Mindfulness has its roots in Buddhism, but it can be practiced by everyone regardless of whether you are religious or not, or to which religion you belong. According to Buddhism, man´s pursuit of lasting happiness and attempts to avoid pain led to frustration, suffering, anxiety, and depression.
What is the true purpose of mindfulness?
In mindfulness training you work with attention. You note what appears and accepts it. You have probably already discovered that it is not only good thoughts and feeling that appear. In mindfulness, acceptance means seeing what is. This does not mean that you necessarily like what you see, but that you take it to heart regardless of what it is. In meditation you train your concentration. Maybe its hard, but you can do no wrong. When you find that the concentration is somewhere else, you take it back again.
In mindfulness, you direct your attention to the present. But there’s not much fun in being in the present if you use the moment to complain, but that is just how the mind works:
“Why do I have to spend an hour on the highway queues twice a day to get to work”
The mind is constantly comping up with suggestions for things that can be improved. Therefore, mindfulness is being present in the present in a way where you does not condemn the present. Many people constantly condemn themselves, others, or the situation they’re in: The annoying weather, the ridiculous time pressure, selfish parents, or the ambitious colleagues. Mindfulness means being present and present right now in this moment in a way where you are loving and kind to yourself. Being present is described as a fundamental part of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Taoist teaching.
Benefits of mindfulness
- Mindfulness helps with swarms of thoughts
- Mindfulness increases concentration
- Mindfulness makes you better at observing, sensing, and describing the experience
- Mindfulness makes you more mentally robust and mentally flexible
- Mindfulness helps you dealing with stress and depression as well as anxiety
Mindfulness can help us feel happier
In addition to its benefits for our health and psychological functioning, mindfulness has been shown to directly increase our level of positive emotions in several different scientific studies. A study showed that people that received a happiness enhancement program alongside a meditation instruction, showed increased happiness compared to the group of people that only received the happiness program. Likewise, a study with people experiencing depression, found that receiving mindfulness based cognitive therapy were less likely to have a relapse than those receiving standard treatment.
Factors that can be toxic to our levels of happiness are social comparison and overly focusing on what we don’t have. A study of the financially desire of US working adults found that higher mindfulness was related to a smaller difference between what people had and what they wanted, and this was related to greater subjective wellbeing. Further, when one group´s mindfulness skills were developed, their financial have-want gap decreased, and their subjective well-being increased.
Insights and skills gained from mindfulness
Experience, insight, realization and tools in mindfulness can happen on many levels. The first immediate experiences are those most people achieve just by practicing mindfulness intensively for a few weeks. They are the ones that provide increased psychological flexibility and prepare your life´s challenges and specific symptoms such as stress, anxiety, and depression. If you practice mindfulness for a longer period, you can achieve more, deeper, and perhaps even existential or spiritual insights.
- Sharper senses and greater ability to experience and describe
- Experience of thoughts as thoughts and nothing else
- Increased attention and concentration
- More control over thoughts and emotions
- New ways of experiencing your senses
- Insight on a personal level, where you understand yourself better
- All impressions can be subdivided into smaller parts – you can zoom in and out
- Insights into consciousness and the present-day self