Mindfulness: The Power of Noticing
In recent years mindfulness has become something of a buzzword in mental health. Although the practice of mindfulness has been around for centuries it has only recently gained significant public attention. This is due to a growing body of research demonstrating strong correlations between practicing mindfulness and improved mental health.
Personally, I believe mindfulness retains a supreme position of importance in mental health. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that mindfulness is a core part of any successful mental health intervention, whether we are conscious of it or not. Because I feel so strongly about the power of mindfulness I have decided to dedicate a series of posts to helping others understand some of the basics of mindfulness and how it contributes to our well-being.
So, without further ado...
What is Mindfulness?
Sometimes in order to understand what something is it is helpful to first establish what it is not. Mindfulness is not a religion; it is not breathing a certain way; it is not sitting cross-legged on the floor making “Buddha signs” with your hands and thinking positive thoughts; it is not mystical; it is not a relaxation technique; it is not ‘escapism’; it is not chanting or going into a trance; it is not about moral development; it is not harnessing invisible energies; it will not solve all your problems and, it will not allow you to levitate.
Instead, mindfulness is about awareness. True, mindfulness may relax you, but it is not about relaxation. A mindfulness practice may have you focus on your breathing, but it’s not about the breathing. Jon Kabat-Zinn defined mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgementally.”
Try this: Wherever you are reading this stop and consciously notice any sounds around you. It may be an air conditioner droning, or a washing machine churning, or the distant sounds of construction outside. Just focus on the sound and hold your attention on it for a minute. There. You just practiced mindfulness! Well done.
Now notice that you can shift your attention purposefully. Let go of the sounds and draw your attention to any tension or pain in your body. It may be in your neck or shoulders, or your calves may be aching. Whatever it is, just notice it. Be aware of it. Again, this is mindfulness and you are well on your way to becoming a mindfulness expert.
The awareness that comes from mindfulness helps us combat some of the problems associated with going through life on ”automatic pilot”.
"Most of us spend the greater portion of our lives on tape. Without awareness we carry out preprogrammed actions, feel preset emotions, and act on predetermined judgments. This taped living comes not because we are helplessly the creatures of our habit systems, our environments, our glands, or our ancestry, but because we have lost our centers."
(Bugental, as quoted in Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2012). Counseling and psychotherapy theories in context and practice: Skills, strategies, and techniques. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
(Why would one want to become a mindfulness expert, you say? What does listening to my washer or noticing my sore muscles have to do with my well-being? I’ll address that later in another post when I cover some of the benefits of mindfulness)
For now let’s be satisfied with establishing what mindfulness is. Simply put, it is a state of being. In addition, mindfulness can be a type of meditation. There is a lot of different kinds of meditation--visualization, mantra meditation, etc. However, mindfulness meditation is a meditation technique where you specifically focus on the present moment.
In summary, there are three important elements to mindfulness:
Purposeful attention and awareness
A focus on the Present moment
Now that we have established what mindfulness is, we can turn to the work of examining its individual elements a little more closely.
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