Mindful Living

In order to live mindfully, you need to be aware of the 5 things that is needed: Presence, awareness, appreciation, reflection and action. These five  things are essential in order to attain that inner sense of peace and contentment.

• Presence – it means taking every moment throughout the day and being there not only physically but mentally and spiritually too. It is the way of connecting ourselves with the moment and the environment we are in.

• Awareness – This has become a vital part of all mindfulness activity. It requires you to acknowledge every step, feeling or impact the activity may have in order for you to appreciate yourself and be more aware of it.

• Appreciation – We should always appreciate the things around us, whether is brought by luck or it is caused by great efforts. Be appreciative and see how things will change around you.

• Reflection – Mindfulness is all about how the past experiences makes us a better individual in the future. Think about what you have done in the past and what you are now. See how different the previous experiences affected you and changed you, is it for better or for worse?

• Contentment – After being present, aware, appreciative and reflecting on your life, It is time to be contented on what you currently have in your life. Lead it for the better not just for other people, but for yourself. 

How To Practice Mindful Living

1. Find Peace in your Life

Mindfulness is a form of meditation practice – you need to make an effort to practice it everyday for you to see how it wonderfully affects you. We often go thinking about the meeting we have tomorrow, or the dinner with your family in the evening or the work that you have to finish within the day. Whether it be the past, present or future, some reflecting on your life will not hurt and who knows? It may even lead to a healthier and better life.

2. Your Physical and Mental Energy Matters

Everyday, we spent a lot of our time and energy in order to be productive for the day. We doesn’t even realize that the amount of energy that we have for the day will dictate how will our day go. If our energy level is low, we’ll have a hard time finishing task as we will easily get tired and sleepy causing us to be doing less than what we intended to do.

3. One Thing at a Time

In a world were multi-tasking became a habit, it is hard to keep our minds off from so many things. Being mindful requires you to focus on one thing at a time. Single tasking is actually easier than you thought. Also, it makes you finish your tasks faster than doing everything all at once. Bringing your focus on one thing gives you the type of clarity that you need and improves your thinking and mental health greatly.

4. Mindful Exercises

Aside from practicing mindfulness through meditation, we recommended you trying the mindful exercises too. Mindful exercise is the combination of mindfulness and exercise where you are connecting the muscles of your body and your mind too. It is also a great way of attaining the mindful state which is important in making our day hassle and stress-free!

5. Learn when to Let Go

Learning when to let go is easier said than done in any circumstances. No one actually wants to let go of the things that has been pretty much part of your everyday life. But in cases where your peace and calm is compromised, you should think again if the thing is worth the stress that it entails with. Letting go of the clutters in our mind will definitely ease your burden and at the same time frees your mind and soul.

Benefits of Being Mindful During Exercise

You’ll have a stronger mind and body connection. As you focus on your exercise, your muscle works with your mind. Workouts or exercises brings a better outcome when you are being conscious of the workout that you are doing. Being mindful during an exercise gets more out of each exercise and workout making your body and mind stronger.

You’ll have better workout or exercise outcomes. Whenever you focus on a task given to you, you tend to have much better output, right? It is the same with working out or exercising. As you focus more on each muscles and the quality of movement, you get the most out of each movement bringing you a great quality exercise.

You’ll be even more satisfied with your mind and body. We workout and exercise because we want to be healthy and fit. Adding mindfulness to your daily exercise is just an add-on. A good workout and exercise satisfies not only your body muscles but your mind as well.

How To Be More Mindful During Exercise

1. Know your purpose for your Workout

Most people workout or exercise mainly because they want to shed some weight. But let’s be real, no one will immediately burn a lot of calories from just working out once. If you have a goal or purpose on working out, you’ll have something to look forward to or expect at the end of the sessions. Achieving these goals will definitely make you feel better and confident about yourself. Here are some examples of your workout purpose:

• To finish a cycle of workout
• To strengthen some body muscles which you think needs improvement
• To challenge yourself and achieve greater goals
• To work out on a certain period of time and to burn a specific number of calories
• To focus on a specific area of fitness such as endurance, cardio and others.

