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noname223

Archangel
Aug 18, 2020
5,243
Here is a good article about the concept of self-awareness and mindfulness. I struggle with it a lot. But it is an interesting topic for recovery.

I think this article is quite good. Maybe not perfect but a good start.
Though I had this thread in mind due to another story. I made a little bit of a research because I was curious. There is a German famous celebrity /comedian who recently admitted he had depression. He was a lot in the news due to it. He wants to be a role model for other people who struggle with it. I was not sure what to think about him. I am still ambivalent.

I have different thoughts. He recently published a book with the title "You must not believe everything you think". Maybe it is not that good to judge about him without reading his book. But I have watched some video footage of interviews with him. Not sure whether he just uses his story to promote his book.
I read some recencions. Some were quite positive but others rather raised my scepticism.

First of all I don't criticize the concept self-awareness. I think there is a certain kind of wisdom in the title of this book. I am not that much of an expert or I don't have the time or energy to fully elaborate on it this is why I gave this link to the article.

I rather have doubts about his story. Seemingly he pretends to have been 30 years long depressive and then an 8 week day hospital stay have solved all of his problems and now he is healed. He sells it as a survivor story. He tells he is a single parent and cares so much about his kids. In the book I have read he described being on vacation while a nanny cared about his child(ren).

Many were angry at him in the reviews. His story is very superficial and does not really represent the real struggle of people with depression/ or the struggle of being a single parent. Yeah I would have never bought that book. I don't like such celebrity books about their lives. For me it seems often to be quite artificial, sometimes I have the feeling it is just an advertisement, and I am often not convinced if not a ghostwriter was the one who wrote it.
Maybe I am unfair towards him. But I try to be careful and not giving people a cash grab for such superficial stories.

Personally I also don't feel represented. I mean this is not how life usually works if you have depression. Usually it needs more than 8 week treatment and then you are healed forever. Happy end. I rather get angry due to this false notion.

Of course it is good when people seek for professional help. Medication can be for some people a blessing. But I just get really annoyed if people think this is how mental illness works when I tell people about my story. It is aburd.
Not sure whether this thread should be in recovery or off-topic. As I said the concept presented in the article is quite interesting and can be helpful. But I will spare me some time and money and not gonna buy the book of this dude.
 
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Pluto

Pluto

Meowing to go out
Dec 27, 2020
4,033
The advice itself is good and could also be taken as an pathway into spiritual awakening. That's because everything in your experience is a thought, from the labels we put on things/people, the stories we tell about the past and, at the root of it all, our very idea of who we are.

Only the silent, self-aware presence here and now is real. Its nature is constantly overlooked as we are always being distracted by noise of thoughts, which get believed into existence.

It gets very destabilising at this point and there's a barrier of fear that must be crossed, but if followed through, leads to a dramatic shift in identity analogous to waking from a bad dream.
 
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