“ Mindfulness, put simply, is the ability to see what’s going on in our heads, without getting carried away with it. It is the capacity to feel sensations – even painful ones – without letting them control us. Mindfulness means being aware of our experiences, observing them without judgement, and responding from a place of clarity and compassion, rather than fear, insecurity or greed.”
David Gelles, ‘Mindful Work’
According to Segal, Williams and Teasdale in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression, mindfulness enable us to do this by enabling us to “… (develop) a different way of relating to sensations, thoughts and feelings – specifically mindful acceptance and acknowledgement of unwanted feelings and thoughts rather than habitual, automatic, pre-programmed routines that tend to perpetuate difficulties.” They also add that by practicing mindfulness people are “…able to choose the most skilful response to any unpleasant thoughts, feelings and situations that are met.”
What can mindfulness do?
The benefits of mindfulness are many and varied comprising mental, emotional and physical elements. There is a growing body of evidence that mindfulness can lead to:
- Improving the immune system
- Enhancing resistance to depression
- Lowering the risk of heart disease
- Enhancing well-being
- Helping to manage feelings and to be able to take charge
- Improving resilience – the ability to cope with the ups and downs of life
- Bringing us off ‘auto-pilot’ and enabling us to take more control of our life
- Helping to focus on the ‘here and now’
- Helping to develop the ability to make choices rather than slipping back into old, and maybe unhelpful, patterns
- Helping to develop a kinder and more gentle attitude to the self
- Developing equanimity and the ability to be calm whatever the circumstances
- Developing the ability to make clear decisions (from a place of repose)
- Developing insight as someone becomes more aware of the relations between feeling, thinking and doing