Do you ever feel that your thoughts are racing? Or feel overwhelmed with so many things on your to-do list that you'll never get them all done? Or catch yourself worrying or ruminating to the point it's affecting your mood? You may benefit from practicing mindfulness.
Mindfulness is a practice that originated in Buddhist traditions in Asia. Scientific research supports the benefits that have been experienced by practitioners for centuries, including management of stress, anxiety, depression, pain and chronic illness.
Jon Kabat-Zinn has been researching mindfulness for decades and provides the following description: “Simply put, mindfulness is moment-to-moment non-judgmental awareness. It is cultivated by purposefully paying attention to things we ordinarily never give a moment’s thought to. It is a systematic approach to developing new kinds of agency, control, and wisdom in our lives, based on our inner capacity for paying attention and on the awareness, insight and compassion that naturally arise from paying attention in specific ways.” (Kabat-Zinn, 2013)
Specifically what you pay attention to can vary. Depending on the exercise and your intentions, you may bring attention to your breath, thoughts, body sensations or emotions. The objective is to experience with openness, curiosity and acceptance, rather than judgment.
In our world of busy lives and constant access to technology, when faced with difficult emotions, we often turn to other methods of coping, such as escaping and distraction, scrolling through social media, playing video games, “getting things done,” socializing, eating mindlessly, drinking alcohol or using drugs. These methods may make us feel better temporarily, but the effects don’t last, and problems may even multiply, once we return to the reality of our lives. Mindfulness practice can create lasting changes, helping you to deal with pain, illness or difficult emotions more effectively.
One of the reasons mindfulness has lasting changes on emotions management is that through mindfulness, you can actually change your brain’s connections (neuroplasticity). Regular practice can lead to a thinning of the area of the brain associated with appraising and reacting to perceived threats (the amygdala), leading to less stress and anxiety. Additionally, there can be a thickening of regions of the brain associated with learning, memory, emotional regulation and sense of self and perspective taking.
Mindfulness gives you the opportunity to be in the present moment, rather than ruminating about past events or worrying about future events. When you get caught up in thought, catastrophizing, regret or drama, you are more able to realize it is happening and bring your attention back to what is most important in that moment. You may also become more aware of patterns in thinking, allowing you to respond thoughtfully rather than react automatically to stressful situations.
Here is a brief mindfulness exercise with Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D., co-author of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook.
A cute video on mindfulness.
Sources:
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full Catastrophe Living. New York, USA: Bantam Books.
Davis, D.M. & Hayes, J.A. (2012). Benefits of mindfulness meditation. American Psychological Association. 43,(7), p. 64. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner.aspx)
