I realise I have always been overly focused on my inner stream of thoughts and feelings.
It is only recently that I resigned to fate and wanted to make the best out of this habit. That’s especially so after the added understanding of how introverts function. So for example, I tried “adding value” to the habit by not only paying attention to inner voice, but also reflecting on them, and understanding the reasons behind them. That way, it allowed me to understand why I think in a certain pattern, and why I feel certain emotions to particular situations. Kinda reminded me of the “meta-cognition” and “double-loop learning” mechanism that my Professor mentioned in seminars.
Through this increased awareness and reinforcing through little reflections here and there everyday, I started seeing benefits, eg. being able to identify similar situations quicker and handling them better each time.
The down side is: I don’t know if it’s a good thing to be stuck with this habit. It’s so hard to control it sometimes. I can just switch off unconsciously and walk around in a daze on the streets. Sometimes I don’t even know where exactly I’m walking or don’t remember what others said. This happens most and easiest when the “external stimulation” is wayyyy toooooo overwhelming, like walking in crowds, or when too many conversations are happening at a go. I would just automatically shut off from everything and be in my own world in my head.
Guess I need to learn how to stay focused on the surroundings more from now on.
hey joyce,
what you need is to also train yourself to be mindful. for a start, don’t think too much. sensemake yes, but not speculate. introspection is part of the sensemaking process. it makes you aware of things and understand why it happens. be in control of it. it can be a very powerful thing. just don’t start going into the “what ifs”. being able to shut off in the midst of noise is a very good start, but when you do it, use it to focus on your mindfulness to do what you are doing at that moment. don’t allow your mind to shut off and getting into a state of daze. control it.
Um I still don’t get what you mean by controlling the introspection.
“use it to focus on your mindfulness to do what you are doing at that moment. ”
Especially this line. Okay what you said sounds very logical but quite generic so I still don’t really get it. Any specific “strategies” people can use to do so??
hey joyce, what i meant was – when you said “I can just switch off unconsciously and walk around in a daze on the streets. Sometimes I don’t even know where exactly I’m walking or don’t remember what others said. This happens most and easiest when the “external stimulation” is wayyyy toooooo overwhelming, like walking in crowds, or when too many conversations are happening at a go. I would just automatically shut off from everything and be in my own world in my head.”
for people like us who has the tendency to look inwards, it is easy to want to shut off everything when the external stimulus is overwhelming. it is part of our escape mechanism, it helps us protect ourselves like what an ostrich would do. but what we really want is to understand why we go into this mode. cos this understanding would help us take control of the situation and rather than escape from it, allow us to exist with it, or even perhaps enjoy it. for a start, when you find yourself getting into such a daze, refocus your energies towards reminding yourself to be mindful of your “situation”. look inwards and ask why you behave like that. when you can understand the reasons why, you will be able to start finding ways to manage yourself.
hmmm, do i make sense?
Okay starting to see what you mean..
I tried what you suggested:
So for starters, each time I went into dazed mode I catch myself doing it.
Reason why I do that is, like you mentioned, the external “stimuli” in the environment was too overwhelming. What I’m trying to learn now is strategies to deal with this.. or like what you said, “co-exist” with this mechanism.
Am I still making sense Haahaa
you are moving along the right path