Mindfulness, A Simple Activity That Can Change Your Life!

Berita Lainnya - 18 December 2021

Written by: Elbert Jeremiah XA3

Life is filled with activities, hecticness, restless-busy schedules which often make people forget their emotional and physical states. This is not good for health, both physically and mentally. Therefore, mindfulness plays an important role in maintaining the stability of human’s life.

Mindfulness is a type of meditation where your state of mind focuses on recognizing your feelings and emotions without any judgemental thoughts or interpretations. It requires both the ability to anchor one's thoughts on what is occurring, and the ability to intentionally switch attention from one aspect of the experience to another. It also brings more sensitivity.

Many processes of the human brain are not noticed and thought out consciously. Mindfulness is the process that brings our attention to these experiences. This can include bringing awareness to sensory activities, such as listening to surrounding sounds. We can also focus our attention on automatic bodily processes, such as breathing. Another example of mindfulness is non-judgmental observation of your current emotions and how they feel physically in the body. This process can train the mind to become better at recognizing feelings and thought patterns that may be neglected, so that we can understand ourselves better. Medical studies have shown that mindfulness can significantly reduce stress and anxiety, boost confidence and self love, improve self control and the ability to focus, and also improve average body health.

Anyone can practice mindfulness meditation without any special requirements. This activity can also be done anytime and anywhere, whether at home, office, or meditation class. Mindfulness meditation techniques are not much different from meditation in general. You can start by finding a comfortable sitting position, catch your breath, then focus on your heart rate or feel the sensation of air flowing as you inhale and exhale. Next, focus on what's going on around you. You can use your five senses to observe and feel the surrounding conditions. You need to focus on the emotions you're feeling. Recognize how the emotion arises and accept whatever is causing it. Do this for about 3-5 minutes, then refocus your thoughts.

It may take a lot of practice to discover mindfulness, but repetition can help. It should be noted that mindfulness practices can vary from person to person, depending on which activity one feels most comfortable with. Therefore, you can exercise with various methods, such as breathing exercise 4-7-8 (inhale 4 sec, hold 7 sec, exhale 8 sec), walking meditation (try to stop thinking, and focus on how it feels physically to walk, try to distract yourself from your thoughts and focus on your body.)

5 senses exercise (name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, 1 thing you can taste), placing your attention on a specific part of your body, then putting your attention on different parts. Finally, think about the different emotions you feel at different times. How does the emotion feel physically? What prompted that emotion? If the state of mindfulness is still not achieved after these exercises, the help of a psychiatrist can be helpful. Good luck on finding or doing the right mindfulness method for yourself!