2. Keep in mind the reason why you are started the Workout

There is no rush in achieving your dream weight or body. Everything takes time and you must take your time exercising by keeping yourself focused on your goals. Always remember why started the plans and stick to it until you have reached a milestone. Pat yourself on the back after a good workout session. Don’t forget to reflect why you exercise and how the workouts and exercises will help you. Here are some examples:

• Workouts in the morning will help me get through the day with a much better energy
• It really feels fulfilling finishing a workout session
• I’ll have a better sleep if I exercise during the day
• My body deserves better and so I will keep exercising
• Workouts and exercises relieves my stress

3. Take your Time, No Rush

Remember that workouts work better when you are focused on what you are doing and the muscles that you are targeting. Take each step, exercise and movement with such caution and focus. Focus on your form, posture and holding your core muscles. Enjoy the feeling of your muscles contraction and just enjoy the sweats and pain that comes out from it.

4. Breathe

Breathing is not only essential in mindfulness but also when working out. As you work out, you need more air to fill in your lungs to be able to do the next movements. If you are on a few minutes quick rest in between workouts, you may try mindful breathing by closing your eyes and feel each breath. You’ll see how good it can clear your mind and brings your focus back on whatever you are doing.

1.You’re on Autopilot

Have you ever experienced being lost in thought while driving or when doing some tasks you found your mind wandering around making you forget whatever it is that you are doing? This might mean that your mind needs a break and you are lacking mindfulness in your life. This is the best time to think and get back to your mindfulness practices in order to get a better hold of your life. 

2. Feeling Uncertain

You may have come to a point where you don’t understand whatever it is that you are feeling. May it be sadness, happiness, worry, anxiety or even anger. You just let the feeling overcome you and it made you feel really, really bad because you think there is no reason for you to feel that way. Uncertainly is a sign for you to heighten you self-awareness by practicing mindfulness again in your life. Begin your mindful journey and see how it changes your understanding of your emotions and yourself.

3. Too Much Overthinking

Overthinking is not only stressful but it also makes you second-guess your thoughts and even question your life. It makes you doubt yourself and from there you gradually loses your trust on yourself. Mindfulness pulls you away from the wave of overthinking and brings you to a quiet place and state where you are enjoying the peace and quiet. Mindfulness is your best escape at times like this.

4. Constantly Exhausted

Ever felt exhausted after every task you do? Whether it be just a simple task or a complex one? Balancing your life is the best way to prevent and  alleviate your exhaustion from your everyday life. Being stressed and exhausted can cause you to have a burn-out which can be really damaging to your health. Meditation and mindfulness is a great way on lowering your stress levels and at the same time makes you energized and happy that you are able to get through the day without much feeling of exhaustion.

5. Easily Angered

It is totally normal to be angry once in a while especially when something happened that gets you really frustrated. What is not normal is being irritated all the time that even little gestures or mistakes easily makes you angry. Too much stress and pressure is the core of your break-outs. You may have had too much on your plate that you don’t have the time for yourself. As much as it is nice to tick-off the boxes on your To-dos, it is also important to have a designated break time for yourself. Even a 5-minute mindful break can be a game changer for you. Try it out, and see how it will change how you view things.

 6. Eating unconsciously

Meal time is a sacred time for us as it is the only time we get to satisfy our hunger and we get to enjoy the company of our workmates and the food. If you find yourself unconsciously eating and your mind floating then it is a sign for you to stop and let mindfulness in your life again. Mindfulness can also be done while eating through mindful eating where you savor each bite slowly by appreciating the texture, smell and taste of the food. In this way you’ll have a better appreciation of the food and it also improves your focus.

