How can mindfulness help with the stress and anxiety of what we are dealing with right now?
Day in, day out we are being bombarded by information which is inevitably increasing our anxiety levels. There is uncertainty around the economic stability of the country and also of our own personal finances. There is growing concern about fuel prices, interest rates and increased prices in general. Further away there are mutterings about Putin and nuclear weapons, closer to home there is political incohesion.
It is this lack of certainty and the fear of what might happen next which is responsible for much of the increase in anxiety and stress. This is where mindfulness can help. Mindfulness is about becoming more aware of what is going in your mind and being able to manage it better. This can help us to respond more calmly to stressful situations. The human mind is continually wandering. It has been wired to continually risk assess and check for danger. This was to ensure the survival of the species but now it is what is bringing us down.
As our mind tends to wander onto any risks so that we can prepare for them to keep us safe, we inadvertently add to our already stressful lives by focussing on what might go wrong, or what has gone wrong in the past. Mindfulness teaches us the ability to spot this mind wandering and makes us more able to bring the focus back to the present.
When we are able to control the mind’s natural urge to wander onto the negative, we are more able to get things done and to stay calm. In the present moment we can remind ourselves, for example, that right here and now we are safe. This gives us some relief from the constant worrying about what might go wrong. The formal practice to develop this ability is meditation. In focussing on the breath with our eyes closed, we can notice where the mind tends to go and we can practice bringing it back to where we want it to be.
The next step is to apply this to real life. It can help to try to bring your mind into the present at any given time during the day, during a mundane daily activity. You could try mindful showering or teeth cleaning. It might sound funny but it is worth noticing what you are thinking about while you are in the shower. If you spot that you are worrying about something or churning something over, just try to focus on the here and now, and give yourself a break from the stress. Small stress breaks during the day will help to increase your wellbeing as you can stop the tendency for stress or anxiety to spiral. This is particularly useful when there is so much uncertainty around at the moment.
We cannot control the situation but we can learn to control our reaction to it. We can learn to respond more calmly. We can learn to spot when our minds start to wander towards the issues that are causing us stress and we can learn to refocus them. In doing this we can learn to live more calmly and also to get more done.
With the rise in working from home many people are struggling to focus and to get things done. Being more aware of where our attention lies, enables us to spot distraction and limit our natural tendency to time waste and procrastinate. This helps us to work more effectively and also to be able to turn off from work. This is how mindfulness helps us to live better, work better and sleep better.
