SaltyMeatballs

Awareness Alone is Curative - Effective or not?

5 posts in this topic

 

Has anyone tried using this technique to successfully break unwanted behaviour / habits?

What are your thoughts on this?

 

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It worked pretty well for me in a variety of areas of life from procrastination, avoiding people that aren't good for me by understanding why I was drawn to them in the first place, eating habits, not being frustrated in family relationships or when dealing with people who aren't very conscious, and changing limiting beliefs.  


I have faith in the person I am becoming xD

https://www.theupwardspiral.blog/

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PurpleTree has some non-sensical, kind of obsessive thought loops sometimes for example about silly stuff like a statement i made or want to make about a text i wrote or want to write etc. and those thoughts can loop for minutes or even a lot longer.

So two days ago i had one of those thought loops and then tried to be as aware as possible of that thought.

I thought that particular thought in a very aware state and thought it very slowly deliberately, usually those thoughts just keep looping very fast in the mind.

It worked and the thought kind of vanished.

So in that instance it worked but maybe it was just luck, i'll keep experimenting.

 

Edited by PurpleTree

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@hyruga Seems like a valid point you made. 

I am trying to apply this specifically to porn addiction but I am not sure how effective this technique is or if I'm doing it correctly.

Nonetheless, I have noticed that I am extremely unaware and totally sucked into mind fantasies while watching porn, hence revealing the potential to break the habit if I happen to shine more awareness on the issue consistently.

I have also noticed that its sufficiently hard to stay equanamous during the observation. I tend to develop guilt and shame which is perhaps feeding into the loop.

What's become obvious is that my mood spirals down after the climax and with it opening doors to negative and self-sabotaging thoughts. Actually, even before that I can feel a very slight hint of disgust all the way through.

I am not 100% sure on what to focus on. Is it my body? Breath? My thoughts? 

 

 

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5 hours ago, SaltyMeatballs said:

Nonetheless, I have noticed that I am extremely unaware and totally sucked into mind fantasies while watching porn, hence revealing the potential to break the habit if I happen to shine more awareness on the issue consistently.

Yeah engaging in fantasies is the opposite of being mindful in the moment. 

5 hours ago, SaltyMeatballs said:

I am not 100% sure on what to focus on. Is it my body? Breath? My thoughts? 

I'd say thoughts. What made you want to start watching in the first place as in what else is going on in your life to where you are either bored or distracted? Think about that. Also I'd recommend to think about how a lot of porn is created unethically and try to imagine what they people behind the screen possibly had to go through to produce what you're watching. I'm pretty sure you are explicitly aware of how porn can damage your brain so put the focus on that and how the sensations and thoughts you are getting play into that. That way you become implicitly aware of the damage as well. 

5 hours ago, SaltyMeatballs said:

I have also noticed that its sufficiently hard to stay equanamous during the observation. I tend to develop guilt and shame which is perhaps feeding into the loop.

I know what I said might cause shame but I think that shame can also be dealt with awareness as well. To deal with the shame it is important to forgive yourself. Understand why this is so addictive and why you are getting sucked into it. This can be on a psychological level of how addiction works or on a very personal level of why you began doing what you're doing in the first place.  By having that understanding and empathy for yourself and treating yourself gently, you can get rid of the shame and guilt surrounding it. 

Edited by soos_mite_ah

I have faith in the person I am becoming xD

https://www.theupwardspiral.blog/

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