Meditation

There are many definitions of meditation. Meditation is a training of oneself by increasing your awareness and focus leading to a better and healthier self. The goal of meditation is to heighten the state of awareness of a person and their focus.

Meditation has been practiced by many cultures all over the world for years such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Christian and even Islam. They have their own way of practicing meditation which they often relate with their religion. While meditation was first used for religious practices, many of the people now practice it independently and away from any spiritual or religious relief. Meditation became their psychotherapy that helps calm their body and mind.

5 Ways Meditation Makes Us Happy

People, by nature, are in constant pursuit of happiness. Who would want to be happy? Let’s see how meditation might contribute to this pursuit:

1. Good Night’s Sleep

Meditation and mindfulness helps a person sleep better. It serves as a relaxation exercise that gives the body the peace and quiet that it needs bringing inner healing. When done a few minutes prior to sleeping, meditation helps reduce insomnia and sleeping problems giving you a good night’s sleep. The longer you sleep throughout the night, the more energy you’ll have in the morning which will lead to a more productive day. Happiness is not only gained through material things, as simple as a good night’s sleep will increase your happy hormone.

2. Better Memory

Meditation and mindfulness involve the mind in practicing it. One study found that people who are practicing mindfulness meditation performed better on memory task. There were also signs that their hippocampus, the part of brain responsible for learning and memory, was proven to have increased in volume too. Another study also found that meditation improves short-term memory and focus. A good working memory is one secret in to achieving a successful career as it makes a person optimistic and confident.

3. Develops your Creativity

Mindfulness meditation is a great training in improving a person’s creativity. Since meditation works with the mind, it has known effects on the brain by reducing its reactivity, increasing resiliency and makes your neocortex work so much better. Meditation has a long-lasting effect on human’s cognition abilities which makes it possible for us to conceive even better ideas. Everyday creative endeavors make way for a positive mood and happier day.

4. Healthier Body

Although meditation mainly affects the mind, it has certain effects on the body too. Meditation has many health benefits such as relieving anxiety, pain, and depression. It also improves the body’s sympathetic nervous system by increasing the heart rate, blood pressure and breathing within normal levels in times of stressful situations. A healthier body leads to a healthier outlook in life.

5. Greater Happiness

They say that meditation and mindfulness is one of the secrets to achieving happiness. Practicing meditation was proven to help people get in to know their feelings and over time increase their level of happiness too. They become more optimistic in life and feels good about themselves. Meditation increases the happiness chemicals of the brain such as endorphins and serotonin while reducing the negativities.

Happiness Meditation

You don’t need to work so hard to achieve happiness. Happiness does not need to be expensive. Let meditation lead your way towards happiness. We prepared a happiness meditation just for you way.

1. Get comfortable by sitting on a chair or mat, wherever you prefer, then close your eyes. Be aware of your breathing pattern. Breathe slowly and deeply. Let your breathing relax your body and remove all the tension when exhaling.

2. Find your way to a stillness, a quiet place where you can focus on your being. Relax your body and let your mind be in a calm state. Welcome peace in your body and mind.

3. Recall an experience that is memorable for you. It might be something happy or not. Welcome the image of that experience on your mind. Try to remember even the simplest detail. While doing so, try to recall what was happening during that time. Where were you? Are you alone or with other people? What different sounds did you hear? What were you feeling in that exact moment? Let these sensations and emotions overwhelm your body and mind. Breathe in all of these experience and feelings.

Try to do this exercise every day or a few times a week. Practicing this will improve your state of mind and will bring you more happiness in life.

Mindful Drawing

Mindful drawing, also called as “meditative drawing”, is a mindfulness technique that trains your mind by bringing your attention and focus into drawing. It helps put the mind in a calm and stable state, stimulating your brain’s creative center. Mindful drawing is not just for artists or painters who are creative individuals. It is recommended for whoever want to achieve that state of awareness.

