Keeping fruitfully occupied helps to distract and heal the body from fear and trauma. studies in America have shown that people who are part of or witness gruesome events are less likely to develop serious mental trauma if they are given some kind of stimulating occupation fairly near to the event itself. (Forgive the really long sentence).

In general fruitful occupation does help with the healing process. Much fear and anxiety stem from rumination and stagnation. Rumination on fear tends to go around in circles….maybe they should have called it percolating instead? so to break that pattern is part of letting go. Letting go is a great idea but not easy when the object is emotional and not physical. Nonetheless, doing something useful, especially in the company of others is a great tool to aid recovery. It helps me to warm back to this life.

We might take many strange turns in our pilgrimage toward peace. But a heart that seeks and still makes mistakes is never forsaken the benefit of that search. the above quote is along those lines. Enjoy.

A long time ago when I was in a day hospital trying to recover from this that and the other, the head nurse suggested that I might use some distraction to reduce my anxiety. He thought that when an anxiety episode started that I should ping/slap the band against my skin and that this would help distract my attention from the fear.

After trying this a few times and even in my burned down state, I realised that I was pinging the band harder and harder without any noticeable effect. In fact I think that it stoked me up a little further and that it was bordering on self harm. You see for me at that time and in my vulnerable state it was an easy thought process to go from an elastic band around the wrist to slamming my fingers in the door or something similar. I took the band off and tried other things instead.

My point is that distraction is good as long as it isn’t harmful and it must be in conjunction with character building and change. If  it’s not then all we are doing is running for the rest of our lives. Over the years as I have become happier with myself, some of  the ‘distractions’ that I have had, have turned into hobbies and interests. This can only be an added bonus to my life.