5 Tips From a Psychologist on Mindfulness

Our minds tag along with us everywhere we go. Sometimes it can be difficult to escape the whirlwind of thoughts that pass through our minds. Most of the time, our mind is sifting through thoughts so quickly and forcefully that we don’t even notice what we are actually thinking. 

This is where mindfulness comes in. 

Mindfulness, rooted in Eastern philosophy, is the practice of observing our thoughts as they arise without judgment, criticism or latching on. Mindfulness as a practice is allowing your thoughts to arrive and pass through, as they are meant to. 

Engaging with your thoughts in this way has many benefits. Mindfulness helps you stay grounded in the moment, it can reduce stress and anxiety, and help form a deeper connection with self and others. 

Here are 5 tips on how to be more mindful:

“The Way Out Is In”

Mindfulness from the perspective of Zen Master Tich Nat Hahn is that ``the way out is in,” encouraging that the way out of any difficulty is to look deeply within, gain insights and then put them into practice.

This is such a beautiful way to shift from fear and anger to be more engaged in the world we live in and develop more love and compassion for ourselves and others. 

Check in with yourself in moments of fear. Ask yourself questions such as, “what emotions am I feeling right now?” “Why am I reacting this way?” “What story am I attaching to my emotions?”

Self-Compassion 

Mindful self-compassion combines the skills of mindfulness and compassion, providing a powerful tool for emotional resilience. With self-compassion, we give ourselves the same kindness and care that we readily give to others. When you are compassionate towards yourself, you are aware of your own suffering. You can bring your attention inward to recognize your thoughts, feelings and sensations, and understand your response in a loving, non-judgmental way.

By extending compassion to yourself, you are able to recognize the struggles in others, and accept them and their actions as you do for yourself. It is much easier to show kindness and compassion to others when you have the strength to give it to yourself first.

Deep Breathing 

The most basic way to practice mindfulness is by focusing your attention on your breath. The inhale and the exhale. Simple! It can help to set aside time for this exercise, but you can also use this technique anytime you feel anxious, stressed or overwhelmed. 

If you need to calm yourself in a more stressful moment, try a more relaxing breathing technique like box breathing. Box breathing is a deep breathing technique that can help slow down your breathing and heart rate. It works by distracting your mind as you count to four, calming your nervous system and decreasing stress in your body.

Box breathing is easy to remember because a box has four sides, so the technique itself works in fours. You slowly count to four for a total of four times — four counts of breathing in, four counts of holding your breath, four counts of exhaling and four more counts of holding after your exhale.

Awareness

There are three components to mindful awareness. Stop, observe and return. 

First, stop the activity you are doing that is evoking an emotional response. Stop everything completely and just be in the moment.

Next, you observe. Observe your feelings, the subject at hand and your thoughts. 

Finally, you return. If you are new to mindfulness activities you will notice that your mind wanders. You must actively return your concentration to observing your awareness. When a thought arises and grabs your attention, come back, acknowledge the thought, release it and return to the present moment. 

Accept Your Emotions 

We can practice mindfulness by acknowledging and accepting our emotions as they arise. We can learn to love our emotions instead of avoiding them, or trying to pick and choose which ones we want to feel. ALL our emotions are beneficial. There are no “bad” or “good” emotions. They all have value and all serve a purpose.

Emotionally triggering thoughts can be uncomfortable, but the more we notice them and accept them we can shift our thought patterns and deepen our love and acceptance for being beautifully imperfect.