This blog post is going to be all about mindfulness, what it is, how it can help you and a few exercises you can do if you want to start doing mindfulness in order to improve your life or help you de-stress during a tough time. It's something that was suggested to me by a friend and then my psychiatrist and it's currently something I'm trying out so I thought I would share with you guys.
The whole point of mindfulness is to pay attention to what's going on around us and inside of us. It's a form of meditation and really quite simple and easy to do. It doesn't work for everyone and does take time for it to show any positive effects, but it is something I would recommend as it's seems to be really helping me de-stress and think about my negative thoughts and their effects on me. It helps you pay attention way more to the present moment and what's going on in the world around you and this awareness can lead to an improvement in mental health.
The way in which it helps your mental well being is that it allows you to focus on the present rather than the past or the future, which anxiety sufferers will know is something they always do. By becoming more aware of the present moment it allows us to see what we would have otherwise taken for granted. It also allows you to take a step back and realise that your thoughts are, just that, thoughts, it enables you to analyse your thoughts and see when those thoughts begin to take over and control you. It helps you train yourself to notice these signs of anxiety and stress so much earlier and therefore, helps you deal with them earlier before it can take over and cause issues.
The most important thing with mindfulness is to keep it regular. One exercise I do, I try to do four times a day, every day, and I've been doing it for about a month or so and I find it so helpful. I'll explain a little later on what that particular exercise is. You can do it at any time or create a schedule for it, I like to do it as soon as I wake up, at lunch and dinner, then just before I go back to bed. It gives me lots of different scenarios in which I can practise and become more aware of myself and my surroundings. You just have to remind yourself to pay attention to the space around you, take notice to your thoughts and feelings as well as the sensations you feel in your body.
By paying attention to these negative mental events, you start to be able to name them, thus heightening your awareness of them. I find it useful to name them, others don't. So for example, if I'm fortune telling, which is a common way in which we have negative thoughts, I name that as anxiety, or fortune telling so I know exactly what's going on in my head.
It's also important to note that mindfulness DOES NOT work for everybody. It can make some people over think and cause them more anxiety because they almost attempt to make the negative thoughts go away rather than just seeing them as a mental event that passes eventually. For me it works, but for others going for a walk, run or doing an exercise like yoga may be equally as beneficial to them.
Mindfulness Exercise
The most important thing with mindfulness is to keep it regular. One exercise I do, I try to do four times a day, every day, and I've been doing it for about a month or so and I find it so helpful. I'll explain a little later on what that particular exercise is. You can do it at any time or create a schedule for it, I like to do it as soon as I wake up, at lunch and dinner, then just before I go back to bed. It gives me lots of different scenarios in which I can practise and become more aware of myself and my surroundings. You just have to remind yourself to pay attention to the space around you, take notice to your thoughts and feelings as well as the sensations you feel in your body.
By paying attention to these negative mental events, you start to be able to name them, thus heightening your awareness of them. I find it useful to name them, others don't. So for example, if I'm fortune telling, which is a common way in which we have negative thoughts, I name that as anxiety, or fortune telling so I know exactly what's going on in my head.
It's also important to note that mindfulness DOES NOT work for everybody. It can make some people over think and cause them more anxiety because they almost attempt to make the negative thoughts go away rather than just seeing them as a mental event that passes eventually. For me it works, but for others going for a walk, run or doing an exercise like yoga may be equally as beneficial to them.
Mindfulness Exercise
- Sit back in a chair and relax into a comfortable position. Close your eyes if you feel comfortable to do so.
- Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth normally.
- Every time you breath in, in your head say breath in, every time you breath out, in your head say breath out.
- Pay attention to the smells around you, try to work out what they are, is there any new smells?
- Pay attention to how your clothes feel on your body, is there anything itching you? Can you feel how the chair feels on your legs?
- Pay attention to the sounds around you, is there a dog barking, can you hear the rain? What;s going on.
- If any negative thoughts come your way try to bring your attention back to the thing you were thinking about previously with the last breath you have.
- Do it for as long as you feel comfortable.
- Slowly open your eyes when you're ready.
I do this technique four times a day for three minutes in the time periods that I discussed earlier. This is more of a personal one that you can do by yourself and I find it helps you pay attention to things you wouldn't have done normally. It also allows you to home in on those negative thoughts and push them away with your breath, helping you control them.
Another exercise you can do is to pay more attention to details of a room when you come to a new place. Try to pick out cool and interesting things about it that you wouldn't have noticed originally. Or if you're eating, pay more attention to the colours and the taste of the food, I found this to make food so much more enjoyable to eat. When you're walking around a familiar place, see if there's anything you haven't noticed before, maybe a new sign has come up or you notice a different coloured brick than the others. Just pay more attention to your surroundings and try to use all five senses if you can.
So that's the basics of mindfulness, how it can help, what it is, and a few exercises you can try to see if it would work for you. Remember it doesn't work for everyone so don't get too caught up on the fact it may not work for you, but I do feel it's something everyone with anxiety and depression should try. I hope this blog post has been useful and informative.
Stay awesome.
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