Have you ever gotten lost in a good novel? The imagery so distinct, and the characters so well-described that it almost seems real . . .
. . . and when you get to the last page you might feel sad that it’s come to an end.
Fiction has a way of taking us to places we wish we could be – places that aren’t necessarily accessible otherwise.
In the short video below, Joan Halifax, PhD tells us about a different kind of fiction, and how it can help people cope with uncertainty.
Not only do healing fictions shape the way people see reality, but they can also affect how we interact with our patients, and vice versa.
To learn about techniques that can help practitioners develop more compassion in their work with clients check out How to Apply Mindfulness to Your Clinical Work.
How have you or your clients used mindfulness to cope with fear or uncertainty? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
I use stories in my work as a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist with adults and children. When I was a speech and language therapist stories were wonderful ways of helping children begin to understand the vocabulary of emotion. Just as we dream in stories that have emotional parallels with our lives, it is a great way of sidling up to an issue, dealing with it safely and then letting it go. Clients often offer metaphors around their conditions that I can develop into a story when they’re in hypnosis, a safe and creative path to healing is opened up. In a way we are subtly teaching our clients to use their imaginations in a healing and supportive way rather than in a problem-focused and limiting way.
In our reality, the pace of life gives people no space to stop and breathe. Mindfulness Meditation brings to our awareness that sacred momentum to observe the outer “movie” and its perception from a place as an observer of that 3D story were we can realize that even sensing that we are part of it, we can still pull our experience as that running movie that is life and that we create. Thank you for sharing all the wisdom of so many talented people in the Mindfulness Meditation community.
TM’s basically the same thing anawyy, except you’re given a secret’ mantra, which is really the same for each age group. Originally, there was only one mantra, RAM which is pronounced RAAHM . Just use that. Vocalise your mantra softly to begin with and over the course of a minute say the mantra softer and softer until you’re only repeating it in your mind, while your consciousness rests on Oneness. You don’t control the breath, just repeat the mantra. if your mind drifts, bring it back.
As a pediatrician with a personal mindfulness practice, I introduce the core concepts of mindfulness to children to build resilience and healthy coping skills. Many of the children I see suffer with physical pain often fueled by emotional distress that is not being addressed. Finding and Following the Breath and Releasing Thought Balloons are two common instructions that i teach aiming to help kids practice returning to the present moment and letting go. Parents can continue this work at home using my book, Parenting Your Stressed Child (New Harbinger, 2011).
My personal practice of mindfulness has been invaluable to me and helps me to hold space for the suffering of others while extending kindness and compassion to each of them as well as myself. I work with other physicians and health professionals to support them in bringing mindfulness into their lives to promote a greater sense of balance and feelings of ease into day to day life.
Thank you for this important forum. May the reach of this movement extend far and wide bringing more voices into the dialogue.
Since all our lives are based on the stories we tell ourselves, I encourage my clients to create their own version of the way they would like things to be. This works equally well with young children and older clients. We can all find fictional characters that we identify with because they shadow our own story. The best thing about stories is that we can change the outcomes. This is true also of dreams. Mindful meditation helps us create enough distance from our physical and emotional sensations, that we can make the desired adjustments more readily. Journaling is a great way to encourage people to start their own writing careers, with themselves as star of the show.