Mindfulness for busy minds
Mindfulness for busy minds
Derived from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
How to turn down the volume of the mental noise that may occupy your mind and contribute to worries.
It’s that inner communication inside the mind. It could be the stories you are telling yourself about what is going to happen, what should have happened, the worst thing that can happen, who you are or should be, what should or should not be yours, and what you should have done, what you should do. Then there are the random thoughts from out of nowhere.
They can cause a lot of suffering. And not just your suffering but others suffering too because without some awareness we act on this mental noise. It can shape our assumptions, beliefs and actions towards loved ones, colleagues, or people who think or look different than us.
Here is one of many practices for helping you calm the mental noise in your mind even if you are right in the thick of it, whether it be protests, family difficulties, or a stressful matter at work. The idea is to create some space between yourself and the thoughts, notice the thoughts rather than becoming caught up in them, letting them come and go not holding on to the thoughts and ruminating over and over.
Noticing the thinking
Start this activity with mindfulness of the breath. Notice your breathing, is it short, fast, long, slow, can you notice your chest rising, your belly rising, are you breathing out of your mouth, your nose, both?
Allow yourself to notice any thoughts that come into your head as you are aware of your breathing.
We are not trying to stop the thoughts, just notice the thoughts. We are not adding a value judgement such as bad or good, positive or negative, the idea is to notice the thought that you happen to be having at this moment. You may think, I notice I am having the thought of …..ie.’ I am worried about my family.’
You may become aware that you are having difficulty noticing your thoughts – so think about that. You may be thinking: “I can’t do this very well.” Well, that’s a thought too. Come back to noticing- I am having the thought that I am not good at noticing my thoughts. Notice how the thoughts come and go.
Finally, bring yourself back to awareness of the breath.
