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Wandering mind and easily distracted

Discussion in 'Support Subforum' started by Richsimm22, Mar 16, 2014.

  1. Richsimm22

    Richsimm22 Well known member

    Hi I was just journaling about one of my personality traits which is Low self esteem. As I was journaling I got onto the fact that I'm an easily distracted person and I have a mind that wanders easily. I can be in the middle of a conversation and I'll go into my own thoughts and stop listening. I'm also a bit of a daydreamer and sometimes it actually takes my wife quite an effort to get my attention if I'm away with the fairies in my own mind or if I'm really trying to concentrate on something. So on one hand I'm easily distracted and my mind goes into other thoughts but then sometimes I'm not so easily distracted like when I'm really concentrating on a tv show or reading and my wife shouts me a few times before I realise. I generally have to really concentrate on anything I do. If I'm on the phone and people are in the room it distracts me.
    I'm just wondering what people think of this and how it could be related to my tms. I know it's good to let your mind wander during journaling but I seem to do it all the time.
     
  2. Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)

    Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021) Beloved Grand Eagle

    Hi, Richsimm22. Sounds like you're a "Walter Mitty," the James Thurber character who daydreamed a lot.
    Nothing wrong in that, actually. Just be sure not to let your mind wander off driving the car when you're behind the wheel.

    If you haven't seen it, the best version of the movie, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" starred Danny Kaye in the 1940s
    and you can rent the DVD from Netflix. It's lots of fun.

    You may have to practice "living in the moment," to become more aware of your surroundings and others with you,
    but that's something most people need to learn. There web sites about it that offer help, and posts on the forums here, too.
     
    Richsimm22 likes this.
  3. Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)

    Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021) Beloved Grand Eagle

    Herbie, another who posts often on the forums, and I have written a book coming out soon
    and some sections are about living in the present, such as these:

    Oprah Winfrey believes in living in the present moment. She suggests, “Breathe. Let go.

    And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”

    So, too, did Groucho Marx believe in living in the present. The comedian got serious when he said, “I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have justoneday, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.”

    The American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau (Walden) (1817-1862) wrote: “You can never ignore the future, because it is the place that we are all heading, but the point is… don’t live your life constantly looking forward and ignoring the present. You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. There is no other life but this.”

    Buddha said, “The secret of health for both mindand body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

    Jesus said we should not be anxious about anything that might happen tomorrow:

    “Sufficient for today is its own troubles.”

    Eric says, “Living in the present to me is enjoying every second we have. It’s about love and peace and how we learn to forgive.

    “When I live in the now I totally get freed up of any distractions and can become anything I want to be. This is how I think right before preaching or a gathering or praying for someone real sick. I always enter into the now at those times, but I’m also behind the cloud of glory. Living in the present is like an instant fog cleaner for the brain.”

    Since I’m still learning to live in the present myself, and find it to be very elusive, like trying to reclaiming the most beautiful rainbow I ever saw, reflected in a soap bubble I blew oneday when I was a boy.


    I surfed the Internet looking for ways to live in the present, and my search led me to a posting by Chickenbone in a TMSWiki.org forum. She wrote about Guy Finley, an American philosopher, spiritual teacher, and self-help author more than 30 books. I found time to read one of them, Let Go and Live in the Now, which gave some excellent guidance on those two very important TMS subjects. In that book, Finley says contentment comes when we learn how to “bridge the distance between who we are at the present and what we may become,” and focuses on the importance of living in “the now.”
     
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