Wild Minds network

Maladaptive Daydreaming: where wild minds come to rest

Mindfullness

I've found a meditation technique that i think it could be very useful for being more focused and daydreaming less.

Mindfullness is an ancient Buddhist practice which is very relevant for life today. Mindfulness is a very simple concept. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally. This increases awareness, clarity and acceptance of our present-moment reality, (Helping control the MDD).

Mindfulness is indicated to be done in situations where we are in “automatic pilot” (automatic pilot in our case surely will be daydreaming), like driving a car, pacing, rest in the bed, washing dishes…

For example: In a car, we can sometimes drive for miles on “automatic pilot”, without really being aware of what we are doing. In the same way, we may not be really “present”, moment-by-moment, for much of our lives: We can often be “miles away” without knowing it.

Think in all the activities we do in “automatic pilot” With the simple techniques that Mindfulness give us we could stop daydreaming in a lot of situations, letting us control more our MDD.

There are a lot of information in Internet. I’ll do a bit more research and play Mindfullness. I will tell you my conclusions.

www.oxfordmindfulness.org

www.mindfulexperience.org

http://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/

www.allconsidering.com/2009/10-mindfulness-exercises

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Mindfulness_(psychol...

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mevve on October 6, 2012 at 1:07pm

Mindfulness is awesome! I would def recommend everyone with MD to do so.

From what I understand, you haven't tried mindfulness yet, right? Are you going to start taking a course?

Permalink Reply by Geingart on October 11, 2012 at 11:34am

I want to do this course: www.real-worldmindfulness.com/training.htm

I hope it will work. !!!

Mevve said:

Mindfulness is awesome! I would def recommend everyone with MD to do so.

From what I understand, you haven't tried mindfulness yet, right? Are you going to start taking a course?

Permalink Reply by Marla Singer on October 12, 2012 at 3:30pm

'It does not do to dwell on fantasy and forget to live'

It may be a harry potter quote but it's one that helps me

Permalink Reply by Angela on March 29, 2013 at 5:04pm

I just can add that practicing mindfullness is a really really great advice. I started with it about a month ago and combined it with some very simple meditation techniques like breathing exercises. It helped me so muchto control my MD behaviour.

Permalink Reply by Dreamer on March 3, 2015 at 2:56am

Thanks Geingart for all those links and advice. I agree - mindfulness is a very useful tool if we take the time each day to perfect the technique.

Permalink Reply by honey successfull on March 23, 2017 at 9:26am

Dreamer said:

Thanks Geingart for all those links and advice. I agree - mindfulness is a very useful tool if we take the time each day to perfect the technique.

Permalink Reply by honey successfull on March 23, 2017 at 9:28am

i think mindfullness and meditation is a great way to reduce maladaptive daydreaming

Permalink Reply by Dreamer on December 26, 2017 at 9:07am

I completely agree! I think that MDD is the opposite of mindfulness. We lose awareness of ourselves and get lost in fantasy. Mindfulness is a way to bring direct attention back to our bodies, thoughts and feelings. I admit that this can be VERY uncomfortable and difficult if you have spend much of your life avoiding these places. If you have a history of trauma, it might even be good to start to learn mindfulness with a therapist or professional so that you can safely deal with what comes up by being present in your body/feelings.

Moving meditation can be helpful as well: For example, yoga that has a focus on breath and body awareness.