There are many ways to practice mindfulness and mindful drawing is just one of them. Attaining a mindful state through art can be done not just by drawing but also by doing simple activities like carving, crocheting, painting or anything that involves art. Keeping the hands busy is the way of drawing in bringing one’s focus on the present moment.

Benefits of Mindful Drawing

Mindful drawing has a lot benefits aside from keeping your mind and hand busy. Here are some things that you should know about its benefits:

• Helps you reconnect and reflect with your life
• Give you a sense of peace
• Stimulates the creative center of your brain
• Decreases the level of stress of anxiety
• Gives yourself some alone time
• Brings back your confidence and comfort
• Diverts your attention into something more productive
• Improves attention and ability to focus

Relaxing Drawing Exercises

Before practicing mindful drawing, you will need the following: colored pens, a sketchbook or notebook.

1. Attention and Awareness Circles

Any mindfulness activity requires you to sit down comfortably, relaxed and in a quiet and peaceful space. If you are ready, let’s start your attention and awareness circles exercise.

This activity only has 1 rule: Draw circles

1. Make sure that the circles that you draw are always closed and refrain from leaving it open. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t a perfect circle as long as it is closed. Keeping it closed is a sign that your full attention is on the activity that you are doing.

2. Keep your eyes focused on the tip of the pen while still being aware of the pen you are holding and the drawing that you are making.

3. Make sure to consciously think of the place where you will put the next circle on.

4. Repeat this step until you reached the certain picture that you had on your mind and bring yourself to be aware of the whole drawing process and the picture you created after.

2. Draw Your Breath

Hold the pen in between your fingers and bring your attention to your breath. Without trying to control the way you breath, start following the rhythm of your breathing. Let the pen follow the up and down rhythm of your breathing moving from left to right.

While drawing your breathing, bring your focus and attention on your breath and how you pause in between. Let you hand and fingers take care of the drawing while you are letting the sensation and emotions take over your body.

Keep your grip on the pen relaxed and keep your arm and forearm off the paper. Your hand may shake for a few second but let your hand have the freedom on how it draws. It will definitely give you a liberating feeling!

Remember: Don’t try to control your breathing and let it naturally take its course. 

3. Drawing Mandalas

Mandalas are popular these days as it encompasses an idea of wholeness and unity. Mandalas are used for therapy session and are great in expressing one’s emotions and bringing inner peace to oneself.

You may either draw a mandala or buy a ready-made mandala that you can just color beautifully however you like. Drawing mandalas is said to be a form of prayer in the Buddhist tradition. Mandalas show your current state of mind and how you are feeling while drawing it.

It is a good mindfulness activity as you become one with your drawing bringing you in a state of awareness that you need.

Is Mindfulness a Religion?

Many defined mindfulness as the state of awareness on one’s thoughts, physical sensations and environment. Mindfulness brings a person’s focus on the present moment and paying more attention to its purpose while disregarding possible distractions around you. Being in a state of mindfulness is being present available in the world. It is a fundamental human capacity that enables us to be in “a way of being in the world”.

When we hear the term “mindfulness”, we often relate it with practices of religion that involves meditating in the mountains or going on a retreat at a temple. Little did we know that simply focus on breathing or taking a silent walk in a park is mindfulness too. Cultivating this purposeful awareness allows us to be more present in the lives of the people important for us as we are giving them our attention which is considered as one of the most loving gifts that we can offer.

The origins of Mindfulness can be traced back to Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Stoicism which are known religious traditions for some. We often associate the words “Mindfulness” and “meditation” to these religions since most of them practices deep breathing exercises which is a common practice in mindfulness.

We can say that every spiritual tradition practices mindful contemplation and silence where on has a direct awareness through praying and meditating. The way they meditate is full of compassion and awareness. We cannot say that mindfulness is a religion and also all religion is practicing mindfulness.

