Mindfulness

Awareness


Hey lovelies!

I am back with a Psychology/mental health related post after so long! Many of you may have heard the term ‘mindfulness’. But what does it mean? Mindfulness is consciously/deliberately being aware of something, but not thinking about it. It is being aware of what is happening and attending to whatever is happening. It involves paying attention to our own mind and body, being in equilibrium with the outside world. 

Mindfulness is developing this capacity of attention and awareness, as generally, we always focus on thoughts rather than awareness. An example: when you eat something, let’s use a raisin as an example, are you aware of the various sensations you experience? Or do you taste, chew and swallow without much thought? Being mindful when eating a raisin would involve being aware of the texture of the raisin, how it feels against your tongue, what bursts of flavour you experience, how heavy it is in your mouth.. etc. Often we work in ‘automatic pilot’, having our attention somewhere else and not attending to 'here and now'. For example, you could be doing the ironing but not have your full attention to the task as you are concentrating on what you might cook for dinner.

This is some delicious hot cookie dough. This photo was appropriate for this post because I was naturally very mindful while eating this because it tasted so good :P

Mindfulness can help you to skilfully let go of your worries and negative thoughts, but it requires practice and being done regularly. Mindfulness based therapeutic interventions are also used by Psychologists to help patients. It is a good technique to reduce stress. You can try some simple mindfulness techniques yourself to become more aware of yourself and of what you are currently doing.

1)      Breathing:
-           Pay attention to your breathing. Just focus on your breath. Allow the pressure from inside to leave and feel your breathing become calmer and relaxed. Be aware as you inhale, what happens inside your body (the air filling your lungs)/the physical sensation, how it feels, and as you exhale try to fully experience that sensation too.

2)      Activities – e.g. walking outside:
-           Focus your full attention on the experience of walking. Feel the ground in contact with your feet, feel the bend of your knee as you walk. What do you feel on the ground as you walk? Is the path smooth, is it uneven, and are there leaves you walk over? Feel the pressure of each foot as you change from left to right when you walk.

It may sound a bit exaggerated giving so much attention to daily tasks, but try it. You don’t have to share it with anyone. You don’t have to focus too much on it either. You just need to be more aware your experiences and sensations in the current moment.

That’s it for now! This was different post to usual, hope you enjoyed it.

Take lots of care!
Ayesha xxx

Feelings of anxiety/anger/stress and simple techniques

anger
Hello! 

 Quick note: this post is not about generalised anxiety disorder as a clinical issue, but is about feelings of anxiety (and anger and stress) and simple ways to try and manage this.

Alright, so feelings of anxiety/anger/stress are natural responses that we all go through, but not all of us can get out of those feelings easily. Some people have anxiety so bad that they can experience a panic attack.

Such feelings are a result of what we go through in our mind. But, when our mind experiences something, our body likes to work in parallel, producing a physical response. You'll notice your heart beat faster, feel hot and sweaty, get a burst of energy, feel tense, breathe heavier.. and so on. That is because your body is releasing adrenaline and cortisol in preparation for the evolutionary fight or flight response. 

 What's that? Back in the day our ancestors would have to try harder to survive and may come across many different life threatening situations, for example, a wild bear. So what do they do? They get stressed/anxious about the situation and their body would respond to allow them to: fight the bear OR run away from the bear (flight). Of course, in the modern age we don't have many adaptive functions for this response as we typically don't fight or run away from our problems. For example, if you are stressed about an exam.. you can't fight it or run away from it (strictly speaking - I mean you could run out the exam hall if you really wanted to..)


http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/8347
Due to this, our stress response can seem like it lingers on and make us feel worse - because we aren't making use of our physical response the way evolution intended it to be done. This is why we might do stupid things in the heat of the moment. For example, making the rash decision to start an argument with someone, hurt someone's feelings, quit a job, throw things at a wall.. etc.
So, what can we do about this physical reaction our body is producing without being harmful for anyone? We can try to de-stress and calm down. Not only do we need to calm down in our mind, but our body too (which will automatically calm down your mind). They both work in sync, if you calm one the other will respond similarly.

 Three de-stressing techniques:

1) Breathing activity (helps clear your head and relax you):
Inhale from your nose for five seconds, and exhale from your mouth for ten seconds. Do this about three times and you’ll notice a great relief. You can also do this while picturing a relaxing scene in your mind (e.g. a quiet beach). You can especially do this when you feel extremely angry to help prevent you from making any hasty decisions. Doing this in other situations like before going into an exam, doing a presentation or going to a social event (if you face social anxiety) can help calm the nerves too.

2) Chocolate:
Have you ever heard the saying “chocolate makes you happy”? Well it’s true! Eating chocolate releases endorphins (a happy hormone) which elevate the mood. Therefore, eating some chocolate can also de-stress you. It’s one of the reasons people comfort eat! BUT, don’t use that as an excuse to binge out on chocolate! As with everything else, chocolate needs to be consumed within moderation (unfortunately).

3) Exercise:
There are other ways to release endorphins too, with one of them being exercise. Have you ever noticed how energetic and optimistic you feel after a work out? That is of course when you haven’t worked out to your maximum potential and feel drained! You’ll be surprised at the mental wellbeing benefits that exercise has, with de-stressing being one of them. You don't need to have a full training session at the gym; going for a quick jog or having a rave to music in your room is great. Just get your heart racing and feel yourself cheer up!

Long-term stress can suppress our immune system, so try to de-stress as often as you can. Remember that these feelings are in our heads.. meaning we are in control of them. If we learn to pick up on when we think we're going to reach our limit, we will be able to learn to counteract this and prevent ourselves from going through the nasty experience. Hope this helps any of you to relax those nerves!

Stay chilled like an ice-cube (yes, yes, I actually just said that),
Ayesha xxx