Mindfulness is one of the simplest and most effective tools for being present in the moment and gaining more peace of mind. It can help us feel and connect with our bodies, create presence, and find joy in the small moments of everyday life.
Many of us experience periods of racing thoughts, worries, and stress, and here mindfulness can be a help in returning our attention to the body and the moment.
In my book The 5 Seasons' Energy, I write about mindfulness, the senses, and thoughts. Here you'll find an excerpt from the book along with some exercises from my book My 5 Seasons' Energy - The Seasonal Journal. You can find my books in the webshop.
WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Mindfulness, much like yoga, has gradually become very popular in Denmark. We have all heard of mindfulness, if not practiced it. Mindfulness is an important part of the Buddhist tradition and has been practiced for millennia. Buddhism, in fact, originated from Vedic philosophy and tradition – just like yoga. Mindfulness is therefore not a newly invented form of meditation, method, or philosophy, but slowly in the West, we have begun to open our eyes to the wisdom of the East.
Mindfulness is a simple practice that teaches us to be fully and consciously present in the moment. Mindfulness is conscious presence. Awareness. Mindfulness is about observing thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations moment by moment, without judging whether it is right or wrong. Without beginning to analyze, evaluate, or interpret what is within us, or what arises.
CONSCIOUS PRESENCE - DOING MODE AND BEING MODE
In mindfulness, we talk about two states we can be in: doing mode and being mode.
The figure is from my book The 5 Seasons' Energy, which contains aspects from traditional Chinese medicine, Vedic philosophy, and mindfulness.
Both states are necessary. There must be balance. But in the world we live in, we are predominantly more in doing mode than being mode, which is why being mode needs focus for most.
A good exercise to delve a little deeper and beyond the ego can be to focus on something as simple as "being." To exist. To connect with the heart and the state of being alive. To create distance from what we might want and crave and instead simply allow ourselves just to be. Without needing to do anything. Just be. Right here and now. Without plans, without responsibility, without goals. This is what yoga and meditation are so good at helping us with. To give us a break from the ego and the many tasks and thoughts, and simply allow ourselves time to just be. Be with ourselves and what is.
Get out of thoughts and head and into the body. Connect with the body, with the senses, with the heart.
I highly recommend yoga, mindfulness, or a good walk in nature to get into being-mode. These are the tools I personally really like. Maybe they work for you, maybe you need to find another way.
The exercise above is from the book My 5 Seasons' Energy - The Seasonal Journal. Feel free to do it to get an overview of when you are in which mode in your daily life and if there is a balance between the two.
MINDFULNESS AND THE SENSES
In Vedic philosophy, it is said that consciousness passes through several stages as it increases. The goal is to achieve full consciousness, but there are, of course, some stages on the way. One of the stages to increased consciousness is to learn to master your senses, so that they do not master you. We are born with senses, as tools to experience the world. It is the senses that connect us with the outside world, so they are essential in our interaction with each other. Our challenge as humans, however, often consists in letting the ego "misuse" the senses by constantly seeking stimuli of various kinds. This easily shifts focus away from our own inner state, from increasing our consciousness, and not least from letting the soul guide and rule instead of the ego. The ego is also just a tool, unless we let it control us. It's a bit like letting the horse determine the direction instead of taking the reins ourselves.
You can read more about the ego, the senses, and mindfulness in my book The 5 Seasons' Energy, which you can find in my webshop HERE.
Very briefly summarized, mindfulness focuses on using the senses. To learn to become aware of the senses and thereby learn to use them and be conscious in their use. To master the senses, we must first learn to use them.
Mindfulness is undoubtedly one of the most effective and simple tools not only to be present in the moment but also to curb the ego a little and get the opportunity to feel within ourselves. To connect with ourselves and feel the connection to everything around us.
THE 7 MINDFULNESS PRINCIPLES
There are quite a few principles within mindfulness by now. I will share the 7 basic principles widely taught by Jon Kabat-Zinn with you:
OPENNESS / BEGINNER'S MIND
It's about being open to what arises and trying to explore and experience everything as if it were the first time you encountered it. With childlike curiosity and an open mind.
NON-JUDGING
This principle is closely linked to the principle of openness. Here, it is important to not only let go of prejudices and judgments but to become aware of the lenses through which we experience the world. And to realize that there are other truths than our own. So it's about trying to experience what may come, without judging or evaluating it. This means switching off the filter as much as possible, and thus meeting the new with an open mind.
NON-EXPECTING / NON-STRIVING
To let go of expectations as much as possible, so that you can instead enjoy and be positively surprised by what comes, rather than being disappointed when something doesn't turn out as you expected.
TRUST
It's about working on trusting yourself. Trusting others. Trusting the process. Trusting life. Trusting that everything will work out one way or another. Often we cannot see the way forward ourselves - and here trust helps us to open ourselves to what comes. To be receptive. Daring to let go of control is essential in this principle. To let go of the need to try to control and steer towards a specific outcome.
PATIENCE
The principle is about having patience with yourself - first and foremost. Patience with others. Patience with the fact that there may be no goal, but that the journey itself is important. There is nothing you need to achieve. Furthermore, kindness towards both yourself and others is essential in this principle. With kindness, it becomes easier to find patience.
