Back to Silence

[Henry Orlando FL]

Henry, thanks for the response. This approach feels very familiar from my experience with meditation. In Anapanasati meditation, the focus is on the breath, and you note each time your attention drifts from it.

This practice is quite similar. I go about my day and note whenever my attention shifts to my tinnitus. I tried it today, and to avoid the constant need for noting, here's what I'm doing—let me know if this sounds right.

When I notice my attention has wandered to the tinnitus, I pause and try to observe how I'm feeling. However, I don't keep noting each time my attention stays on the tinnitus. Instead, I wait until my focus naturally shifts to something else and only note the next time my attention returns to the tinnitus. I think this also answers @Francesco's question, as I'm essentially noting only when my attention first moves to the tinnitus, not when it lingers there.

Does that sound correct?

After just one day, this approach has already given me a sense of control and empowerment. I'm very excited to have a technique like this to try!

It's really nice to read about your progress on the road to habituation. I'm reminded of Henry Ford's quote, "If you think you can or you think you can't, you are right." That idea does have some validity here, though it's true that, for some unexplained reason, certain people do not reach stage 4 of habituation. On the other hand, there are people with severe tinnitus who have reached stage 4 or at least experienced less suffering by working on habituation.

I think you have a solid approach, focusing your attention on tinnitus just once for the entire event, then shifting back to your breathing. That seems like an effective method. Sometimes, the best path is the one that works for you, rather than rigidly following a prescribed approach. I've found that we often need to adapt techniques to fit our unique situations, rather than feeling bound by strict rules. We all learn from experience, sometimes by trial and error, and by adding our own innovations or exceptions to the established methods.

Here's what I mean by the stages of habituation, in case you haven't seen it yet:

I hope this is useful.

 

[withintention]

Thank you for the response, @Henry Orlando FL.

I'm very interested to hear if anyone with constant, unmaskable tinnitus has used this method successfully. If so, how did you approach noting your response to tinnitus that doesn't come and go but is instead constant? Did you make just one note per time period? Did you note when your response changed? Or did you use another approach? I'd love to learn from someone who has had success with this.