Mindfulness and Religion

Is mindfulness a religion? the answer is NO. You could achieve mindfulness by practicing it spiritually if you chose to, but you may also practice is just as a part of your daily stress relieving routine. One cannot force you to associate mindfulness with spiritual practice as no one can claim that mindfulness is of their own. 

Mindful Breathing

Most religion practices mindful breathing as a part of their spiritual journey. Mindful breathing is a basic yet powerful mindfulness meditation practice. It simply brings a person’s focus and attention to the way you are breathing and feel its natural rhythm and flow. The breathing process has a great influence on how deep and great your relaxation will be. It can be done by standing or sitting down anywhere you want to. Here are the steps for mindful breathing:

1. Focus on your breathing. Breathe in and out slowly. One breathing cycle should last for at least 6 seconds. Take your time while breathing.
2. Breathe in through your nose then release the air through your mouth. Let the air effortlessly move in and out of your lungs.
3. Let go of your thoughts and whatever it is that might be bothering you. Focus your attention on the task on hand.
4. Watching your breathe can help you focus more. It brings a sense of awareness and it fills your body with it.
5. Feel the awareness all over your body and release the energy to the world.

Benefits of Mindfulness for Kids

There are many studies regarding the beneficial effects of mindfulness to adults, but little is known about the effects of mindfulness to the kids. Here’s what you should know about mindfulness and how it will benefit your child:

• Stress Reduction – Kids gets stressed too. Mindfulness has the ability of shifting your child’s focus from one thing to another. It helps remove their present worries at home or at school and their focus on practicing mindfulness. It helps redirect and train how their minds will react during unexpected situations.

• Emotional Regulation – Children are expressive of their emotions. One study that focused on the different attention and behavioral issues found out that mindfulness is an effective therapy for them. Aside from training them to focus, it also reduces the anxiety that they are feeling and regulates the different emotions that they experience.

• Cognitive Improvement – Children have a certain set of skills that allows them to focus on the tasks given to them by following the instructions or directions set. These are important especially when they began schooling. Mindfulness has the ability to improve these set of skills leading to a better adaptability when at school.

• Strengthens Self–Control – Mindfulness involves focusing a person’s attention on the body and feel the different sensations as it overwhelms the body. This is also true for the children. Mindfulness, when practiced by a child, not only shifts their attention but it also helps control their body and their selves too.

•  Improves Mood – Accepting the present moment is a vital part of mindfulness meditation. During this time, one should accept the emotions and experiences while meditating. This teaches your child to accept the pleasant and unpleasant emotions and eventually makes their emotional health good.

• Good Social and Communication Skills – Kids are social beings. They can’t stop talking and playing with each other. Mindfulness improves their social and communication skills even at a young age. It increases their awareness of their emotions and other’s too. They are going to be good listeners and talker when they grow up, indeed!

Mindfulness for Toddlers

Mindfulness for toddlers may not be as popular as that of mindfulness for adults but both are definitely proven to be beneficial in improving the overall health of a person. Many are curious as to how one can teach a toddler how to practice mindfulness without teaching them the complicated steps. We researched for different techniques and strategies on how you can promote mindfulness to your toddler.

1. Validate their Feelings

Being aware of the present fully is a great feature of mindfulness. This means that emotions should be accepted, either good or bad, to better understand ourselves.

In order for our children to do this, parents should validate the emotions of our children. Let them understand that whatever they are currently feeling, pleasant or not, is ok to have. Being empathic and showing them kindness will lead to a better expression of their emotions.

How to apply this: Whenever your child is upset or shares to you their feelings, try not telling them thing such as “You’re ok” or “It’ll pass”. Instead, put yourself in their shoes and express that you understand whatever emotion it is by saying, “You are sad because I said no sweets for today. I get sad too when I can’t eat what I want, too.”

2. Identify or Name the Feelings

Talk with your child about the different emotions, also include the different thoughts and physical sensations that experienced along with it. Giving names to these feelings will lead to better understanding of emotions for your child. They will not only understand theirs but other people’s feelings too.

