Mindfulness

Hi, for those of you who don’t know me I’m Tammy, one of the Young Adult Carer Advisers. On Wednesday I did a live slot on your _giveusabreak_ Instagram Page when I spoke on the topic of mindfulness and I shared what I have learnt that has helped me personally and that I hope might support some of you too.

You may already know about mindfulness, have tried it or are using it. These notes just unpack it a bit, because it is a really useful skill or set of skills that we can all practice for ourselves.

What’s it all about?

To be mindful basically means to be ‘aware’. It’s our ability to focus our attention in the present moment.

We all have the ability to pay attention to what’s happening in the here and now or to tune out to it, which is when our thinking drifts, often to things that have happened, things we need to get done or worrying about what has happened or might happen.

But the mind can only focus on so many things at once, so when you become overwhelmed with a tangle of thoughts, feelings and worries mindfulness can be really helpful.

There are lots of films that have been written around the idea that the characters can travel through time and live in the past or future. Such as Back To The Future, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, About Time to name a few. In the 1993 film Groundhog Day (you may have seen it?) the story follows a weatherman who gets stuck living the same day over and over and over again, numerous times over. Whilst we all know that time travel is just fiction and physically impossible, for some of us we do get mentally stuck in the past or the future. In our heads we go over and over past events or future worries. Mindfulness helps us to cut through this mental time travel by allowing us to bring our attention back to this present moment.

Some important points to make here;

You cannot ever stop or control your thoughts and feelings. If you try to do this then any unwanted thoughts have a tendency to come back to mind more often.

But, you can move the focus of your thinking back to what is happening right here, right now.

Mindfulness teaches us to;

Notice what we are experiencing through our physical senses and

Notice our mind activity through our thoughts and emotions.

So looking at these two noticing skills separately in more detail;

1st Skill – is to Notice where you are and what you are doing in the present moment through your physical bodily sensations.

In the present moment ask yourself what you are seeing, hearing, touching, even what you might be able to smell or taste. For example, the feel of the warmth of the sun or the cool breeze on your skin, or the feel of how the weight of your body is distributed when standing or sitting in a chair. Or whatever physical sensations you have anywhere, like an itch on your leg or a tickly nose. That’s it, the first skill of mindfulness, simply noticing what your body is experiencing in the present moment.

2nd Skill – is to Notice what you are thinking or feeling in the present moment.

As you practice focusing your mind on the here and now, other thoughts, maybe about things that have happened or future concerns, will continue to come in and out of your mind. Your mind will at some point get carried away in thought because that’s just what minds do. That is ok, whenever you realise that your focus has drifted away from the present moment, just notice the thoughts that have come to mind, then gently bring your awareness back to the present moment again and continue to do this again and again anytime you notice that your attention has wondered off.

Don’t Judge!

When this happens it’s really important that you don’t judge yourself for whatever thoughts or feelings come up. You can notice and become aware of what you are thinking without engaging with the actual content of the thought. Try not to give any meaning to the thought in terms of what you may think it means about you as a person or about reality. You can practice this. Notice the thought by first describing it. For example “I’m thinking the people sitting in the study area next to me where being really noisy earlier, when I was trying to concentrate”. Then labelling the thought and any resulting feelings, “this is an irritated thought”, “I feel angry”. But, try not to continue to follow the thought and add further descriptions about what it means. For example “they are rude people” or “I’m not a very easy going person”.

You are not your thoughts and feelings! You are the observer or ‘noticer’ of them. You don’t necessarily agree with that thought or feeling. You choose what thoughts you want to act on based on your value system, based on the things that are important to you or that you believe in.

Learning not to judge our thoughts does not come naturally for most of us though. Our minds tend to judge everything as either positive or negative. For example, if we look at a painting we may think it is beautiful or ugly. When any judgements do come up about the thought don’t worry, when you become aware of this, again just notice these thoughts and then let them go, kindly bringing your focus back to the present moment.

Train Analogy – This process of noticing your thoughts come and go can be likened to a train coming into the train station platform. Imagine the train is like a new thought or feeling. Now imagine that you are standing on the platform just watching the train come in. It stops at the station but you don’t get on board. Then you just watch as it leaves the station again. When you are being mindful you practice doing this with every thought or feeling coming into your awareness, notice it as someone standing watching the trains come and go.

Mindfulness teaches us that all thoughts and feelings are temporary experiences that will pass.

The goal of mindfulness is to notice our mind activity, but in doing so it also slows our busy thinking and creates a gap between the thought – the feeling – and our response. Giving us time to decide how to react.

Practice

To be able to use the skills well at times when you are overwhelmed, you need to make time to practise them when you are calm. If you practice enough this ability to focus your attention on the present moment will become easier.

It’s like how physical exercise builds muscle strength – the more you ‘exercise’ the skills of being aware in the present moment, you are gradually building your attention muscle ability.

One very easy way to practice being mindful that I use is to simply pay attention to your breathing for a few minutes. not necessary trying to slow it down, but rather just noticing it’s rhythm, the feel of your breath as you inhale or exhale through your mouth or nose and the rise and fall of your chest or abdomen. Then noticing whenever your thoughts start to drift and gently bringing them back to your breathing again.

Evidence

Scientific evidence has found a reduction in stress levels through regular daily mindfulness practice.

Mindfulness can also help reduce anxiety levels and the symptoms associated with low mood and depression. One of the key ways that mindfulness supports these outcomes is through a simple awareness of the whole self – and also if you have a faith this skill can be really beneficial for connecting with it.

To sum up:

Your mindfulness mission is to notice the present moment as it is.
Remember your thoughts and feelings are temporary experiences, notice them come and any judgements about them and then let them go by, gently bringing your attention back.
This is something that is easier said than done but the skills do get easier the more you practice them. Remember to make some time and space to practice.

Resources:

There are a lot of websites, smartphone apps and books available on the topic, listed here are a small selection of well used resources to explore (both the apps have some free content).

https://www.mindful.org/ – offers guidance for anyone wanting to explore mindfulness and its benefits.
Headspace App – offers a guide to everyday mindfulness in just a few minutes a day.
Calm App – offers guided Daily Calm sessions, which help you unwind and refocus your attention.
Below is the Mindfulness: Youth Voices You Tube link produced by KeltyMentalHealth, that YAC adviser Laura Astell posted on our social media a few weeks ago. The video features young people discussing their experiences practicing mindfulness, and how mindfulness has benefited different aspects of their lives. The video also features young people practicing mindfulness, and includes insights from a health professional and mindfulness teacher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk7IBwuhXWM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1fyeDHRwPmT8gwKDgBzYakk2tUzy1LfsFx0Vq6lplXp1OlSPEZ4xrmpsg

I hope this will be of some help, keep taking time to look after you!