Mental Health Awareness Is Needed All Year Long

While spring and summer flowers are blooming, some people may feel less than joyful. Stress and anxiety can give the world an entirely different appearance. There are many sources of information that explain stress is a given and you can’t avoid it. However, you don’t necessarily have to react to it with anxiety and fear. There is an easy, more natural way through the practice of mindfulness.

The way we process stress is key to mental health and well-being. We can increase our distress when we focus on negative emotions. Furthermore, when we judge a situation as negative, too demanding or stressful, we can create or intensify anxiety. In this way, what we’re feeling does not come from the event itself, but rather from our own evaluation of the event as stretching our capacity to adapt to it.

Mindfulness teaches a new way of relating. Tools such as observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging and nonreacting are based on focusing on the present moment, the primary action behind mindfulness. By focusing on the present, our attention becomes a rolling moment-to-moment awareness, rather than a rumination on a single object such as a negative thought.

“In our fast-paced world of information overload and multitasking, our minds are increasingly trained to stay active, and it becomes hard to shut down, even when we want to relax,” says Krista Carson PA-C, Department of Psychiatry–Adult Transitions Partial Hospitalization Program and LVPG Adult and Pediatric Psychiatry–1259 Cedar Crest. “Mindfulness is a powerful tool helping us examine our thoughts and feelings with curiosity, let go of judgment and foster self-nurture and attention to the present.” 

Mindfulness can be done sitting in a chair, lying on a couch, walking in the woods – virtually anywhere. It involves techniques like concentrating on your breath, observing your thoughts and feelings, and paying attention to physical sensations in your body. As you sit, lie or walk in stillness:

• Pay attention to what you’re experiencing in the moment, either your breathing or in your body, without judgment or interpretation.
• Use your breathing as an “anchor” and return your attention to it when your mind wanders.
• Stay calm and neutral while expanding your attention to include any mental, emotional and physical sensations as they occur.
• Do not resist, judge, grasp onto or evaluate what you’re experiencing, including bodily pain or emotions.

According to studies, mindfulness helps us to be more receptive to day-to-day events. This is compared with seeing things filtered through conditioning based on evaluations, memories and beliefs. As we respond more objectively, situations are viewed in more neutral terms. Carson says this has proven very helpful for people dealing with anxiety, depression and pain but really can benefit most of us who are balancing the stress and demands of our current world. Research results suggest that the benefits are cumulative and will continue to improve over time.

Research also shows that mindfulness reduces our emotional reactions to things that may be threatening. In other words, it “turns down” our negative view. Mindful people have been shown to view demanding situations as less threatening. They have better working memory than nonpractitioners, which allows for better emotional regulation. And they cope better by embracing ways to resolve stressful situations.

While mindfulness meditations are increasingly available online, it can be quite difficult to foster this type of practice without guidance and feedback. Fortunately, the Lehigh Valley has access to trained educators and a variety of programming through LVHN Center for Mindfulness.

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