“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude towards what happens to you.”
—Brian Tracy
Does it ever happen to you that you sat in a car and drove home without being aware of how you got there? Or Did you ever feel a void after a productive day?
This is called living life on an auto-pilot mode. Your body is physically going through whatever motions are required of it, but you’re not really noticing or experiencing anything. Living life mindlessly.
Our brain is wired to make things simple for us. It identifies a repetitive behaviour, and turns it into a habit, an automatic process, something you barely have to think about, to save energy for more difficult things. Once your automating function takes over, you are not really present for it. As a result, you don’t fully live and experience the beautiful journey called life and its moments. In the longer run, it affects your emotional state creating voids and resulting in various mental health disorders.
The opposite of living mindlessly is living life with mindfulness. According to oxford dictionary, mindfulness means focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. It is a therapeutic technique in which participants are taught to focus their attention on a particular stimulus, such as his/her breath, muscle tension etc., during a session. These practices are intended to help nurture “everyday mindfulness.”
Buddha believed that we suffer because our judgemental mind divides all the experiences into good and bad which should be either strived for or avoided leading to psychological distress. Everyday mindfulness involves non-judgmental focus of attention during day-to-day life. Thus, mindfulness can begin to change our inner state by connecting it to the world around us and not letting us be affected by external circumstances and our judgemental thinking patterns.
There are number of ways in which mindfulness can help us. Some of them are discussed below.
- Reduces Stress
- Boosts Creativity
- Improves Sleep
- Improves Relationships
- Reduces Depression and Anxiety
- Reduces Chronic Pain
- Gives Deeper Meaning to Life
- Regulates Eating Habits
- Increases a sense of Happiness
- Promotes Relaxation
Mindfulness is a key component of a number of training programs and therapeutic intervention such as Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). The basic idea is to invite attention to routine activities and use bodily sensation as a way to stay aware and be present in each moment. This can be through practicing formal and non-formal mindfulness strategies or techniques on daily basis.
It is important to note that these techniques are process-oriented rather than an outcome-driven. For example, mindfulness eating doesn’t target weight loss (outcome) but the focus is on appreciating the experience of food (process) which eventually changes one’s overall approach to eating (eat less, savour eating more etc) thereby promoting health benefits such as weight loss.
Let’s look at them briefly. The first three formal techniques require guidance from a trained professional while the last two can be practised without any prior training.
Body Scan
It is guided meditation which involves lying on your back and moving your mind through the different regions of your body in a gradual sequence from feet to head. It helps people to become aware of the exact place where tension, pain, is centred and where it doesn’t exist at all. The goal is not to relieve the pain completely but to promote awareness so one can better manage it.
Sitting meditation
In sitting meditation, people are verbally instructed to sit in a relaxed, upright posture and direct their full attention on the sensations of breathing. They are encouraged to observe their thoughts and let them pass without judging them or engaging in them. People start to notice that thoughts positive or negative last only for a short period of time. It helps them learn the impermanence of all the thoughts.
Mindful Hatha Yoga
In Hatha Yoga modified yoga postures are performed in a slow and mindful manner for about 30 minutes. The aim of the exercise is to focus on the body sensations rather than attaining the perfect exercise postures and movements.
Mindful Eating
Try mindful eating.
- Notice your body (hunger, stress etc)
- Notice the texture, aroma, flavour of the food item
- Be fully present (switch off screens, keep away the books)
- Be non-judgemental (avoiding guilt/expectation that pops in your mind)
Five Senses
It’s a simple exercise to centre yourself and connect with your environment whenever you find yourself getting caught up in your thoughts and feelings.
- Stop for a moment
- Look around, and name five things you can see.
- Listen carefully, and name five things you can hear.
- Name five things you can feel in contact with your body. (your fingers on the keyboard, your back against the chair etc)
Further, before practicing this technique it is important develop mindful attitude which includes:
- Being Non-Judgemental of your experiences.
- Being Patient with the process and allowing things to unfold on their own time.
- Trusting your own emotions, thoughts, intuitions and abilities
- Having a Beginner’s mind that is approaching things like a new born baby and not letting illusion of knowing things drive your present experiences.
- Having Non-Striving Mind that is not to focus on the outcome rather trusting the process.
- Increasing Acceptance for you ownthoughts, feelings, sensations, and beliefs.
- Letting go of your past experiences and future expectations.
- Being curious and kind
Clearly, mindfulness is a life skill and not restricted to daily practice session. Meditation and Yoga are just one part of mindfulness practices. Mindfulness is an attitude and a state of mind towards daily events which enhances mental wellbeing and increase contentment that we all desire from our mundane routines. Next time you feel lost or devoid of happiness, remember, Be Mindful!
Wishing you the best of mental health today and always!
Huda Naaz
Apala Aggarwal Tuteja