#concentration

[pratchettquotes]

They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man's mind wonderfully; unfortunately, what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that, in the morning, it will be in a body that is going to be hanged.

Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

[moznohayanie]

今月の地獄難易度神経衰弱枠（何その枠 『マジで草。』 場札をめくってお野菜の写真で神経衰弱をしつつ、揃ったら揃ったでそれが「何の草か」まで指摘して正解しないとゲットはできないという植物クラスタのためのゲーム。 しろ菜とチンゲンサイの区別とかわかんねぇ！！！！

[study-core-101]

any suggestions on how reduce screen time and stop wasting time on social media?

a hard one (who doesnt spend a little bit too much in their phones) but a few ideas to try out

A widget on your phone about how much screen time you had. A lot of phones come with this option, it lets you know how much time you spend entirently on your phone and usually, the top 3 most used apps of the day. There is nothing that makes one feel more guilty than going to watch tiktok and next to the app there is widget that tells you you already spend 2hours and 30 minutes on it that day.

Social media feeds are made to be addictive, that's why you open the app to see a notification and end up spending 3 hours on it. If you think something like "I'm just going to see if my crush posted a story" or "I'll see how my lastest post did and then i'll do the homework" DONT. You'll open the app with the intention of only 5 minutes and we all know it isnt going to be 5 minutes.

Set alarms. Set a "goal" like, only using it for 20 minutes. Set the alarm in your phone and when it sounds, close the app.

Try other activities. We mostly go to our phones because we are bored. Go on a walk, clean you room, cook cookies, read a book, draw, talk to someone irl. Look for alternatives. Some of them will be difficult at start (social media is known for ruining attention span and things like reading requiere that), do it gradually.

Hope this helps!

-Jay

[warmgreytail]

[sultryepiphanies]

Focus.

I want to seize the day before it seizes me. To seize the mind before anything else can. Focus on the important things. Remind myself why I am doing all that I am. Where is it taking me? Where do I want to go and who do I want to be? Who am I now? And know that is enough already.

[tiredpapergirl]

Help! I'm trying to research about adhd but my adhd is making it really hard to concentrate. 😆

[sweetpeapoppy]

Him

[ebodinphotos]

Citroën 2CV

©2013 : EBodinPhotography Site : https://ebodinphotography.com/ (pensez à laisser un message dans le livre d'or)

[beyondfabric]

Frizmworks SS23 Lookbook

Can’t quite figure what I love the most about this: the clothes, the furniture or the uncanny coolness of the model. 

[postcard-from-the-past]

French Library in the Heuberg military camp (and later concentration camp) in Stetten am kalten Markt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

French vintage postcard

[principiumindividuationis777]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.”

– Rollo May

[Poetic Outlaws]

[mbti-notes]

Anon wrote: INFJ. I experienced childhood trauma (verbal, emotional, physical, sexual) and have a lot of difficulty with learning due to issues with concentration and memory. I also have issues with emotional dysregulation and poor sleep. I've received C-PTSD as a diagnosis, with BPD traits (I think something in the ballpark of BPD may run in my family).

During conversations I'm often only really attending to 10-50% of what is said but can usually interpolate due to redundancy. However, during technical lectures or other situations with much lower redundancy, I'm totally lost. I believe this is one factor preventing me from achieving my full potential. In my current state I'm still capable of making a good living and living a comfortable life, but I know there is far more I can achieve.

In the near term I plan to focus on Fe/Ti - emotional intelligence, social skills, and also developing Ti expertise in a specific topic aligned with my Ni vision via the right set of Fe commitments and collaborations - while sidestepping the poor concentration issue for now. I can see that sufficient prior expertise (Ti) on a conversation/lecture topic also helps to compensate for the concentration issues. You gave me similar advice (let Ti do the heavy lifting) a couple years ago.

However, in the long run, if I really want to achieve my full potential, I can see that I'll need to directly address my concentration difficulties and other ways in which I believe trauma has stalled Se development.

Do you have any thoughts on how to restore my ability to be present and learn more effectively? As of now, as part of my general healing process, I'm focusing on building healthy interpersonal relationships (likely just platonic in the near future, in part because I'm not sure if I'm currently capable of having sex), emotional regulation, learning how to drive (which I've avoided due to my poor concentration, but maybe I'll be forced to improve out of necessity), and martial arts.

I may also undergo physical therapy to be able to get a Pap smear done (as of now it's seemingly not possible due to anxiety). I also believe that the memories of the worst trauma are repressed, and am considering psychedelics and EMDR to uncover and process these memories, which perhaps could be necessary to fully heal and address my concentration and memory issues.

I've had very poor experiences with psychiatry and clinical psychology (misdiagnosis, gaslighting, fraud, and shocking levels of incompetence) so am not super eager to engage with that system again, though I'm reading the DBT manual currently and also deriving my own personal principles for emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness (the latter I find to be easier, likely due to my Se issues).

I know you're likely going to say that I should consult a mental health professional, but I respect your judgment way more than any of the ones I've worked with. Also, an implicit assumption I'm making here is essentially equating focus/concentration/memory with Se, which may be inaccurate. Finally, I can't thank you enough for this blog. It's been lifechanging, to say the least.

Also, another assumption here is that trauma is the cause of the concentration and memory issues - that's my current hypothesis but I could certainly be wrong. My mom (who I think also has BPD traits) frequently complains about her difficulty concentrating. It's possible she also experienced trauma, or maybe it's genetic. No one has been willing to diagnose me with ADHD due to no evidence of learning issues in childhood. BPD dissociation could ultimately be the best explanation.

