Do You Realize Who You Are ??? !!! Or What Is Mindfulness?

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Do you realize who you are ??? !

"Why can't I make a decision? Why am I so anxious and discouraged? Why is this happening to me?"

If you are asking yourself these or similar questions, this article is for you.

If you find it easier to watch than read, watch this video: What is mindfulness?

In Russia, a fashionable topic is gaining more and more popularity - mindfulness. Translated into Russian - awareness. Many people often use this word, although perhaps not fully understanding its essence and depth of this term.

Awareness is a state of consciousness of a person when he understands where he is, what he thinks about, what he wants. And what is the opposite state of this? State of automatic living of life. When you do something automatically, and your head is busy with thoughts about something else. At first glance, these are very simple, trivial things. But if you think about it and try to remember how many things you do automatically, you will be surprised. And you will still be wrong. It is estimated that if a person sleeps 8 hours a day, then out of the remaining 16 hours of wakefulness, he spends only 2 hours in a conscious state. And this result is considered very good! It is sad. These data are derived from numerous studies and experiments by Dr. D. Kabat-Zinn.

I really like the coffee example

Someone reading this article may remember how he or she drinks coffee in the morning. You made your own coffee, stood at the window and look through the trees, through the houses into the distance … and drink your coffee. Mentally, you are already at work, typing documents, holding meetings, closing or opening deals, or doing other activities. What about your coffee? And now the question arises. Have you had coffee? Physically, yes. Is it meaningful? Probably not. And some people won't even be able to remember its taste.

Such automatic living leads to the fact that our whole life passes "in the head", endlessly chewing this mental gum. An internal critic turns on, you begin to pay attention to the fact that you do not correspond to some ideals, there is a blues, fatigue, depression, anxiety, depression.

I am researching and applying the practice of mindfulness to my life. For individuals and corporate clients - mindfulness for business.

And I am constantly convinced that the practice of mindfulness, mindfulness, has a huge positive impact on human health, well-being and efficiency.

Returning yourself from your thoughts to the place and time where you are, from the mode of automatic living of life, is the way to freedom from painful, anxious and depressive states, from extreme inefficiency in personal life and in professional activity.

And why is the state of automatism so bad?

Is it bad to get into your car in the morning and drive to work in automatic mode in an hour and a half and then not even remember about the road? People often ask me these and similar questions.

The fact is that many of us, even considering ourselves successful and prosperous people, in our thoughts turn to our past or future, relive life moments, trying, albeit mentally, to change an accomplished event or predict the future.

This whirlpool of thoughts generates memories from the past, when a person showed himself to be weak or insecure. This happens to all of us. Immediately, an inner voice begins to sound, which says that it is a shame to be weak. Vague feelings of shame and fear simply give rise to a storm of negative feelings and emotions, and their effect on a person only intensifies.

Some people, in order to avoid a growing anxiety state with tremendous force, begin to eat a lot and without restrictions, trying to calm down like this. Someone lights a cigarette, and someone pours wine. Maybe you recognized yourself?

I will give a few examples for a better understanding of this mechanism. Imagine a company employee who works with customers. This could be a bank employee or a salesperson. In the event of any problems in his personal life or at work, his effectiveness as an employee of the company falls by more than 10 times. This person "does not see" the client, does not hear anyone, he is completely immersed in his problem. It's better not to deal with such a person. The risk of error is high, and the price can be high. And if you want to get a loan or mortgage from him? What if such a person is an officer on duty at the missile launcher complex?

The same goes for a flurry of thoughts from any person in his personal life. Any problems in relationships, problems with money, with work, and the person is no longer able to control his restless mind. Modern life is very much saturated with information, a huge amount of aggressive advertising is thrown down on a person. Social networks, smartphones, television do not let go. According to the latest data, the amount of information doubles every two years. According to WHO estimates, depression will become one of the main problems in the field of medicine for mankind. This means that depression will do more damage than heart disease, cancer, and other diseases combined. Today, the manifestations of depression and anxiety occur at an earlier age. We can say that in the near future the state of despondency and anxiety will be considered a normal state, and not a state of calm and satisfaction with life.

What to do?

Back in the 80s in the USA, MD John Kabat-Zinn developed a stress management program - mindfulness or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy MBCT. Its effectiveness in the fight against anxiety and depression has been proven by numerous studies.

The practice of mindfulness or mindfulness meditation allows you to delay a flurry of negative thoughts and not allow yourself to be drawn into exhausting experiences.

Many people associate meditation with something religious or esoteric. They are very wary of her.

It is important to understand that mindfulness meditation, mindfulness is not a religion. This is a kind of mind training and it is not necessary to sit in the lotus position. Meditation will not diminish your effectiveness, will not dull your mind, will not interfere with your progress towards your goal.

What does mindfulness meditation give?

Numerous studies and experiments have shown that meditation

- helps to reduce anxiety, depression, irritation, anger, stress

- helps to cope with serious illnesses such as cancer, alcohol and drug addiction (Speca, M., Carlson, LE, Goodey, E. & Angen, M. (2000), Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, pp. 613-22.)

- strengthens the immune system

- increases the effectiveness of a person in his personal life and in professional activity, etc.

Mindfulness meditation teaches you to recognize and deal with negative thoughts and feelings before they begin to affect a person. This does not mean that you can get rid of thoughts in your head, they will appear. You can learn to recognize them, observe them "from the outside", how they appear and how they disappear without harming you.

You will be able to stop the endless process of chewing the mental gum. It seems that a person, as it were, shakes himself and throws off the numbness that has entangled him like a cobweb. Of course, we cannot prevent negative thoughts from arising. We are all living people, and different events happen in life. But you can adequately respond to them so as not to cause significant harm to yourself. Finally, you just learn how to drink coffee!

Dr. D. Kabat-Zinn's program is designed for 8 weeks. During each week, it is suggested to perform several simple exercises lasting from 3 to 20 minutes. Research shows that this is enough time to feel positive changes. Some people see this effect a few days after the start of classes, some a little later.

There were no cases when mindfulness meditation did not help or harm someone.