Mindfulness is where we enter a state of conscious awareness and attention. It gives heightened understanding of our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and sounds. Practicing mindfulness helps to gain focus and a state of calmness, positivity, and balance in everyday life.
So, why is practicing mindfulness useful when working towards our goals?
Detachment from Thoughts
Unlocking mindfulness through meditation is a powerful tool that increases metacognitive awareness – the ability to comprehend and recognise our own thinking. Mindfulness allows us to recognise that our minds can be inundated with thoughts that are not based on truth or reality. Through a regular meditation practice, we can become a keen observer of our thoughts and understand that they are just products of our minds.
As stated by Dr Sarah Edelman in her Book “Change your Thinking”:
“thoughts and feelings are watched dispassionately, as objects of the mind rather than reflections of truth or reality….we create a ‘space’ between our thoughts and the way we react to them, making it easier to detach from their messages.”
Dr Edelman further explains how we can use mindfulness to help decentre or defuse our negative thoughts (“this thought is just a thought.”) Letting go of negative thoughts and giving them “less value” allows us to continue our workflow in a more positive frame of mind and reach our tasks at hand.
Tip: Each time a negative thought arises, imagine the thought as a cloud drifting away in the sky. Don’t allow yourself to sit and process the thought. Pay no attention to it and remind yourself “it’s just a thought and let go.”
Reduced Mental Chatter and Worrying
The mind loves to wander, and often becomes caught up in thoughts that are directed too far into the future, or thoughts about unfavourable/negative events. A key trick Dr Edelman teaches is ‘to recognise’ when the mind drifts into constant mental chatter, worry or rumination. By becoming constantly aware of your mental chatter and choosing to practice disengaging each time they surface, overtime you can train your brain to attend and focus on tasks at hand.
Mindfulness gifts us with the ability to control where we place our attention. Our ability to engage with our goals with a clearer mind, provides a beneficial step to improving our productivity.
Tips: Try guided concentration meditations to provide mental training for the brain. In addition, throughout your day notice each time you drift into mindless thoughts and label them for what they are. For instance, “that’s worrying”; “I am daydreaming again” or “There’s my mental chatter.” This will redirect your focus back to the task.
Enhanced concentration and increased ability to cope with stress
Mindfulness helps to regulate our emotional state, avoid the escalation of unpleasant emotions and increase our ability to remain calm in response to stressful events. It is extremely useful to incorporate a mindfulness practice particularly when dealing with stress, anger, or frustration.
As stated by Edelman:
“Mindfulness invites us to abandon the struggle with unpleasant feelings. By opening up to uncomfortable experiences, we release resistance. This increases our capacity to tolerate unpleasant feelings, and paradoxically reduces their intensity.”
This is a phenomenal benefit of mindfulness. Acknowledging you are experiencing stress; feeling that uncomfortableness and being able to tap into mindfulness practices to help you to move on. Rather than ‘fighting against’ the emotional stress we embrace the emotion and prevent it from escalating further. Mindfulness in effect, helps us develop emotional resilience and builds on our perseverance, especially when our goals are met with setbacks.
Tips: Treat emotions as temporary and fleeting- welcome them in and use them as motivation to conquer your goals. You can try calming exercises such as going for a walk or breath work for a few minutes. Simply practicing deep inhalations and exhalations will help you get back into a more regular emotional state.
No matter what your goals may be, whether they’re big or small, mindfulness can provide an essential foundation of structure and support to help you reach them. Mindfulness allows us to become acutely aware of our emotions, thinking patterns and behaviours. With regular mindfulness practices, we can become a keen observer of our thoughts and establish boundaries to reduce stagnation, emotional distress, and distraction. If you are looking to implement the power of presence, experience an inner motivation to focus and conquer your goals, then mindfulness is the practice for you.