From Mind Full to Mindful

In the early 1990’s, I read the now classic book Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn after watching Bill Moyer’s PBS special entitled Healing and the Mind: Healing From Within.  Some years earlier, Dr. Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) clinic at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine.  There was quite a lot of buzz at the time in the lay press about his unconventional approach to treating stress and anxiety. I was in the midst of completing my doctoral training and while I was open to new ways of thinking, it all seemed a bit too touchy-feely for me. Sure people who completed the MBSR program said they felt more relaxed and better able to handle the stressors in their lives … but a lot of people feel better after taking a placebo too. I wasn’t convinced.

Times have changed. Fast forward 30 years.

Today, the evidence to support mindfulness training and contemplative practices has come along way. In addition to well-designed controlled clinical trials, we now have powerful tools that can reveal the brain’s response to mindfulness training. Moreover, there are many, many serious scientists – Richard Davidson, Daniel Goleman, Judson Brewer, Catherine Kerr, Daniel Seigel, Shauna Shapiro, to name a few – who study mindfulness. There are now entire centers dedicated to mindfulness research including UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, UCSD School of Medicine Center for Mindfulness, and the Mindfulness Center at Brown University. And a professional association of mindfulness researchers. Mindfulness is no longer some new-age, fringe practice but a mainstream tool for living a healthier life. Like other lifestyle behaviors such as brushing your teeth, eating nutritious food, engaging in regular physical activity, and getting high-quality sleep, practicing mindfulness thwarts the development of disease and improves our wellbeing.

Today, perhaps more than ever, our minds are full of distractions. The average adult spends nearly 50% of their waking hours not paying attention to what they are doing (Killingsworth & Gilbert 2010). We spend a lot of our time thinking about the things we need to get done (in the future), ruminating about things we’ve experienced (in the past), and attending to disruptive stimulation in our environment (our devices). Many of us fill our thoughts with negative self-talk. Many feel their lives lack meaning or purpose. And in an effort to deal with these negative feelings, we distract ourselves by engaging in unhealthy behaviors rather than acknowledge these emotions. I’m very fortunate that my work and this side gig (e.g. writing essays for the Wellbeing Elixir) give my life meaning and purpose, but I’m prone to feeling overwhelmed by the demands of everyday life, the constant need to plan for the future, and the noise of the news media. I suppose I could just drop out, tune out, and turn off but ignorance and denial don’t seem like very productive or healthy approaches. 

Richard Davidson, founder of the Center for Health Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, contends that wellbeing is no different different than playing a violin – its a skill that’s mastered through practice. Mindfulness is foundational to wellbeing because it enables us to develop awareness, connection, insight, and a sense of purpose. Awareness is the ability to recognize your thoughts and feelings. To become conscious of what your mind is doing. Connection is the ability to foster interpersonal relationships. Qualities like compassion, gratitude, and optimism can all be cultivated through mindfulness training. Insight is about self-awareness and identifying the narratives we tell ourselves. Mindfulness training allows us to recognize our negative self-talk as merely thoughts, rather than “truths.” And finally purpose is finding meaning in our activities, big and small. Through mindfulness, we can to see the connection between the mundane chores of everyday life, like doing the laundry, and the things that matter most to us. 

The neuronal pathways in our brains are adaptable. So the good news is that we are able to change the patterns of our thinking, make our minds less full, and become more mindful. Most mindfulness practices involve training your attention — recognizing our thoughts in an open, accepting, non-judgmental way and being aware of the experience we are having in the moment. With regular practice, mindfulness training can also help put enough space between our initial reactions – those negative feelings about ourselves or others – so that we can generate a response that we consciously control.

Here are three mindfulness exercises that you might find helpful.

Deep (Belly) Breathing. This is among the easiest mindfulness activities to implement and often has a short-term payoff. It activates our parasympathetic nervous system and induces a senses of calm in just a minute or two. But you can take things a step further by training your thoughts to pay attention to your breathing, to become aware of the sensation of breathing, and gently move your awareness back to your breathing when your mind wanders. Guided meditation apps like Headspace, Calm, Insight Timer, and Buddhify include several meditations that help you focus your attention on your breathing for extended periods of time.

Candle Study. Light a candle, sit upright with a straight spine but in a comfortable position, and watch the flame sway and flicker. Gaze at the candle for five to 10 minutes. Observe your thoughts. When you mind wanders, just let them pass without judgement, and bring your attention back to the candle light.

Mindful Eating. Pay attention to the smell, taste, and sensations of the food you eat. For example, if you enjoy drinking tea or coffee, draw your attention to the aroma, sounds, color, and flavor of the tea or coffee from the moment you start brewing to the moment you finish your cup. Try drinking it a bit slower. Feel the shape of the mug and it’s warmth. Notice if your mind wanders and gently bring your mind back to the present moment.

I encourage you to build a few mindfulness minutes into your day. Like exercising to build strength and endurance, you’ll need to increase the duration of your mindfulness exercises to maximize the benefits.

P.S. While writing this essay I took two short breaks to do some deep breathing and had a cup of tea. Yoga is another great way to increase your mindfulness. Check out the Yoga Apothecary Youtube channel.

Reference:  Killingsworth MA, Gilbert DT. A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science 2010: 330 (6006): 932.

Cheers-

Stuart