Mindfulness: The Myths and Truths to Finding Inner Peace

Mindfulness has become a bit of a buzzword recently. While many have heard the term, the meaning is not always clear and misconceptions abound. UC Berkley’s Greater Good Science Center defines mindfulness as “moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment … [that] involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them” (2017). 

Research has demonstrated many benefits associated with a regular mindfulness practice including:
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• Physical benefits - boost in immune system, pain management, reducing psychological distress associated with chronic physical illness, improved cardiovascular health and lower blood pressure, and promoting general wellness through enhancement of certain health behaviors, such as getting regular check-ups, being physically active, and avoidance of alcohol and nicotine.
• Cognitive benefits - improved attention and emotional regulation and increased compassion for self and others.
• Socioemotional benefits - mitigates the experience of stress and improves response in stressful situations, improves quality of relationships, and useful as a component to treating certain mental health conditions, such as ADHD, depression, substance use disorders, PTSD, and anxiety.

Mindfulness is Not:

It’s often helpful to consider what mindfulness is not:

• Mindfulness is not a religious practice. While mindfulness and mindfulness meditation do stem from Zen Buddhist meditation, it has transformed into a mainstream secular practice that has many evidence-based benefits and can be practiced by individuals from a variety of spiritual and religious backgrounds.
• Mindfulness is not about emptying your mind. It is more about accepting and acknowledging our thoughts and feelings and facilitating self-compassion by seeing them in a non-judgmental way. Thoughts and feelings aren’t good or bad. They just are. 
• Mindfulness is not one-size-fits all. There are many types of mindfulness practices, such as breathing exercises, mindful walking, guided visualization meditations, and yoga nidra, a guided sleep meditation. Some individuals may find certain practices more challenging for them than others.

Mindfulness is simply being present and attuning to internal and external stimuli in that moment without placing value or judgment on those experiences. This sounds easy enough but is actually a skill that develops over time and requires practice. Below are some suggestions for incorporating mindfulness into your life:

Try meditation. Happify, an organization that uses positive psychology, science, and technology to help individuals “lead happier, more fulfilling lives,” has an excellent video on their website to introduce mindfulness meditation and how to begin your practice. Often, when I introduce the idea of meditation, the response is, “I can’t sit still for that long” or “I just can’t focus my mind like that.” There are many different types of meditation, including prayer, focused breathing, guided meditation, and yoga nidra. Find one that’s right for you. It’s also important to remember that meditation is a practice, meaning that it takes time to develop and to reap the benefits.

• Give thanks. Research in the field of positive psychology has demonstrated the benefits of gratitude, or shifting your focus to the things in your life for which you are grateful as well as expressing gratitude to others around you. Some of those benefits include improved socioemotional, physical, and psychological health; increased empathy and reduced aggression; better sleep; and improved resiliency. There are many ways to practice gratitude in your daily life. Take a moment to thank someone, like your partner, your child, or the stranger that held the door for you. Another practice is keeping a gratitude journal. When we know we are going to write down the things we are thankful for, we are more likely to notice and appreciate them.
• Practice self-compassion. Often, we treat others with more care and kindness than we do ourselves. We can be our own worst critic at times. This negative internal dialogue can compromise our psychological, emotional, and physical health. Kristin Neff, Ph.D. a leading researcher in the area of self-compassion, defines self-compassion as “acting the same way towards yourself when you are having a difficult time, fail, or notice something you don’t like about yourself” as you would toward a friend or loved one experiencing a similar experience. By understanding that negative emotional experiences do not represent a defect or failure on our part but rather seeing them as a part of a shared human experience, we can begin to treat ourselves with more love and kindness. Next time you find yourself thinking, “I can’t believe I said that. I’m so stupid.”, try to challenge that with, “Would I tell a friend that same thing?”

These are a few ways to incorporate mindfulness into your daily life. And remember, there is no right or wrong way to practice mindfulness. There is only your way.

References
Bowen, S. et al. (2014). Relative efficacy of mindfulness-based relapse prevention, standard relapse prevention, and treatment as usual for substance use disorders:  A randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry, 71 (5), 547-556.

Davidson, R.j., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rozenkrantz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S.F., … Sheridan, J.F. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65(4), 564-70.

Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E. M.S., et al. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being:  A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal
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Greater Good Science Center. (2017). What is mindfulness? Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/mindfulness/definition.

Heffner, K.L., Crean, H.F., & Kemp, J.E. (2016).  Meditation programs for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder:  Aggregate findings from a multi-site evaluation.  Psychological
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Mindful Schools. 2017. Research on mindfulness. Retrieved from https://www.mindfulschools.org/about-mindfulness/research/. 

Modessto-Lowe, V. et al. 2015 Does mindfulness meditation improve attention in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? World Journal of Psychiatry, 5 (4), 397-403.
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Morin, A. 2015. 7 scientifically proven benefits of gratitude. Retreived from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201504/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-gratitude. 

Neff, Kristen. 2017. What is self-compassion? Retrieved from http://self-compassion.org/the-three-elements-of-self-compassion-2/. 

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