Why Mindfulness?
✨ 🍃 ✨ “I’d like you to imagine your thoughts as leaves on a stream flowing away from you…” ✨ 🍃 ✨
”Where is this stream?
How did these thoughts get on a leaf?
Am I doing this right?
This is confusing.
How is this helpful?!”
Mindfulness can feel really daunting at first glance. It may seem like you are supposed to somehow get rid of all your thoughts to become some perfect master of peace during a meditation. Even though right before starting the meditation you were stuck in traffic and showed up fifteen minutes late, maybe you are also hungry, maybe you can’t remember if you turned in that project to your boss today, and on and on.
. . .And if you can’t get rid of your thoughts you must be doing meditation wrong, right? So now even that thought is beginning to stress you out!
What if all those racing thoughts that showed up during the meditation were actually supposed to be there? There is a big misunderstanding that meditation or mindfulness is supposed to elicit some magical ability to not have any thoughts show up. However, noticing those thoughts as they show up is exactly what mindfulness is! So, you were doing it right the whole time.
Mindfulness can be a very helpful tool that is shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression (Khoury et al., 2013). Mindfulness is the act of noticing thoughts and feelings as they show up and letting them be there without any judgment (we can help with that non-judgment stuff, too - it’s the opposite of how most of us were taught to be, and it doesn’t usually come naturally at all).
Maybe reflecting on feeling frustrated that you were stuck in traffic is what your body needs at that moment. Maybe that feeling just wants to be acknowledged so that your body can finally relax and be present.
When we do not allow ourselves moments to be mindful and notice our feelings and thoughts, our bodies carry that stress . This can result in an array of health issues including heart issues, asthma, difficulty sleeping, and autoimmune diseases (Nadine Burke Harris, 2020).
Our emotions and thoughts deserve to be noticed. And we deserve to give ourselves that space to be heard. So do your body a favor and let yourself acknowledge how annoying it is to be stuck in traffic!
Therapy may typically begin with mindfulness practices as a way of teaching our bodies to notice their needs. At The Hope Preserve your therapist may offer some mindfulness exercises and help you choose which ones feel best for you.
Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., … Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: a comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(6), 763–771.
Nadine Burke Harris. (2020). Deepest well : Healing the long-term effects of childhood adversity. Bluebird.
