Meditative mind
Why is self-awareness important? What is a meditative mind and how practicing mindfulness or mindful breathing can help relieve anxiety, increase productivity, and manage an emotional mind? Know the simple strategies to implement mindfulness and train your mind today!
There is undoubtedly an aspect of autopilot to human nature, the brain, and habit-forming behavior. It seems to me that some people are more on autopilot than others. Most people feel as though they are very self-aware when the research clearly shows that most behavior is unconsciously motivated. All of us are on autopilot to some degree!
Mindfulness Practice
Those who practice mindfulness or adopt a meditative mind tend to be more mindful in general, and are less on autopilot. In contrast, some people seem to lack mindfulness and meditative mind altogether and maybe sleepwalk like a zombie through life. Those are what many people refer to as sheep. One answer to this dilemma is to learn specific skills to help “turn down” the autopilot.
In the interest of living a healthy life, building good habits, and turning down autopilot, one skill that can significantly help is to practice mindfulness and have a meditative mind. If you are reading this article and you are thinking to yourself, “I’m unlike most people. I’m very self-aware!” Perhaps… But is that why you checked the fridge 10 times today? Is that why you’ve spent hours on Facebook? You likely did not make the conscious decision to say, “I am going to check the fridge for the 10th time today, even though different food did not magically appear, and maybe I should not even be eating right now.” You did that because it was unconsciously motivated by a lack of self-awareness.
To prevent those types of behaviors, or better said, to positively influence those types of behaviors, it helps to be more self-aware. Practicing a meditative mind or practicing mindfulness consistently is the best way to solve these problems.
Easier said than done, right? Especially when we live in a world of distractions and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain control of our focus. Social media, TV, and corporate messaging from our jobs, are all demanding our attention. The good news is that the same way we can enhance our physical strength through exercise, we can similarly enhance our mental strength and focus with mindfulness exercises. Later in the article, we will talk about how to specifically implement mindfulness into your current routine.
What exactly is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is not the hippy-dippy practice that many people think it is. It is a mental exercise for strengthening your focus leading to a meditative mind. The primary objective is to focus on your breath. There are other ways to do this, but we will talk about that later.
Many people find it very uncomfortable and difficult to sit down and focus only on their breath. That is the point! Similar to push-ups that are difficult and uncomfortable but make your chest and body stronger; mindfulness as a practice strengthens your focus like a muscle and helps develop a meditative mind.
How else can mindfulness and a meditative mind help me?
Another distraction we all experience is anxiety, which can be particularly troublesome since it is controlled automatically by your nervous system, which is typically thought to be beyond our control. Anxiety can certainly be distracting and cause you to lose focus, which is why mindfulness is such an important practice to know. By learning to get comfortable in uncomfortable moments, mindfulness or a meditative mind can help alleviate those anxious feelings. By bringing your focus to your breath and overriding your autonomic nervous system, you can quickly reduce symptoms of anxiety and bring your focus back to the center.
Mindfulness can also help you increase your productivity. When you are working on an important project and your mind drifts away from the current task at hand (e.g., what to eat for lunch), that is a sign your focus is getting weak. By bringing your focus back to your breath, you can gain control of your attention and make your “focus muscle” stronger.
It can also help you get better control of your emotions. The problem with emotions is that they can be dangerous! Why? Because they can drive behavior, and behavior should be driven by logic and reason instead of emotion. To get better control of your emotions, you have to be more aware of your emotions. You cannot fix what you are unaware of! Many people act on their emotions but are not fully conscious of them.
Great! How do I get started?
Mindfulness meditation is all about relaxing and focusing on the sensations of your breath. The reason that is beneficial for you is that anytime you find your focus diverting, or going somewhere else, it is like a mental exercise to bring your focus back to the center, which is your breath. If you find yourself thinking about what you are going to eat for lunch, bring your focus back to your breath. If you find yourself starting to get emotional, bring it back to your breath. A meditative mind certainly helps! This is going to increase self-awareness and that self-awareness is going to make it easier to be aware of where your focus is, which makes it easier to influence your behavior.
Here are several specific strategies to help implement the practice of mindfulness:
- Start low (approximately five minutes daily), and gradually work up to 20 minutes daily. Work on building the habit first, and then you can increase the time from there.
- Focus on the sensations of your breath. When you get distracted, catch yourself and re-focus.
- It is best to start in the morning as a healthy way to start the day.
- Apps can help guide you through this process: Headspace, Wake Up, or Insight Timer are several good choices.
If you can train your mind to focus on something as boring as your breath, you can focus on anything! Exercise your focus muscles! It might be tough in the beginning, but if you keep practicing, in time you will become mentally stronger and develop a meditative mind which will improve your overall health!
Mike Vera
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