How to be Mindful

First, I want to apologize for all of the elements of mindfulness that I am leaving out in just this simple blog. Secondly, I want to apologize that this is just a simple blog because, when I was practicing as a therapist, mindfulness was not a go-to for me. Mindfulness is not just a fad diet for mental health. Mindfulness is about being in the present moment and living there. This doesn’t mean that you should abandon all plans for the future, it just means that thinking about the future and past has a time and place, ,which can be assigned, but that living in the moment will bring you more peace. Mindfulness should be viewed as an assistive device for anyone, even those without mental health issues because everyone becomes anxious every once in awhile. 

Using Gratitude to Increase a Positivist Outlook on Your Life

I’ve written a blog about 20 positive journal prompts, found here:https://www.notamomma.com/20-positive-journal-prompts/  Whenever examining positive ideals and grateful thoughts about those things (people, possessions, memories, etc) around us, we need to allow ourselves to let those feelings come as they will, allow yourself to feel them, and then, move onto those positive thoughts around, being grateful for what you have and not worrying about what you don’t. 

Meditation

Meditation is not a cross-legged “oomm” state of peace that only some can experience because only they can totally clear their mind of other thoughts. Meditation can be for anyone. and you just sit however and wherever you’re comfortable. Try clearing your mind. Right now, go ahead. It’s damn-near impossible. So try this. Go to your quiet, comfortable place, and just let the thoughts come. There’s no magical secret, eventually, the thoughts will feed through and you might zero in on something truly bothering you, or even be able to, eventually, quiet those thoughts. 

The 5 senses

The importance of the 5 senses in mindfulness is to allow one to stay in the present during a situation that presents with anxiety. Think about it this way, I’m in the process of recovering from agoraphobia (basically, the fear of leaving the house), anyhow, when I DO have to leave the house, using the five senses is something helpful because you can pick something, any thing of the five senses, to focus on. How many types of gum are in the checkout? What are the people behind you talking about? (I’m nosy so I do this anyway). Concentrate on the amount of beeps each person has. What does the candy aisle smell like? Pick up something from the cart and use it as a “security blanket”, if need be. I always go to counting things, how many ridges are in the edges of the plastic doughnut containers? Math skills keep your brain entrapped into a certain spot in your brain so, what I’ve always found, is that, if I’m stuck in numbers land, it’s generally hard to get out. 

I have agoraphobia, but as an aside to PTSD. When I’m out, let’s say, in a grocery store, a similar scenario to the previous one prescribed, I become overwhelmed with all of those senses combined. I can hear and see everything. I become completely overwhelmed, afraid, and elevated to panic. I’m not far enough in the road to recovery to work with these skills quite yet, which leads me to…

Practice makes…anxiety manageable

The more practice of these skills, the more that you will find yourself using them everyday. The gratitude, the meditative moments, the use of the five senses, and, most importantly, living in the moment. Letting those emotions come. That positive outlook on life doesn’t mean that there won’t be sad ones, or ones so happy that you’ll cry. Let those emotions come, but, at the end of the day, gratitude is what matters, and that is how to be mindful.