Do you feel that your mind is cluttered with anxiety and negative thoughts? Have you tried various forms of coping with stress as a student, employee, parent, or simply just as a person living through the hassles of daily life?
In today’s rapid world, we are expected to juggle assignments, duties, and online notifications each day. As such, we often lose track of ourselves and forget the little moments that make life sweet.
We constantly move from one thought to the next, not giving ourselves the chance to step back and really process what we are doing. This practice is called mindfulness.
Studies show that mindfulness helps people manage stress levels and mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Many individuals who have begun practicing mindfulness are better able to relax. As a result, they adopt the mindset where they appreciate every moment.
With the added benefits of higher self-esteem and self-confidence, mindfulness can aid you in multiple aspects of your life.
Why Mindfulness Can Be Hard
Many individuals find practicing mindfulness challenging. They can be a new concept to many. Others may struggle with sitting alone with their thoughts for long periods of time. And for some others, mindfulness can stir up mental discomfort.
It is important to realize that mindfulness, like any other skill, takes time, effort, and practice. You have to be uncomfortable before getting the real benefits. To ease the pressure, remember that mindfulness does not just come from perfect moments. You don’t need to excel at breathing exercises and other practices. It is in moments of imperfection that you experience true growth.
When we feel negative emotions in these quiet moments, we have to identify them and accept them to move on and grow as a person. Though you may think these feelings are obstacles in your everyday life, they are actually opportunities for you to accept your thoughts, fears, and ideas. This makes us better able to deal with these emotions in our daily lives and feel more confidence in ourselves, our abilities, and our goals.
How Consistent Meditation Helps Your Daily Life
Practicing mindfulness not only brings you scheduled moments of peace in your day, but it creates significant changes in your everyday life. Thanks to extensive research on mental health and various mental illnesses, the science backs this up!
In 2012, researcher Gaëlle Desbordes examined the effects of consistent meditation on patients with depression. Over 2 months, she analyzed patients’ fMRI brain scans before and after they completed a meditative regime as part of their daily routines. She found that the changes in their brain activity during meditation remained present in these subjects even when they were not meditating!
Why We Should Incorporate a Sensory Focus in Mindfulness
In the early 2000s, cognitive scientists discovered that our brains are conditioned to think about ourselves (“self-reference”). When we do this, certain areas of our brains, called the default mode network (DMN), are active. Mindfulness expands on this by opening a way for us to experience sensations and represent ourselves.
When analyzing the effect of meditation on the human brain, professors read traditional meditation texts that were designed around the goal of moving past self-centered thinking and loosening the grip of self-concepts. When training individuals to focus on sensory experiences, brain activity in the DMN decreased, and through the incorporation of meditation, other brain regions dedicated to sensation, such as the mediators, had greater activity.
It was from this test that it was concluded that meditation regimes expand the scope of oneself.
4 Small Mindfulness Practices to Try
1. Whole Body Meditation
Lie down on your back and focus on the parts of your body (arms, legs, feet…etc). Recognize your physical sensations.
2. Mindful Eating
When having a meal or snack, pay attention to the sounds, textures, smells, colours, and taste of your food. Pay attention to how hungry you actually feel.
3. Mindful Walking
Don’t use your headphones on your walks. Instead, feel the pressure of your feet on the ground (“grounding”). Pay attention to the sights and sounds surrounding you. Take in the fresh air.
4. Check-In With Your Senses
At any point in your day, take a minute to note 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste.
These simple exercises do not take too much time out of your day and don’t disrupt your daily routine.
Closing Remarks
Mindfulness is for all. Everyone can benefit from adding mindfulness practices into their daily routines. We have so much to keep track of and complete on a daily basis. We constantly run from one thing to the next and forget to pause, take a break and enjoy living.
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References:
When science meets mindfulness
https://www.apa.org/topics/mindfulness/meditation
