I hope everyone has taken a look at the first posting in this 'mini-series.' If not, please take a moment to see what was covered in that post. Here is the link it part 1 Mindful or Mind Full - Let's get started
What is Mindfulness?
Wikipedia - is the psychological process of bringing one's attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training.
Psychology Today - is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you're mindful, you carefully observe your thoughts and feelings without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to your current experience, rather than dwelling on the past or anticipating the future.
Mindful.org - is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
The Great Good Magazine (UC Berkley) Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.
As you can see depending on which website you go to. You actually get a similar but different answer as to what mindfulness is. In a nutshell. It is the process to calm your mind and bring your thoughts back to the moment. To not be judgemental or angry with yourself for that thoughts you are having.
When you have several stressors or triggers depending on what condition/illness you may have, you have become conditioned by past events to react a certain way. We mainly do this in an attempt to protect ourselves. When you come into contact with a trigger or stressor (that you may or may not know you have) your mind will always resort back to what it knows, what it has been conditioned to do. One of the best ways to break those cycles is to stop the thought process and come back to the moment.
A key element to being mindful is not to chastise or beat yourself up over the thoughts you are having. As it is referred to quite a bit 'a non-judgemental approach.' Accept that you have the thought and do a mindfulness exercise to bring yourself back to the now. This helps you to realize you are in control of yourself, of your thoughts.
One of the most important things to remember is, it is ok to have a variety of thoughts. It is ok to have the thought of suicide. It is ok to say you don't like yourself. It is ok to say you hate the world. That you hate when you do get angry or have irrational thoughts. That is one of the biggest parts to overcome in this process and therapy. Having hurtful or negative THOUGHTS IS NORMAL. It's how we deal with those thoughts that makes the difference. By practicing mindfulness, you will get to the point where you have the feelings and the thoughts. Acknowledge that is what is happening and then move on to an exercise to help you take back control of your thought pattern.
When we get stuck on the thoughts and feelings that we are hurting ourselves. That is not healthy. That is when we do or say hurtful things to ourselves and others. That's where the thought of revenge starts to take root. Allowing yourself to dwell and judge yourself for having these thoughts are what make us hurt more than what we were. It create this vicious circle that is hard to get out of. This is the part most people don't understand how difficult it is to get out of your own head. This is where they make the comments 'Just get over it." "Let it go, it's in the past" "It's over and done with why can you just move on." They don't and more than likely cannot understand those feelings and thoughts. The lack the empathy to be able to help you.
That's where I come in. If I can help 1 person with these postings, then I'm on the right track. I've been through all of this. It took 20 years to find someone to teach me what to do. I don't ever want anyone to go through the pain and suffering without having someplace to go. I am by no means an expert and this is such an overwhelming topic to begin with. As you can see from the first bit of this post, you can't even get 1 definitive answer about what mindfulness is.
The next post I will start to cover different methods of practicing mindfulness to bring you thoughts back to the now.
Line art courtesy : http://clipart-library.com