---------------------

Poor concentration is a lot like a sore throat, in that it can be a symptom of a great many things. By itself, it doesn't tell you a lot. The underlying cause could be relatively simple like poor physical health, or it could be a psychological issue like C-PTSD, or it could be a very complicated combination of factors working together, each needing their own solution. Let's unpack:

1) Physical Health: Brain functioning is heavily dependent upon physical health. Without a healthy body to support the brain, you won't possess enough energy and will to perform the executive function tasks you need for self-management and self-improvement. You mentioned poor sleep. A well-rested mind is essential for good concentration and quality sleep is essential for efficient memory consolidation.

Your brain is a physical object that requires physical care and maintenance. Without a nutritious diet, quality sleep, adequate exercise and blood flow, and proper stress/illness management, brain operation suffers. Therefore, improving mental health should always begin with improving your physical habits, establishing healthy physical routines, and maintaining work-life balance. Improving physical health also goes a long way to improving emotional regulation.

2) Mental Health: Yes, trauma can interfere with focus and memory operations, but this doesn't mean it's the cause, so I wouldn't be so quick to jump to that conclusion. Focus and memory issues aside, it is generally important to your well-being to be mentally healthy, so you need to address your mental health issues in a timely manner.

You mention three issues: C-PTSD due to a history of abuse, BPD traits, and emotional dysregulation. It's often the case that these three things are interrelated, but it's important to know for sure by getting properly checked out by a mental health professional.

There is a good chance that DBT will be an effective treatment for these three issues because it teaches you how to manage emotions better. But I suggest that you work with a DBT specialist rather than go it alone. The presence of BPD traits makes it likely that you have difficulty being objective about yourself, so going it alone could inadvertently lead you straight into Ti loop if you're not careful (assuming you're not already there). Due to the necessity of Fe development, it is vital that you have an objective person to reflect important truths back to you.

Every profession has its fair share of duds and bad apples. Not everyone graduates with honors, after all. I understand that you've had negative experiences with professionals and I can only reiterate that it's important to keep shopping around until you find the right fit. Being much more specific about the problem/issue you want to address can help you narrow down the search.

3) Learning and Improvement: You are drawn to my blog and its ideas about type development. While lack of presence may be an indication of Se misuse, the solution isn't as simple as developing Se. You're not anywhere near ready to develop the inferior function, and fixating on it is likely to be harmful.

In INFJs, lack of presence isn't directly caused by Se. It's more likely to be related to maladaptive Fe. When INFJs aren't able to handle the intense feelings and emotions that Fe opens them up to, they tend to develop a habit of detaching from the world and retreating into their own self-created world through Ni-Ti loop. Detachment means you separate yourself from reality, and lack of presence is one common symptom of that.

You can't be fully present and learn well when you're not learning for the sake of learning but rather treat learning merely as a means to some other, more unconscious end. When there's a lot happening in the unconscious, especially if you have a long running habit of repressing feelings and emotions, you're being driven by dark forces. If this is true for you, your real potential isn't to be found in learning or "intelligence" but rather in honesty and becoming more self-aware, i.e., facing up to the things that haunt you, which goes back to point #2 about getting proper therapy to address your trauma.

You seem very motivated to improve yourself and your life, which is generally a good thing. However, this motivation should be closely examined in INFJs because they often suffer from perfectionism and use "self-improvement" to feed unhealthy control issues. In other words, their motives can be suspect. You say you're not living up to your "full" potential, e.g., you should be able to focus better, be more present, remember more, perform better, etc, but is this really true? Says who? Who is the one defining this notion of "potential"? What are you really aiming for and why? What does "full" mean, i.e., at what point does it end?

At some point, if you ever hope to be at peace, you have to accept the reality of your limitations and be content in who you are, as is. Are you happy with yourself and who you are? Is your quest for self-improvement motivated by love of yourself, love of life, and love of others? Or is it fueled by ego, illusion, insecurity, guilt, shame, or self-loathing? It is very important to answer these questions honestly. Attempting self-improvement with unconscious intentions can lead to undesirable consequences. It sounds like you're trying to do way too much at once, which is usually a warning sign. Biting off more than you can chew is a very good way to choke.

Your thinking is messy and confused. You've taken the above three points and mashed them together. Despite what you believe about them being related, they are distinct issues that each need proper attention. I've separated them out for you and numbered them in order of importance. Slow down, prioritize the issues in the right order, and take things one SMALL step at a time.

[well-thats-not-ideal]

I JUST DISCOVERED 8D music AND... agsvhdhdhdhzksbx

[thepersonalquotes]

The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible.

Nikola Tesla

[paganmoonbaby]

Motivation and mental clarity spell oil

21st of January

I made this spell oil for mental clarity and overall good energetic vibes to use when I need an extra kick to be productive. This is what I used but if you want to do something different go for it

•Sunflower oil for the base

•Peppermint essential oil for concentration

•Rosemary essential oil for mental clarity

• a few drops of my dragons blood oil for an extra boost in efficiency.

•Coffee beans for energy

•Cinnamon for speed

•dried lemon for clarity and a few lemon seeds to aid in long term growth in my clarity and concentration skills

•and some extra rosemary for again mental clarity and memory boost

A tip! I used a spell jar for this, because it has cork plug it’s not perfect for oils. But to make it useable for oils I glue plastic around the cork so prevent the oil to find its way to the cork. I always do a double layer just in case. In this I just use a piece on a trash bag 🤷🏼‍♀️