MINDFULNESS Why mindfulness? How can mindfulness help me?
"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
- VIKTOR FRANKL
why mindfulness?
Life can be stressful.
While normal stress is part of life, prolonged experience of stress can lead to many forms of mental and physical health diseases.
It may even put a strain on relationships as we lose connectedness with others. And it is not just with others! When we are unable to manage our relationship with stress, we also lose connectedness with our inner selves. This can take our true happiness away.
The good news is, the practice of mindfulness and compassion can help.
Mindfulness helps us live more in the present moment and become more attuned to our thoughts, emotions, and somatic experiences. It helps us notice our habitual tendencies that influence our behaviors. When we become aware of such tendencies and their patterns, we start to explore ways to work with them. Over time, we develop a sense of choice, which can feel empowering and enhance our resilience.
THE PRACTICE OF MINDFULNESS IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT COMPASSION
Compassion is the sensitivity to the pain or distress of others, with an urge to alleviate that suffering. Compassion fosters a sense of connection with others and directly improves our relational well-being. It involves kindness, love, action, and wisdom. Compassion makes the world a kinder place to live in, and contributes back to human well-being.
While mindfulness and compassion is innate in every human being, not everyone has the opportunity to develop these characteristics in their lives in this modern era.
Another piece of good news? Mindfulness and compassion are trainable.
BENEFITS OF MINDFULNESS AND COMPASSION
Their benefits have been documented in the growing body of scientific research since 40 years ago.
Some of the benefits of practicing mindfulness and compassion include:
Reduced stress and burnout symptoms
Reduced rumination (worrying)
Reduced anxiety and depression symptoms
Improved sleep quality
Improved working memory and cognitive flexibility
Improved creativity
Improved self-awareness, self-management, and resilience
Improved emotion regulation (which helps in conflict resolution)
Improved relationship with self and others
Increased sense of ethics and authenticity
Improved life satisfaction
Improved sense of engaging in healthier behaviors and overall well-being
WORKPLACE STRESS
And it doesn’t stop here! Given that the workplace is where most of us spend a third of our lives, workplace stress is becoming increasingly prevalent.
Chronic workplace stress, when unsuccessfully managed, may result in employee burnout, an occupational phenomenon recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2019. Burned-out employees are more likely to take sick leave and are 2.6 times more likely to leave their jobs.
Benefits when organizations intentionally foster mindfulness and compassion include:
Improved group performance and resilience (as it enhances leadership which helps team players become more creative, set and achieve their goals, communicate well and resolve conflict, and improves work-life balance)
Improved cognitive functioning, such as better concentration, memory, learning ability, and decision making
Improved employer/employee and client relationships
Improved employee engagement and enhanced employee job and life satisfaction
Reduced costs of staff absenteeism and turnover
MORE BENEFITS FROM MINDFULNESS
From neuroscience and physiological perspectives, studies found that the benefits of regular mindfulness practice include:
Drove neuroplasticity changes that reflect well-being, such as emotional balance, compassion, genuine happiness, as well as potential buffering of stressful and traumatic experience when it does occur (Lutz, Dunne, and Davidson 2007)
Increased activity of the left hippocampus, the area of the brain associated with learning, memory, and emotional regulation (Hölzel et al, 2011)
Resulted in thicker regions in the frontal cortex (responsible for reasoning and decision making), and thicker insula (involved in sensing internal sensations and critical structure in the perception of emotional feelings). As the cortex and insula normally start deteriorating after age 20, mindfulness meditation might help make up some of the losses due to aging (Lazar, 2005)
Caused less activation of the amygdala, a part of the brain that is responsible for processing fear and aggression (Brefczynski-Lewis et al, 2007)
Increased immunity functioning (Davidson et al, 2003) and decreased sympathetic nervous system activation (Limm et al, 2011)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is mindfulness practicing Buddhism?
Mindfulness training has its roots in Buddhist meditation, but it has been secularized (i.e. removed from any religious teaching) when it was first developed in the late 1970s. Today, mindfulness is practiced in Schools, at the Workplace, in Prisons, and many other settings as a form of psycho-education to manage stress, improve resilience, and improve concentration, etc.
I do not have the time to try out mindfulness.
The perception of time is at best perception. Ten minutes caught in a traffic jam can feel like hours as compared to a 2-hour comedy that feels like thirty minutes.
Studies have shown that practicing mindfulness actually frees up more time, as our minds wander 47% of the time instead of focusing on the task at hand; such mind-wandering has been linked to unhappiness. Mindfulness helps to bring back the focus of awareness to the present moment, helping us to concentrate better, manage our inner-criticisms more effectively. Instead of ‘wasting’ time, it helps one to regain the time ‘lost’ to mind wandering.
Can I skip some of the sessions in the 8-week course?
The 8-week course of 2¼ to 2½ hours each is meant to provide an environment for the facilitator to instruct and guide you through the various types of mindfulness practices, psychological concepts and allow time for your own practice and contemplation to develop. Each session is built upon the earlier session; hence it is not advisable to skip any of the lessons. Should there be unforeseen circumstances preventing you from attending any of the sessions, the facilitator will guide you along to get you updated on the missed session.
Practicing mindfulness is akin to gym training. Sometimes we call it brain training. It takes discipline and regular practice to develop understanding and develop the ‘muscles’ in the brain to see the effects; certainly not something that happens overnight.
Can everyone practice mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be practiced by anyone. However, if you are undergoing some form of psychiatric treatment, it is advised that you enroll in the formal mindfulness course after 6 months of recovery.
It should be noted that not all mindfulness instructors are psychologists or psychotherapists, hence they will not be able to provide you with the specialized help you need.
Will practicing mindfulness solve all my problems?
Mindfulness is not intended to ‘solve’ problems; it changes our relationship with our ‘problems’. Mindfulness brings insights into how we relate to stress and to life, and allows us to see new choices for thought, outlook and action not previously available.