The concept of mindfulness – of living in the moment, practising gratitude and eliminating external thoughts that have no business cluttering one’s mind in the here and now – have proved popular among many people as ways of dealing with stress and trauma, concentrating on the job in hand and coping with a busy lifestyle.
However, not everybody has bought into the concept or found trying to practice mindfulness immediately works for them. The question that may be asked is whether they should persist, or try something else altogether?
Psychology Today has addressed this very question by suggesting that those not having much joy from trying mindfulness so far could find they do better by adjusting their approach to it.
Psychotherapist Diane Barth described the issues faced by three people in trying to use mindfulness, respectively to deal with panic attacks related to an unfounded fear of death from a heart attack, bulimia, and an addiction to drugs and alcohol.
In each case the individual concerned found the concentration and focus only intensified the problem, by increasing the fear, letting the dietary critic “go to town” or focusing on the very feelings that prompted the use of drugs and alcohol. In short, the technique seemed to intensify the problem it is designed to solve.
Reading this, anyone seeking therapy rooms to rent in Chiswick might wonder if they should bother. Ms Barth suggests they should – by taking a new approach to mindfulness.
She explained that this worked through the clients using their focus on their problems to then understand the importance of steering themselves away from them. This could include distraction by switching attention to something else and away from a thought trigger, or using the sense of a feeling being overwhelming as the cue to go and do something different to ease the pressure.
In each case the solution came in understanding needs – which means often the need to shift mental focus onto something else. “The process of paying attention and knowing that you can give yourself what you need at a given moment can gradually lead to greater well-being and a lessening of some problematic behaviours,” Ms Barth concluded.
That mindfulness can be flexible in this way may be a discovery that helps mentally liberate a lot of people. However, it may not be the only way the technique can bring some unexpected benefits.
For example, rather than just steering individuals away from the impact of negative thoughts and feelings, it can help those playing competitive sport to stay mentally sharp and focused.
This point was highlighted in a recent study published in the Journal of Exercise and Fitness of the use of mindfulness at half time in football matches, which found that the practise could help players stay mentally sharper and physically less fatigued in the second half of games.
Such findings might well be of interest to coaches and sports psychologists at the highest levels of the sport, which are an increasing part of the game. But it may also help ordinary people who simply find playing sport itself a great way of easing stress and boosting their psychological state.
