Just as the body is influenced by what you eat, your mind is also influenced by your thoughts, your mindset and your life experiences. With mindfulness, you can train your mind to be in the present moment and spend less time preoccupied with unhelpful, unproductive thoughts. Recognizing that I am not my thoughts and that thoughts are simply that, thoughts has been hugely helpful in terms of the way I experience the world.
In this post, I interviewed two coaches, Kat Shinoda and Scott DiNardo, M.Ed., on how you can use mindfulness to get out of the habit of persistent, negative thought patterns.
Kat Shinoda is an occupational athlete coach at Wellness Coaches. Kat teaches mindfulness and meditation to over 300 clients who work for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company based in West Point, Penn. Scott DiNardo, M.Ed., is an operations manager at Wellness Coaches. Scott oversees 13 occupational athlete coaches who provide mindfulness training as part of personalized wellness programs to employees at a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company.
What Is Mindfulness?
According to Shinoda, “mindfulness is a practice that heightens our awareness, a tool that allows you to be responsive instead of reactive, and a method to help quiet constant brain chatter.” Also known as staying in the present moment, mindfulness has applications at home, in relationships and especially in the workplace. Research studies indicate that employees that practice mindfulness are more productive, safe and resilient, and have a more positive outlook on life than those who do not practice.
How Is Mindfulness Practiced?
According to Shinoda, “mindfulness is referred to as a practice because it is a skill that requires regular maintenance and exercise.” The beauty of mindfulness is that “it doesn’t require any fees, a significant time commitment, epiphanies or even a major lifestyle change,” says Shinoda.
Simple Tips for Practicing Mindfulness From Shinoda:
Slow Down: How many times have you been late to work, rushed out of the house and forgotten something on the kitchen counter? What would have happened if you slowed down for a moment to ask yourself, “What do I need to complete my tasks today?”
Focus: Multitasking is all around us. Instead of watching Netflix, tagging someone in a post on Facebook and then suddenly finding that you’re at the bottom of a bag of chips, try doing one task at a time.
Body Mindfulness: When’s the last time you were aware of and listened to the signals your body was giving you? Next time you wake up with that neck pain after sleeping on your pillow funny, try applying body mindfulness. Instead of ignoring that pain signal, acknowledge it and set an intention to be more mindful. When you’re getting dressed, lifting your child into the car seat and bending over to plug your charger into the outlet.
Meditation: Meditation has many names, from deep breathing, guided visualization and Shavasana, to progressive muscle relaxation. It doesn’t take as long as many people believe. It allows you to become relaxed, calm, cleansed and in a state of rest. All it takes is 30 seconds to 60 minutes—however much time you’re willing to commit.
Using Mindfulness To Let Go Of Negative Thoughts
“Practicing mindfulness offers the option to turn down the volume of negative self-talk and irrational thinking to a manageable level. It does this by providing the skill to pause, analyze and then accept the emotion you’re experiencing,” says Shinoda. Gaining awareness of the content of your thoughts is the first step in choosing how you’re going to react to your thoughts.
For example, you may be preparing for an important presentation at work. You may be engaging in negative or unhelpful thoughts, for example, “I’m so nervous about this presentation. The last time I gave a presentation, it didn’t go well. My supervisor is going to be angry with me if I screw this up.” Rather than accepting these thoughts as facts, you can become aware of the thoughts.
Shinoda suggests, “once you’ve observed this thought, mindfulness allows you to shift your intentions to identifying the message of your emotion and then taking appropriate action.” Going back to our example, once you identify the negative and unproductive thoughts, you can ask yourself the intention behind the thoughts. Perhaps you are concerned about performing your best, and you don’t want to disappoint others.
Rather than allowing the thoughts to paralyze you or stay stuck in the negative thought pattern, recognizing that you are in this pattern gives you the opportunity to change the mental tune.
According to DiNardo:
While highly mindful individuals are not immune to negative thinking, studies show that the quality of the experience with their negative thoughts may be different from that of individuals who are less mindful. Mindful individuals report a greater capacity to let go of their negative thoughts , and thus may perceive negative thoughts as being more controllable and less intrusive and bothersome.
It’s important to remember that mindfulness is a practice. Just like physical exercise, you can get better at self-regulation and becoming less reactive to negative thought patterns through regular practice.
From: Forbes