Try your best to explain to them why we can’t control the emotions that we feel but we can try to choose the best way to react to these emotions. Teach them to think first rather than react mindlessly to these situations that gives them different emotions.

 How to apply this: As a parent you feel emotions too, when you find yourself frustrated, mad or overwhelmed regarding a certain situation, let them know. In this way they are able to understand your feelings and your response. For example, “Mommy is feeling really overwhelmed right now. I will just take a walk to calm myself.”

3. One with Nature

Children loves the nature as it is the best playground where their senses are heightened and are developed. Let them run on the grass barefoot or feel the breeze of the cold air outside. Experiencing nature is the best way for them to practice mindfulness.

How to apply this: Go on a walk with your child in a park. While walking, point out some things like, “Look at the flower, the color is beautiful! Do you want to smell it?” or “Close your eyes and listen to the birds chirping around us.”. Toddlers are curious and so being one with nature will definitely be a fun and wonderful experience for them.

Let us know if you tried any of the strategies listed above and how it affected your child. If their attitude and behaviors improved or their tantrums lessened. Any improvements or changes you noticed on your child while practicing mindfulness.

Multitasking

With numerous activities daily that should be done, one cannot deny the fact that multitasking is an option – if you want to finish early and have more time for yourself. Multitasking for humans is the ability to perform more than one activity at the same time such as listening to music while doing reports or eating while driving inside the car. Anyone would’ve multitasked more than once daily especially when you are nearing a deadline and you are such a crammer you do it prior to the due date. Dividing up your attention among different tasks may not be the best option.

What to know about Multitasking?

With the curiosity about multitasking, many researchers opted to find out more about how it can either put you on a disadvantage – or not. Here’s what you should know about multitasking:

Pro:

• Increase efficiency – multitasking allows you to finish different tasks or activities in less time. It is ideal for people who does not know how to manage their time well and often ends up cramming on things.
• Increase resiliency – multitasking needs much focus especially when you want to finish quickly. It can strengthen your mental focus and also promotes flexibility of the mind.
• Increase productivity – Some tasks at work are often repetitive and does not have much impact on your work quality. Doing these simple tasks together can actually increase your productivity for the day.

Con:

• Declining quality – multitasking demands excessive urgency in finishing tasks, and this can actually decline the quality level of the work than as compared to those that were carefully done. There is room for plenty of mistakes too.
• Distraction – Multitasking may bring your focus to your current task, but it also keeps you distracted from the other activities that you should attend to.  In the long run, multitasking may hinder you from focusing on important tasks as you got used to doing it.
• Misplaced Priorities – Doing things two at a time can also misplace your priorities. People tend to forget to give importance to a significant task when multitasking. They have a mindset that as long as the job is done, there is nothing to worry about and that is just wrong.

Mindfulness and Multitasking

We’ve defined mindfulness previously, it is defined as the state of being conscious and aware of one’s thoughts, feelings and even surroundings. It brings the focus of a person to the present moment and allows your mind to be away from all the worries and thoughts that you have. Mindfulness is not just a time for yourself, it is also an advantage especially when used at work.

Mindfulness works by taking a proactive approach and allows you to create your own plan for the day by maximizing the time that you have on your hand. It shifts your full attention on your current task effortlessly and effective. Multitasking may cause you to be productive, but it does not assure the quality of your work. By following your plans, you are being productive and at the same time ensures that your work is of good quality.

Multitasking causes a person to forget to prioritize work and give importance to it. Mindfulness makes sure that you have  a real and enough progress especially on the important tasks.

Mindful Break at Work

Work can take a toll on a person’s health and life. We listed down few activities you can easily incorporate on your short breaks:

1. Move around – take a short walk or just go around the office for a few minutes. If you only have a minute, you may just stand for a few seconds and stretch your body. Changing one’s position after sitting for a long time brings the body to focus on the present moment and aids in relieving your mind and body from the stress caused by work.

