Using Mindfulness for Mental Health
During the past few months of this pandemic, we have to admit that it’s very challenging to remain positive, optimistic and mentally well when most of what we hear is alarming. This constant level of stress and anxiety is not helping when we might be already feeling isolated, lonely, or mentally unwell. Perhaps a colleague or a friend has told you recently “Just Relax”, or “It’s all going to be just fine”, when in reality, the only thing that you needed to hear to help you feel more at peace was actually how to relax.
Relaxation is distinctly not something you can just command yourself to do. It needs to come over you and perhaps, ultimately, to overcome you. That’s one of the reasons so many of us grow to appreciate a mindfulness practice. It sneaks up on stress from the side. It teaches us how to let go of obsessively grasping for a permanent security blanket. But we’re not instructed to “just relax.”; we’re instructed to pay attention to something to the present: the breath, the body, and sensations.
The research is strong for mindfulness’ positive impact in certain areas of mental health, including stress reduction, emotion and attention regulation, reduced rumination, for reducing mild to moderate depression and anxiety, and preventing depressive relapse. There’s also some early evidence that it can be advantageous for people struggling with addictions, and appears to be particularly promising for smoking cessation. And when suffering causes someone to “have a fixed and negative view of themselves … or their circumstances,” mindfulness can help give a different perspective, open up to other possibilities, enhance resilience and the capacity to tolerate distress.
Mindfulness can be used as a tool to manage your wellbeing and mental health. Some people call mental health ‘emotional health’ or ‘wellbeing’. We all have times when we feel down, stressed, or frightened; most of the time those feelings pass, but sometimes they develop into a more serious problem, and this could happen to anyone of us.
Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing, and yoga. It helps us become more aware of our thoughts and feelings so that, instead of being overwhelmed by them, we’re better able to manage them.
Mindfulness has two components that work together to bring relief:
1. Awareness
Awareness allows you to notice emotions, anxieties, negative perceptions and self-talk as they arise, and before they become entrenched. By noticing these things early, you can be more flexible in your responses.
2. An open and accepting attitude
An open and accepting attitude allows you to accept whatever arises, rather than trying to suppress it (which doesn’t work) or making a big deal out of it. When you accept your emotions, you aren’t struggling with internal conflict, so you have more resources to deal positively with the situation.
In conclusion, it’s a great example of how far mindfulness can help you live a better life; awareness is the foundational part of any behavioural change; wether mental, emotional or physical. At In Bloom, we help leaders have a better understanding of their wellbeing. Using the Global Leadership Wellbeing Survey, we are able to quantify the wellbeing of leaders and develop a tailored strategy to help them achieve meaningful progress with their health and wellbeing. This is the first step of our Leadership Wellbeing Coaching journey. Email us to have more information!