I worked with people with Dementia as a health care manager. I learned a lot about mental illness from this devastating illness. This brain illness affects cognitive functioning, thinking, and sufferers can struggle to communicate effectively. Some patients I used to work with had an ongoing out loud dialogue that didn’t seem to have a switch offsetting.
Their relatives described their conversations as irrational and disconnected. For many, they struggled to make sense of what their loved ones were talking out loud.
Sometimes I sat and listened to the Dementia patients’ monologues. I wanted to see if I could make sense of them. Some monologues were about conversations they seem to have with someone from their past. Other times they seem to be about an inner dialogue that they were having with themselves. This inner dialogue reminded me of my internal conversations with myself.
Possibly you can relate to this experience of listening to an inner voice that narrates your opinions, likes, and dislikes. This voice tells you how you feel about situations that trouble you and is also very specific about justifying disagreements with others. No matter how aware or not you are of this voice, it is always there. The more aware I have become of it, the more I think it does not have a switch off the button.
One of the key factors I noticed from listening to these out loud dialogues of dementia patients is that they aren’t that different from my own. Theirs seem to be mostly about the past; mine will also focus on my history and ignore the present.
This conclusion got me thinking: Is my inner dialogue also irrational?
Mindfulness Tips:
1. The power of a meditation mantra
2. One meditation story: Maybe
3. Bring mindfulness to your situation
4. Let it go mindfully
5.. One mindful meditation question: What problem are you dealing with that you could let go with a “Maybe”?
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Show notes: https://happymeditator.com/how-to-emotional-suffering-is-created/
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