2. Laugh more – did you know that being happy or laughing actually releases chemicals in our brain that is beneficial for us? Also, happiness lowers your stress level and relaxes your mind even for quite a bit of time.

3. Breathe – do short breathing exercises. Deep breathing is not only good for your lungs but it is also proven that it calms your mind and body, promotes blood circulation and boosts your energy. 

Next time that you are pressed for time and you feel pressure. Always take a second to relax and breathe. Taking a short break may be just the game-changer that you needed. It pumps up your body, mind and life!

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the basic ability of the human mind to be fully aware of the present, of where we are and what we are doing.  As defined by the American Psychological Association (2012), it is “a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgement. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait.”  It a pretty straightforward word, but its meaning can do so much. It has its way of snapping us back to reality and to what we are feeling. 

Mindfulness helps divert your attention and purposely focus on what is happening at the present moment – accepting it without judgement. It is achieved when a person reaches a certain state where they become more aware of the present moment while acknowledging and accepting whatever it is that they are feeling, thinking, and the bodily sensations that is overflowing in their body. It heightens your sensations and lets you focus on it to more.

Benefits of Mindfulness

Helps you sleep

If you are having a difficulty sleeping at night, mindfulness is there to help you sleep without worries. The state of mindfulness needs you to clear or empty your mind and remove those wary thoughts that you’ve been keeping. Mindfulness brings you a relaxed state and helps  you create a mental space where you are able to welcome sleep.

Reduce Stress

Everyone experiences stress at some point of the day, whether it be at work, home or school. Mindfulness was proven to reduce the stress levels a person has by alleviating some of their worries. Practicing mindfulness gives you better control of yourself and makes you focus on the things that matter while preventing you from being distracted.

Improves self

At one point in your life, you may have felt lost and did not understand yourself at all. Mindfulness helps improves your perception about yourself and makes you aware of the current state of your emotions. Of course, other self-care habits should be done also to further improve yourself.

Depression

Depression is just one of the most common mental illness in the world and has killed thousands of people in a year. Depression is a silent-killer and usually people who suffers on it does not show their suffering. Depression not only affects adults, but children too.

Depression is a mood disorder that is characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness, loss of interest and disinterest in performing daily activities. People who suffer from depression may feel down from time to time or all day long. They are unable to cope and adjust to the struggles and setbacks that they have in life and succumb to their problem. By understanding depression and recognizing its symptoms, you may help yourself or another person to overcome their problem and feel better:

• Feelings of helplessness and hopeless as if nothing you do can improve your current situation.
• Loss of interest in performing daily activities. From taking a bath to going to work, you are no longer energized to do such tasks and prefers to be alone all day long.
• Loss of appetite leading to a significant decrease in weight.
• Lack of sleep or oversleeping. Some can’t sleep because of their problems while some sleep too much to not have time to think about their endeavors.
• Change in behavior like becoming easily angered or irritability.
• Loss of energy. Easily fatigued by performing simple tasks. The body feels heavy when doing even small chores.
• Strong feelings of worthlessness and guilt by repeated criticizing self for the faults and mistakes done.
• Unable to concentrate at school or at work and tends to have significant decline in performance.

If you have any of the symptoms above, please consult your doctor or a psychiatrist near you.

Can Mindfulness Cure Depression?

With depression taking a lot of people lives each year, one would be curious if there are other ways to cure depression. Mindfulness has been greatly studied by scientists and researchers to see if it has an impact in treating depression. Researchers were able to formulate a therapeutic program for patients who have chronic depression and anxiety called Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

MBCT is an 8-week mindfulness-based program that was based from cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy teaches patients on how to redirect their negative thinking and is the gold standard for treatment of depression. The combination of mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy is ideal as the former brings you to a state of awareness, specially your feelings, while the later teaches you to redirect these negative thoughts and countering them with actual positive event in your life.  

