POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Make time for those important moments of mindfulness

NOWADAYS, many people have heard of mindfulness and the fact that it is good for us, both for our physical and mental health.

But the concept of mindfulness is not a new one. Mindfulness as we practise it today has roots in Buddhism more than two thousand years ago. Psychologists have been interested in this area since the early 20th century, but it is only in the last 25 years or so that large volumes of scientific research have shown how mindfulness can benefit us in such a wide range of areas as managing stress, depression and anxiety, reducing chronic pain, lowering blood pressure and coping with serious illnesses such as cancer, to name but a few.

In the mental health area, mindfulness is now accepted as a centrally important concept and many psychological therapies now include core attitudes and practices of mindfulness. The core concepts of mindfulness are quite straightforward, but as in many areas, putting them into practice regularly in our daily lives is the hard part.

Basically, mindfulness can be defined as living in the here and now, by maintaining moment-to-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and environment. It is therefore the opposite of being on 'autopilot'.

Many people will have had the experience of misplacing keys or a phone, because at the time of putting the item down somewhere, their minds were distracted by thoughts and worries and therefore not paying attention to the present moment.

Mindfulness involves acceptance, in that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them. We recognise there are no “right” or “wrong” ways to think or feel, we just bring our attention non-judgementally to whatever we are experiencing in a given moment.

Mindfulness also involves adopting an attitude of compassion and kindness towards ourselves and others. Many people struggle with this and may find it easier to be compassionate to others than to themselves.

In the mental health area, at a very simple level we recognise that two of the most common struggles which people experience - anxiety and depression - are underpinned by the failure to be mindful.

When we are anxious, our thoughts are largely focused on fears about the future (the 'what if' thoughts) and when we feel down or depressed, in our thoughts we are often negatively rehashing situations and events which are in the past.

So when we learn the skills of being mindful, resting our attention non-judgementally in the here and now, this can greatly help in recovery from anxiety and depression and indeed improve our overall psychological wellbeing and happiness levels.

In applying mindfulness to our daily lives, we can learn to relate to our thoughts differently and over time we become less reactive and more able to choose how we respond to situations.

As psychologists, we encourage people to familiarise themselves with the attitudes and principles of mindfulness and as much as possible to adopt these attitudes in their daily lives.

So for example, we now know from the scientific research that cultivating a deeply self-compassionate attitude is helpful in developing confidence, managing anxiety and as a buffer against depression.

The practice of meditation is also an important aspect of cultivating mindfulness. Even 25 years ago, meditation was seen as being somewhat New Age and alternative, whereas nowadays many hospitals and medical centres offer patients information on developing their meditation practice.

Meditation is about using an anchor to focus our attention so that we still the mind. The anchor can be an internal one such as the breath or an external one such as the flame of a candle. Those who are new to the practice of meditation often find that using a guided meditation is easiest.

Nowadays, research shows that people who formally meditate for as little as 10 minutes each day are likely to notice improvements in their mental sharpness, concentration and anxiety levels.

Whether or not it is possible to set aside time for formal meditation, developing a habit of 'moments of mindfulness' is well worth doing. So, when taking a shower, pay focused attention to the sensation of the warm water, to the sound it makes, to the pleasant smell of the shower gel. Or drink a cup of tea mindfully, paying full attention to the experience.

At this time of year as we head into winter and the busy season of Christmas, which many people find stressful, maybe now is a good time to decide to live more mindfully, moment by moment. There are potentially huge benefits to our physical and emotional wellbeing.

Imelda Ferguson and Julie O'Flaherty are chartered clinical psychologists, both based in private practice in Tullamore. Through Mind Your Self Midlands, they run courses on Positive Psychology and Mindfulness through the year. They can be contacted through the Psychological Society of Ireland www.psihq.ie (Find a Psychologist section) or on their Facebook page, Mind Your Self Midlands.