Humans are the only organisms capable of thinking about thinking. Because we are aware of our own existence, we can reflect on our own existence, as well as on our own experience. As you read this print, for example, take a moment to shift your focus onto what you notice about yourself as you read. This act will bring you more fully into your experience of the moment. You may notice what SENSATIONS you have in your body — for example, eyes that are straining to read; or, you may notice that you FEEL rushed to get to the ‘bottom line,’ or on to the next thing; you could also notice that you’re distracted by sounds you HEAR, maybe a timepiece ticking the minutes away as it triggers the THOUGHT that you soon have to be somewhere else. SOMEWHERE ELSE is often where our fleeting consciousness takes us, so that we never fully experience what we’re doing in the present moment. With enough practice, it is possible to learn how to do one thing at a time, mindfully, in the present moment.
Placing a focus on our own experience in the moment in this way is the essence of mindfulness. It is a concept and practice that has become increasingly popular in the United States because it gives an individual leverage in their efforts to reduce stress, create health, increase happiness and be self directed. In general, it enhances the ability to live fully. Building upon our ability to be aware of our own experience allows us to NOTICE when we are thinking about things that upset us, or when we are desperate to have things we can’t have, or when we get caught up by our reaction to something that triggers anger. When we are not aware, the emotions triggered in each of these situations draw us into them and we can get stuck. As our focus becomes attached to those emotions, the emotions consume us and we lose our perspective of a greater self. We forget that they are merely an experience we’re having. In our modern world one of the greatest sources of suffering is our attachment to our own thoughts. For example, worrisome thoughts about the past are often associated with depression, while worrisome thoughts about the future are associated with anxiety. We can become glued to our own thoughts as though THEY are reality.
The good news is that we can work to create a detached, neutral observer within ourselves — sometimes referred to as a well-informed spectator or a participant observer — to create more AWARENESS of our emotions or cravings or thoughts as EXPERIENCES we are having that will pass. Once we are aware, the door is opened to huge possibilities for change. This is because the observing self also has the ability to shift the focus of our attention. The ability to shift focus can be enhanced through meditation. Mindfulness meditation, in brief, involves sitting still and paying attention with a specific focus — often to breathing — while nurturing an attitude of impartiality (non judgment), compassion and acceptance toward this experience as it unfolds. It is very hard to stay focused for a length of time, but regular practice strengthens the ability to do this. Research indicates that it is increasing the ability to shift attention that drives the psychological and physical benefits of meditation. Our patterns of thinking and focus often become RIGID or fixed over time. Once we are aware and build upon our ability to shift focus, we can become more intentional in our living. We are more able to reduce stress by calming ourselves; we are able to de-escalate conflict by shifting focus away from anger and onto constructive thoughts; we are more able to reduce anxiety by focusing away from worrisome or obsessive thinking and onto breathing.
Current research on the brain shows that we are actually able to change our brains through mindfulness practices. For example, it shows that areas of the brain we shift focus to become larger, and areas of the brain we shift focus away from become smaller.
Neuroplasticity is the term used to describe the brain’s ability to change in size and inner connectivity. When we focus on our own experience, we also become more able to represent ourselves to others. Expressing and representing ourselves to others is a means of creating a coherent sense of our experiences and our history, essential to mental health. Psychotherapy provides an opportunity to express openly, and this helps us to know more fully what we are thinking and feeling. A therapist can help put the pieces together in order to makes sense of our experiences, and to create meaning. Research shows that this creates more interconnectivity and integration within the brain. Psychotherapy, mindfulness and meditation have been shown through brain research to be to be potent tools for change and for creating health.
The psychology and philosophy of mindfulness have come to the United States from both Western and Eastern Philosophy: existentialism/phenomenology from Germany and Buddhism from Tibet. For those who are interested in a brief overview of this background, please continue.
Edmund Husserl, an Austrian philosopher who lived in the 1800s, developed the philosophy of phenomenology, which is founded on the premise that self-experience is the source of knowledge. The philosophy and practice of phenomenology are at the heart of existential psychotherapy, which heavily influenced the development of therapy techniques in the United States. It became the central organizing principle of client-centered, or humanistic, psychotherapy, which posited that in order for a therapist to help an individual it is necessary for the therapist to understand that person’s unique experience in the world as a whole person, not just a set of symptoms to be treated. Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, and Rollo May are a few well known therapists who were innovators in this orientation.
Siddhartha Gautama Buddha was born in Nepal in 563 BCE to a royal Hindu family. At the age of 29 he left his family and a life of opulence to begin a spiritual quest motivated
by his concern for human suffering. He ultimately discovered that mindful awareness of his own experience in the moment, a capability built upon through the practice of meditation, led to inner peace. It is very hard to stay focused for a length of time, but regular meditation practice strengthens the ability to do this. Buddha taught that life involves great suffering, and that suffering is created through our attachments. He also taught the lesson of impermanence: nothing lasts. We can work at letting go of our attachments; to let them pass, as a way to create a more self directed and peaceful existence.