What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a buzz word that’s thrown around a lot these days. You may have heard about the practice, and maybe heard that it’s beneficial for you in some way, but the practice itself is rarely defined and described. Here is one definition: Mindfulness (or sometimes referred to as ‘meditation’) is the practice of being in the present moment, without judgement. The benefits of mindfulness are endless, including improved concentration and productivity, improved impulse control, pain management, increased ability to feel empathy for self and others and happier mood states.
If I were to ask you to write down each thought that enters your head over the next few minutes, what might we notice? For some people, they might notice that many of their thoughts are mostly reflective of the past (e.g. did I leave the door unlocked? Did I make a fool of myself in that meeting at work?). For others, they may notice they tend to think mostly in the future (e.g. what groceries do I have to get later? What will it be like visiting my friends tomorrow?). Although past and future thoughts are often necessary and helpful at times, we may get consumed by them and this can feel exhausting as we have very little to no control over the past or future. In fact, people who struggle with low mood or depression tend to excessively think in the past, and people with anxiety disorders tend to excessively think about the future.
What we do have full control over is the present moment. We are always physically in the present moment, where we can execute control over what we do, what we feel, and how we respond to our environment. Therefore, when our thoughts tend to lie in the past or future, we can feel disconnected, upset, and ‘miss’ a lot of the beautiful things happening around us at any given moment. It is almost impossible to be in the moment when our minds are wandering somewhere else. Being in the present moment, fully, and without judgement is what many therapists and other mental health experts say is the key to living a life of happiness and self-fulfillment.
And guess what? Mindfulness is a practice that can be worked into your daily routine to start counteracting the negative emotions associated with past and future thinking. Think of mindfulness as a brain ‘workout’ – the more you practice, the stronger the neural connections in the ‘present moment’ areas of brain will be! By practicing mindfulness daily, we can weaken the areas of our brain that are used to overthink about the future and past, a type of therapy of sorts for depression and anxiety.
Want to give it a try? Start slow and be gentle with yourself. Try taking just a few moments to really notice, with all five senses, what is going on around you. Even as you read this, notice the position of your body, the feeling of the chair or ground underneath you, the texture of your clothes, the temperature of the room, the sounds around you. Notice what it feels like to be in your body in this moment. Congratulations! You just practiced a bit of mindfulness. The more you practice, the longer you can try to hold your attention to the moment. At times, you will find yourself getting sidetracked, and that’s OK! Simply notice that your mind is wandering, and gently bring it back to your exercise.
Want more? There are thousands of Youtube and App-based mindfulness activities you can try, ranging from a few minutes to hours a day. There are also mounds of books available about mindfulness practice at Indigo and on Amazon. Often, therapists can help with mindfulness training as well. If you think you could benefit from mindfulness practice, contact Brookhaven Psychotherapy and ask specifically for a mindfulness trained clinician.
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