Mindfulness In Motion - Breaking out of the Mental Rut
Do you ever feel stuck?
It’s easy to become trapped in thought patterns that work against us, especially in adulthood, where those neural pathways become increasingly hardwired. It’s not that our thoughts can’t be challenged or changed, but we become preoccupied with the messy parts of the here and now. We forget there is always another way - a better perspective. To get a little nerdy on you, the psychological term for this is cognitive fusion, where you think your thoughts are an immovable reality (Exploring Your Mind, 2023). In other words, you start to become your thoughts.
Let’s dive into a crash course on four powerful ways mindfulness can help you get out of the cognitive fusion rut. This will help you take the first steps toward thoughts working for you, not against you.
Firstly, What Exactly is Mindfulness?
The general population tends to define mindfulness as being present, feeling the ground beneath your feet, smelling the coffee kind of stuff – the basics, right? It is this, but it certainly has more to offer.
I love this definition of mindfulness - ‘Detaching ourselves from automatic thoughts, feelings, and sensations’ (Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice, 2018). This detachment, often referred to as metacognition, involves observing our thoughts instead of becoming entangled in them. It's akin to being in the stands, watching the thoughts unfold in the arena. This shift is pivotal in addressing mental health challenges, especially stress and anxiety.
With that said, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty. Mindfulness throws some heavyweight terms at us – detachment, curiosity, and openness. Let's break it down into everyday lingo and look at 4 practical ways mindfulness can become your best friend.
Four Game-changing Benefits of Mindfulness
#1: A Vacation from you!
Sometimes it’s just nice to have a break from… well you and those unhelpful thoughts! All of those unhelpful thoughts of yours can weigh you down. This, in my view, is where the traditional understanding of mindfulness is so powerful. It’s about absorbing what’s on offer in the moment. For me, I use the mantra ‘Right Here, Right Now’, bringing myself into the present moment and allowing my 5 senses to take in the present, parking my worries for a moment. Whether it be internal (e.g. noticing your breath, physical sensations, etc) or external (e.g. sounds, sights, etc), it’s about getting out of your head and into the moment. There’s a bunch of great apps that coach you through mindfulness - Smiling Mind is a great one to start with, and it’s free :)
#2. A VIP Pass to Your Thoughts
Instead of being stuck in your thoughts, mindfulness gives you this VIP pass to watch them like a movie. We're in the stands, not the ring. It’s about stepping back from your default thinking patterns and just watching them. Don't be the lead actor; be the audience. This position of becoming the spectator is your VIP pass to observe your mental drama without getting tangled in it.
#3. Your Mental Sherlock Holmes
Ever wonder why you feel a certain way? That's curiosity in action. Treat your thoughts and feelings like a crime scene – investigate. It's a great first step to understanding and managing the mess that often subconsciously sabotages us. It’s about becoming inquisitive and allowing curiosity to be the dominant lens through which you view thoughts.
#4. Stripping Away the Mental Armor
Open up, and away with the judgment. This is where vulnerability meets growth. It's about seeing yourself as you truly are, with no filters, no pretenses. Ego takes a back seat, and you just explore what’s going on in that noggin of yours! It's seeing yourself without the Instagram filters – raw and real. It places you in a position to expose some unhelpful flaws in your self-talk, figure out why it's acting up, and consider a better way thoughts might serve you and the impact they might eventually have on those around you.
Mindfulness in the Trenches: Handling Stress & Anxiety
Stress and anxiety, the uninvited guests at the mental party, are so often caused by unhelpful thinking. We used to worry about lions chasing us; now it's more like, "Will people like me?
I can think back to seasons, both personally and professionally, where my mind was working against me. One narrative I’ve had for the best part of my life is that I’m not smart. I’ve done a power of work to realise that story began a long, long time ago in my childhood, and continued right through until recent times. Boy, the anxiety that this thought pattern caused me was monumental.
Then there are thought patterns in my professional life, some directed at my insecurities, and others toward problems outside of my control. I think back to my early years as a teacher as one example, where I dwelled on the ridiculous expectations of documentation and reporting. Don’t get me wrong, I still think this is problematic in education today, but looking back, I can absolutely see that rumination of this same old thought pattern didn’t help me - it just kept me in a pessimistic, stressful state that held me back from becoming my best, regardless of whether those external circumstances were right or wrong. My relationship with the problem was working against me.
Mindfulness calls its bluff on poor thinking habits. It's like saying, "I see you, thoughts, but I'm not playing your game." It’s about realising that yes, our thoughts are strong; they like to latch on to things and lead us down a certain path, but that these thoughts can be a key factor in the development of mental health issues. Mindfulness is about bringing a curious lens to our thoughts, realising that as humans, we get to creatively shape thoughts in a direction that brings out the best in us, regardless of what life serves up.
Mindfulness is about bringing a curious lens to our thoughts, realising that as humans, we get to creatively shape thoughts in a direction that brings out the best in us.
So, as you bid farewell to 2023, set the wheels of mindfulness into motion so your mental engine is running smoothly. Hop off your seat; step back from being in your thoughts… because this position may be what’s keeping you stuck.