it didn't always work, but it did give me a little relief.

I feel your pain, man. I hope you can find some relief.

Pat

 

[SammyKline]

i'm sure that your kids love and need you intensely. please do everything possible to take care of them and be good to them.
5 kids!

I'm impressed.