ACCEPTANCE
To accept what is. Without trying to change what cannot be changed. To acknowledge what is and let go of the resistance within ourselves to something. So that we can instead use our energy on something that gives us energy. To be able to contain and tolerate what is - within ourselves and in others. It is about accepting yourself as you are - right now. You are exactly as you should be right now in this moment. Acceptance does not necessarily mean that we cannot act and venture into something new. Nor does it mean that we have to agree with something or support it. It just means that we choose not to let it bother us. We relinquish the feelings about it, and thereby become emotionally free. And with that emotional freedom, we get the opportunity to see it from a distance and perhaps with new glasses.
LETTING GO
To let go of what doesn't benefit or nourish us. Everything is changeable. We change, the world changes, and life changes - and it's important that we move forward and don't cling to the old, safe, or familiar. That which may give us security, but is no longer healthy for us. To let go of addiction and rigidity that can arise when we cling to what is safe. By letting go of what no longer benefits us, we make room for something new that can move us forward in our development. Often, the new only appears when we find the trust to dare to let go of the safe and make room for the new.
MINDFULNESS AND THOUGHTS
It is said that we have 60-80,000 thoughts a day, many of which are recurring thoughts, meaning thoughts we've already had or will have again. Whether these thoughts are primarily negative or positive, you must decide for yourself.
But what is a thought? And are you your thoughts? Or are thoughts instead something you have?
You probably communicate with yourself in various ways through an inner dialogue, words, images, or other things that appear in your mind. Thoughts that might trigger emotions. And suddenly a lot happens inside you, without you perhaps knowing how it happened or what triggered it.
We can feel very attached to our thoughts and feelings, and perhaps we even identify with them as if they constitute an important part of us and our being. In a way, they do. Thoughts are the result of external input and the many filters through which you experience the world. Filters that are shaped and developed by, among other things, your experiences, upbringing, and cultural and social background. Thoughts are thus colored by the glasses through which we see the world. Glasses that are constantly adjusted. Glasses that help us identify experiences as "right," "wrong," and "neutral." Glasses that help us decide what action to take and what emotions (neurohormones) to trigger. Consciously and unconsciously. A lot happens on the unconscious level. Just look at how effective marketing is on us.
RACING THOUGHTS
Sometimes we experience having many thoughts. A swarm of thoughts. Thoughts that won't go away when we perhaps need to sleep or need a mental break. But we just can't let go of them. Or rather, escape them. When we don't want the thoughts, they come. The mind simply won't be forced. It won't be coerced. Just as the body won't be coerced either.
You probably know the classic: if I tell you NOT to think of a red balloon, you might immediately see a picture of a red balloon - or maybe it's blue, because I shouldn't dictate the color either. Something in us reacts against what we're not allowed to do. The mind doesn't want to be forced. And neither does the body. So when we stretch too forcefully, we might also feel resistance from the body.
So, telling yourself to stop thinking and go to sleep doesn't help, as more thoughts might then appear. The best thing you can do is therefore to allow all thoughts to be present. Acknowledge the thoughts - and the feelings. Like everything else, thoughts have a function, they are just not always equally appropriate – completely like feelings.
So allow the thoughts to come. Acknowledge them. And then you can choose to shift your attention to something else. You can gently park the thoughts by telling yourself that you can return to them later and then shift your attention to your breathing, a body part, or something else. But with kindness. No coercion.
At the same time, the best thing you can do is to become aware. Aware of the thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations you may have in your body. But with awareness comes freedom of choice. So it is invaluable to train yourself to become aware of your thoughts, acknowledge them, and then gently shift your attention to what you desire.
Mindfulness is a fantastic tool for creating awareness around thoughts, feelings, and sensations. A tool for using the body's means of communication, which thoughts and feelings are.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY THOUGHTS
Other times, thoughts run away. They take us along, and we might not know what they originated from or how they led us in a particular direction. It can be exciting to trace the stream of thoughts back. In mindfulness, thoughts are divided into primary and secondary thoughts. The primary thought is the thought that arose first; for example, you might have seen a cat on your way, and the secondary thoughts are all the subsequent thoughts, such as memories surfacing about your cat as a child or your allergy to cats. If we can find our way back to the primary thought, we will be better able to start working with our reactions and understand why certain feelings or actions were triggered within us. By identifying and understanding these primary thoughts, we gain the opportunity to manage the automatically arising secondary thoughts. Working to capture primary thoughts and stop the thought stream of secondary thoughts can help us reduce stress and anxiety and strengthen our ability to be present in the moment.
BREATHING SPACE MEDITATION
One of the best things we can do for ourselves during the day is to take a short 3-5 minute breathing space meditation, where we pause from the busyness of everyday life and do a quick "status report" of what is happening within us on multiple levels: mentally, emotionally, and physically. The breathing space meditation helps us to check in with ourselves, listen to ourselves, and connect with ourselves. It also creates a lovely break from everything happening around us, helping us to become consciously present within ourselves - if only for a moment. Below, I share a short guide to the meditation from my book My 5 Seasons' Energy - The Seasonal Journal, which you can find in my webshop HERE.
Mindfulness is a fantastic tool for creating awareness about thoughts, feelings, and senses. A tool for connecting with ourselves and everything around us.
If you wish to delve deeper, you can read much more about mindfulness, thoughts, and feelings in my book The 5 Seasons' Energy, and if you want to combine it with exercises and reflection questions for the year, I recommend my book My 5 Seasons' Energy - The Seasonal Journal. You can find both books in my webshop HERE.