Monday, November 02, 2009

Mindfulness as a Recovery Tool

The practice of mindfulness is particularly important to those struggling with eating disorders. This is because it is so easy for an individual to become consumed with eating disorder thoughts, which by definition are not positive or self-affirming.

“I look like a pig … if I eat this meal I will get fat … no one likes me… if I was thin, I would have friends.” How often do such thoughts, or others like them, come to mind? And the problem is, there is never just one thought; one leads to another to another. Soon they are tripping over each other, trying to take center stage, leaving the individual distracted and overwhelmed by negative emotions.

This is why mindfulness has value. Instead of heading down that road of negativity, a person needs to STOP and consciously redirect their own thoughts, by looking, hearing, touching – whatever it takes to break the cycle.

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