In our fast-moving modern world, it is easy to find yourself overstimulated and stressed. It's common to become bogged down with racing thoughts or overwhelmed with emotions. That doesn't mean you have to let those things become normal. This guide on mindfulness will introduce simple, accessible practices with real-life mental health benefits that you can start right now.
Mindfulness and Its Benefits
Mindfulness is a simple concept. According to the American Psychological Association, you can define it as an acute awareness of your internal states and surroundings. In practice, it's about being aware of your thoughts and how you are interacting with the world in that moment. It is observing and responding to things that occur throughout your day, noticing without judging.
The National Institute of Health conducted a study that shows that practicing mindfulness has a strong association with positive mental health. Mindfulness is a powerful tool that can help you feel safe and grounded in your reality.
It's important to understand that this practice takes practice. It is a developed mental skill. But within that mental challenge lies great benefit to your mental health, ranging from anxiety relief to relapse prevention. There are many techniques you can engage in every day as you strengthen this positive habit, and we're going to discuss just a few that we cover within our mental health rehab treatment.
Focus on Your Breathing
A common mindfulness technique is to focus on your breathing. This method is particularly effective when confronted with negative thoughts. It's as simple as sitting down, closing your eyes, and breathing deeply, holding it, releasing it, and holding once more; each for just a few seconds at a time.
Instead of focusing on a negative thought or the stresses of your day, focus on the breath moving in and out of your body. Doing this for even just a minute can help clear your head and mentally revitalize you before you shift back to the task at hand.
Pay Attention to Something
The beauty of this technique is that it can be performed in nearly any environment. You can be in the quiet of your living space, on a bustling street, eating a meal, or just performing a simple task. Whatever the case may be, try to take the time to pay attention to (and appreciate!) just one thing in that experience. It's a mental health act that fuels your mind, body, and spirit, so you can feel more focused and relaxed no matter where you are.
From the tick of the clock to the taste of your food, from feeling every step as you walk to the sound of a bird outside the window, there are many little experiences in life worth taking a minute to focus on and more deeply enjoy in the moment. You could say good breathwork is the very basis for individual therapy, or even as anxiety treatment.
Think of Something in Detail
Think of a task you know well, such as cooking a dish, brewing tea, your morning routine, or locking up the office. Either in your head or out loud, try describing the steps of that process in as thorough detail as you can, as if you were teaching someone. Re-affirming the things we know well has positive effects on our mental health.
Alternatively, try observing your room or any safe and comforting area. Take a minute to state everything you can observe. Describe the room as if you wanted someone who had never seen it to accurately visualize it. Describe the reality of the present moment you are in and how you fit into that room. The key to this exercise is to occupy your mind with a healthy, tangible reality.
Observe Your Thoughts
Have you ever watched clouds pass in the sky? This exercise is not too dissimilar from that. Find a comfortable spot to sit or lie down, and passively observe the thoughts that come into your head. Be aware of them, but don't chase them or judge them. The purpose of this exercise is simple: self-awareness.
Mindfulness is usually about being aware and objective about your reality. This helpful activity narrows the scope just a little bit and helps you be more aware and objective about yourself. Improved self-awareness leads to greater mental health.
Make it a Habit
The main purpose of mindfulness is to become aware of the present moment—your thoughts, feelings, and sensations—often to the extent of more deeply enjoying and appreciating that moment. Just about any task can fit the bill if you approach it with this mindset. The fact is, there is no hard set of rules on what you're allowed to do when cultivating mindfulness. Modern technology offers a wealth of free resources on mindfulness, from apps and articles to podcasts and videos.
What's important here is choosing one thing—or more than one, if you'd like—and establishing a habit. Good habits, in and of themselves, are a boon to one's mental health. Making healthy practices like these habitual compounds that positive effect, especially when overcoming drug addiction, depression, and other complex mental health needs.
Pathways Real Life Recovery, Sandy, Utah
We are a mental health rehab and addiction recovery treatment center providing inpatient drug rehab, inpatient alcohol rehab, and outpatient treatment in Utah. We help people become healthy throughout the whole person. Our therapists, medical doctors, and other mental health and addiction recovery specialists focus on each individual's value to be nurtured from within, not the outward symptoms.
Our approach is about restructuring beliefs that hold a person hostage to their past, and we help them succeed in loving themselves. We focus on change from within. Pathways is well established as one of the best inpatient rehab centers Utah has to offer because we're passionate about mental health rehabilitation and helping those in need with thoughtful, supportive mental health treatment plans.
For more information, or to schedule your free assessment and consultation, call Pathways Real Life Recovery, Sandy, UT at (801) 895-3006 anytime 24/7 or use our online contact form.