MBCT is performed only by experts and should not be attempted by anyone. MBCT in combination with proper intake of anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medications will further improve a patient’s condition and lead to faster recovery a patient.

Mindfulness

According to the American Psychological Association (2012), it is “a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgement. In this sense, mindfulness is a state and not a trait.” Mindfulness brings focus on a person’s experience through being aware of one’s thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations when practicing it. It helps a person be one with the inner self and it brings peace in our chaotic lives.

We know that the goal of mindfulness is not only to make a person relax, but also to divert a person’s attention away from the stress and unpleasant thoughts that can be truly overwhelming sometimes. Mindfulness helps stimulate the emotional, mental and physical processes in our body.

Awareness and Acceptance

With the popularity of mindfulness practice in social media, many people seem to practice it. But people may not be doing it the right way. Mindfulness has two main components: Awareness and Acceptance. In order for you to truly be able to successfully practice mindfulness you need to consider these two. Awareness involves being aware and monitoring your experiences while acceptance means that you should be able to monitor your experience openly and without prior judgement. Implementing these two components are needed to better understand the practice of being mindful and get its benefits.

Study shows that people who practice mindfulness without the attitude of acceptance are not successful with it and has undesirable outcomes. People who paid attention to their experiences with a judgmental attitude has the poorest emotional outcomes. Research shows that they have high levels of depression, anxiety and even, emotional instability than those who practice it with proper awareness and non-judgmental attitude.

From this, we can surmise that without these two components, one can expect that mindfulness can lead to unwanted outcomes which can contribute in the development of emotional instability of a person.  

Unwanted effects of Mindfulness

As much as there are many benefits of proper practice of meditation and mindfulness, there are also factors that can cause unwanted effects which we cannot prevent. Here are some of the unwanted effects of Mindfulness:

It may stimulate negative thinking

A lot of people have this misconception that meditation promotes positive thinking, it isn’t always the case. Studies shows that some of those who practiced meditation experienced negative emotions such as delusions, paranoia, and having irrational thoughts. They also reported that they are unable to control themselves and has a remarkable change in their executive function as well.

People who are not in a good place and practice meditation are prone to stimulating these negative thoughts that is harmful than beneficial. It may trigger so many unwanted emotions that can even aggravate the emotional lability a person is experiencing. Mindfulness has different effects on people.

Meditation can also trigger emotions and memories that has long been suppressed. This can lead to the appearance of negative emotions and can be hard to handle for some people. There were reports that some participants were able to re-live their previous traumatic experiences or have flashbacks when meditating.

Sensory perception may be altered

Since mindfulness makes use of the senses to further improve awareness, it can alter these sensations too. A study found out that participants who meditated were able to experience increased sensitivity to light and noise, hallucinations, illusions and visions that weren’t there.

Some people also have this wrong thinking that they will have visions – like seeing the white light or flying like a free spirit – when meditating. This is a wrong reason to meditate as it can cause frustration and unproductivity once it can’t be achieved.

Can cause lack of motivation

Who doesn’t procrastinate? I think everyone does. I bet you’ve done it more than once in a month. Unfortunately, there are studies that supports the fact that meditation can actually aggravate your lack of motivation. It can actually cause you to lose interest in activities that has been previously enjoyable for you.

Physical side effects

Aside from its effect emotionally, mindfulness has some unwanted effects on our body too. Some of the symptoms identified were pressure, involuntary movements of the body, headache, fatigue, body weakness, digestion problems, and dizziness.

Feel Lost

Everyone goes through being or feeling lost in their lives more than once. But this is an unexpected effect of mindfulness. Mindfulness can potentially cause you to negatively look at yourself and if you are already in this state, it can make it even worse. Meditation not only bring awareness of the positives but also the negative aspects of your life. It now depends on the person on how it will allow itself to be affected.