Thanks Laura. This was lovely. Dissociation lives on a spectrum and, like anything, can be super useful, and really harmful. If we learn to harness it, we can use it for good. Mindfulness in action. Thanks for your thoughtful writing.
Ordinary attention was never a complete, unfiltered contact with everything present. It's a continuous, adaptive act of leaving almost everything out so that one thread can be followed clearly, which means the brain's basic operating mode and what gets diagnosed as pathological dissociation aren't different in kind. They're different points on the same spectrum, running from useful and chosen all the way to overwhelming and involuntary.
Thanks Laura. This was lovely. Dissociation lives on a spectrum and, like anything, can be super useful, and really harmful. If we learn to harness it, we can use it for good. Mindfulness in action. Thanks for your thoughtful writing.
Yes— So much more helpful to think of it as a spectrum rather than binary! Thank you so much, Jennifer!
Ordinary attention was never a complete, unfiltered contact with everything present. It's a continuous, adaptive act of leaving almost everything out so that one thread can be followed clearly, which means the brain's basic operating mode and what gets diagnosed as pathological dissociation aren't different in kind. They're different points on the same spectrum, running from useful and chosen all the way to overwhelming and involuntary.
Love these beautiful thoughts! Well said. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!