A quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn: "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."
Photo by Kelvin Valerio
Imagine yourself in this situation. You had a long day at work. Having to hear your boss complain about a minor mistake you didn’t notice. Then you find out that you forgot your lunch at home. To top it off, you can’t even order food due to not having enough in your account. This kind of situation would make someone lose their shit. So what do you do?
Do you let your frustration lash out, with the possibility of it destroying your relationships? Do you take it out on furniture? Or, is there another way you can get rid of your frustration?
There is an alternative to how to let that frustration pass, and this method is called mindfulness. To give a quick explanation of what mindfulness is, it is a meditation that makes you slow your thoughts down. It also helps you to relax both the mind and the body. Now, this is nothing new. Mindfulness has existed for centuries. While this was practiced in the East. It didn’t become popular in the United States until the 90’s.
One of the reasons why mindfulness is important for your well-being is that it helps us become aware of our thoughts and feelings. It helps us manage both so we don’t feel overwhelmed by them. Mindfulness has two parts to it. Attention and Acceptance.
Attention
Attention is about focusing on what is going on in the present moment. This involves directing your attention to your breathing, thoughts, what your body is experiencing at the moment, and your feelings.
Acceptance
Acceptance is about observing those emotions and sensations without judgment. Instead of reacting or responding to those emotions or feelings, you make note of it, and let it go. This can be difficult to do, especially when we are feeling anger at that moment.
So what makes mindfulness so difficult to pull off? One thing to remember is that with all the new advances that technology is making, We are becoming distracted easily. While there is nothing wrong with being connected with everything that is going on, it's starting to become easier to get distracted.
Being connected constantly with smartphones and social media
One thing to note is that we now can stay informed on what is going on in the world. Back then, the only reliable source of information was the news, radio, and newspaper. However, with new advances in technology, such as the internet, we now can remain connected 24/7. While there is nothing wrong with trying to keep updated with the events of the world, it can cause you to get distracted. Take for example doom scrolling.
Information Overload
One thing that people tend to forget as well is that there is so much information that is out there. It can get to the point where we can suffer information overload, and it starts to distract us from practicing mindfulness. Plus it can overwhelm a person’s mind to where they can start making mistakes. Plus it can affect our judgment abilities.
The stress that occurs in our lives daily
At some point, we are going to get stressed out. Now, there is nothing wrong with stress as long as it is dealt with healthily. For example, being stressed out because a project is due, but you know that you can get it done without any problems. However, when you have no way of dealing with that stress, it can cause issues both physically and mentally.
Multi-tasking
With so much going on, we tend to multitask to see if we can get everything done at once. However, by doing this, we are distracting ourselves to the point where it can be difficult to practice being mindful. Remember, It’s better to do one thing, and get it completed, rather than multi-task, and get distracted with the possibility of not finishing your other tasks.
Mindfulness is something that should be practiced daily, but what is it that makes people not want to take the time to do it? There are a couple of reasons why.
Lack of time
In today's world, it can be tricky to make time. When you have a full plate, such as doing school and work, it can make things difficult for you to sit down and make time for it. If you are taking care of a family, it can be harder to do. Each person will be different, but it all comes down to what responsibilities you have in your life.
Fear of missing out on opportunities
There comes a point where we start fearing that we are going to miss out if we do not stay connected 24/7. When you start worrying about FOMO, it makes it harder for you to do mindfulness. Because you fear that you are going to miss something amazing, you don’t take time for yourself to relax.
Doubting Mindfulness
It’s common to doubt that mindfulness works. Many people wonder what it will involve, and what will they have to give up to obtain mindfulness. Questions can sometimes turn into doubt, which causes the person to push away and doubt it.
I have some experience with this. Though when I first attempted to do mindfulness, it took me some time to practice it. When you are busy taking care of a relative, it can be hard to make time. Most of my responsibilities were
Taking care of that relative,
cleaning dishes
cleaning the bathroom
Making food for that relative
This doesn't seem like much at first, but when you have tasks that you have to do, it can be exhausting, By the time that I would finish what I would need to do, I didn’t have the energy to practice mindfulness. My stress levels were high to the point where I felt like I was going to snap at any point. After looking more into it, I decided to go ahead and try out mindfulness. It wasn’t immediate at first. It took several tries until I understood what I was doing, and how it was helping me get my emotions under control.
So what can we do to fix this? There are a few steps that we can take to practice mindfulness.
Setting boundaries when it comes to technology
By setting boundaries with technology, it can make it easier for us to not be addicted to social media. You also allow yourself to be open to mindfulness and have fewer distractions when doing so.
Creating a routine that adds time for mindfulness
By creating a routine, this will allow you to set time for it. It will be hard at first, but the more you do it. The better you will get at it. This will allow you to create the habit of mindfulness.
That’s all I got for now.