In this fast-paced, results-driven world, it’s easy to get caught up in the bustle of everyday demands. When swept off without a tether, like a plastic bag in the wind, our quality of life depends entirely on the uncontrollable – the stock market’s state, our boss’s mood, the weather, or even our puppy’s decision to poop on the carpet.
When the weight of the world feels like it’s breaking your back and nothing you do seems to make a difference, you might start looking for answers. And maybe, that’s what brought you here.
Mindfulness lets you take back control of your life, let everything else go, and feel the contours of your own body.
Let’s unpack that.
What Is Mindfulness?
Do you spend too much time doing any of these things:
- Dwelling on negative thoughts
- Daydreaming
- Problem-solving
- Time-planning
Chances are, you do. We all do, to varying degrees.
Mindfulness is a form of meditation that reintroduces the mind to the present moment by focusing on what’s happening right now—the body’s sensations, the sounds around you, any passing smells—on purpose and without judgment.
This consciously-applied awareness is a powerful agent of change. None of those negative thoughts or upcoming plans rolling around in your brain exist anymore when your mind focuses on its present experience.
In fact, through this practice, you’ll find that many of the hot button topics that give you so much stress and anxiety will wash away. If that sounds too good to be true, think of it this way:
Your thoughts give you the “illusion of immediacy.” I mean that we humans feel our thoughts, we see them, and thus, we identify with them – a very natural response.
However, University of Maryland, College Park professor Peter Carruthers, author of The Centered Mind: What the Science of Working Memory Shows Us About the Nature of Human Thought, suggests otherwise.
He argues that thoughts are always sensory-based and that those inner sensory images we label as our thoughts are “sustained and manipulated” by brain signals.
Why is that significant?
Because Prof. Carruthers also argues that our amodal propositional attitudes (our beliefs, goals, and decisions—AKA “us”) are never among the contents of our stream of consciousness thought processes.
Thus, those thoughts that disrupt your day are nothing more than chemical processes in your brain. They are not “you,” but simply another input you can bring awareness to — just like you can with sounds, smells, and feelings.
Disassociating yourself from your thoughts empowers you to see awareness in a new light and practice mindfulness non-judgementally.
Benefits of Mindfulness
Admit it, this is why you’re here: to find out what mindfulness can do for you.
Good news, the answer is a lot.
Without getting too “heady” in this section, here are some benefits you can expect to enjoy if you decide to practice mindfulness.
- Reduction in harmful reactivity to events
- Positively promotes healthy coping strategies
- It becomes a potent tool for handling social rejection
- Enhanced attention
- Better sleep
- Lowers the chance of burnout at work
And many, many more.
In a lot of ways, the saying that we humans use only 10 percent of our brains may be primarily due to our collective lack of presence.
Slowing down, embracing the moment, and being here unlocks parts of the mind and body we would never know existed otherwise.
Mindfulness Exercise You Can Do Right Now
Watch Your Breath
See your breath as an anchor, grounding you to this moment in time. Do it at any time of the day –mindfulness is welcome in any activity: walking to work, sitting at your desk, or even waiting in line.
However, when you’re just starting, it might be best to first get your bearings by sitting quietly in a space where you feel safe.
Then close your eyes and observe your breath coming in and out. Feel the sensations in your nostrils, the cold when the breath enters, and the warmth on its exit. You might feel
- Pressure
- Wetness
- Dryness
- Achiness
- Itchiness
- Restlessness
- Pain
- Bliss
The point is to be a silent observer of your body as it does its thing. Breathe and be here.
Conduct a Body Scan
This exercise differs from the last. Instead of focusing your awareness on only one area, you direct your attention across the entire body.
This is an excellent mindfulness practice. By bringing attention to all the different parts of your body and the sensations that each is experiencing, you force your brain into the moment by giving it a simple, gentle task.
Try it out for yourself and see how you feel after a few thorough scans.
Eat Mindfully
The next time you sit down for a meal, put the phone aside and focus on your food. Feel the utensil in your fingers, the different tastes in each spoonful; the textures, smells, and emotions you feel, bite after bite.
Another variation of this practice is to bring your full awareness to bear when doing the dishes. Be conscious of everything that goes into completing this very basic and mundane task. Who knows? You might find that you enjoy doing the dishes, after all!
Final Thought
When feelings of anxiety, depression, stress, or even pain define our existence, life can seem like a never-ending wheel of misfortune. And that drudgery becomes normal.
When asked if we’re happy, most of us will answer yes. Those uncomfortable feelings, well, that’s “just life.” When we think there’s nothing to be done but endure them, we define our happiness as something inclusive of their existence.
So yeah, sure, I’m happy – never mind the tightness in my chest that accompanies me everywhere I go.
Bringing mindfulness to these feelings, to the breath, to your surroundings, in a gentle, non-judgmental way is perhaps the most effective tool in dissolving the discontent in our lives. That’s true for me, at least.
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