Dear Meg:

“Isn’t this too soon?” – for the exercise to work for you, you mean- no, it is not too soon, but for continuous progress, you will need to repeat the exercise.

Also, like you mentioned, it was a sunny day- and that was probably a part of the reason you felt better today, but it is not the only reason.

On another day, grey and rainy, or let’s say you feel a bit sick or have a current life problem (let’s say an unexpected expense comes about)- you will not feel as good following the exercise as you did today. Maybe the exercise will not make you feel better at all.

But persist, keep doing the exercise. Be patient with the process of doing it over-time, and you will be in a better mental state sooner than later.

anita

Dear Meg:

Yes, you can write thoughts, absolutely. You can experiment with modifying the exercise and see for yourself what works and what doesn’t. (Try a modification a few times before you conclude it doesn’t work because of other factors involved, such as it being a sunny day or a grey day).

I don’t have anything else to suggest regarding this topic of noise, beyond what I already did,  only that you keep the practice you already started. There is no magical solution that you do once and it works forevermore. It takes the persistent, patient, ongoing practice of the one solution that already worked for you. Modify if needed, and persist.

I do have a suggestion and an invitation- whenever you want my input (on this topic or any other), please post and I will be glad to read and reply to you.

anita

Dear Meg:

You are welcome. Thank you for expressing your appreciation. I am looking forward to your future posts.

anita

Dear Meg:

Can you make a list (1,2,3…) of all the solutions you did try so to lessen your “anxiety and panic over (neighbors’) sounds, how long you tried each, and results: was there a temporary relief and for how long, plus anything relevant to each tried solution?

And then list the solutions you did not try?

anita

Dear Meg:

As far as meditating, I recommend Mark William’s Mindfulness guided meditation series. Regarding PTSD, reading about Complex PTSD may help you (my idea, which you are welcome to abandon at this point, is a result of CPTSD literature that I read a long time ago). The breathing exercises that are working for you, keep doing those. The beginning and ending of every guided meditation I know about is breathing.

A connection has been made in your brain between the neighbors’ sounds and danger. It is difficult to undo this connection. There are people who connect danger to the following things: spiders (arachnophobia), snakes (ophiophobia), confined or crowded paces (claustrophobia), heights (acrophobia), leaving home (agoraphobia), and so on.

Wikipedia on the topic of Phobia states: “A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation… If the feared object or situation cannot be avoided, the affected person experiences significant distress”.

Seems to me that your fear of your neighbors’ sounds is a phobia and therefore any good professional information and suggestions for treatment regarding phobias that are already classified and titled can help you as well. Maybe a self help book regarding this or that  phobia will be helpful to you.

I suggested this at the beginning of your thread- moving out. But you wrote that it is not an option and that there will be neighbors elsewhere as well. It would be nice though if you had quieter neighbors. Older neighbors are not necessarily the answers though- I had an unbelievably noisy neighbor in her sixties or seventies, she was hard of hearing and had the TV/ radio so very, very loud from early morning to late night, so if you moved, better research who the neighbors are before moving.

anita

Dear Meg:

You are welcome. Why do you want to delete this topic? People can benefit reading it!

anita