Mindfulness is a way of being. A state of mind. It is being conscious, but it is also being calm. Being aware of your present state and accepting what is hard to accept. It is the way we choose to react to stress and anxiety. Mental health is the goal.
The Goal
A common misconception when it comes to mindfulness and mental health is that the goal is constantly being happy, not having any other emotion but happiness or peacefulness. But this is simply not true. The goal in life and in achieving mental health is not being happy 24/7. The goal is getting your feelings, emotions, and nervous system to work the way they’re supposed to work. Our feelings are there for a reason. They not only make us human, but they are also there to protect us. For example, fear is there to warn us of danger and tell us to get away from it. Anger is there to help you fight if you are in danger. Sadness is simply a reaction, telling us that whatever we just witnessed was not good. But without these things, we can not function as humans. However, with too much of these things all the time, it can cause us to be in a constant state of survival. And that is what we don’t want.
The connection; body and mind
Our bodies and our minds are, in fact, connected. When we’re not in a good place mentally, it effects us physically and vice versa. But I am going to show you exactly how.
The Nervous System:
The nervous system as you know is our body’s command center. But it is also one of our main survival tools. There are two sides of the nervous system. The parasympathetic system, and the sympathetic system.
The sympathetic system is also known as the fight or flight state.
The parasympathetic system is the rest and digest state. The state we are supposed to be in on an almost constant basis. But when there is a threat, that’s when the sympathetic system gets triggered. It starts sending signals to your body that there is danger, therefore shifting the body to a state that is most useful for fighting or flighting. It stops all currently unnecessary functions (like digestion) so the body can use that energy elsewhere for other things (fight or flight).
The problem is in today’s modern age simple things such as thoughts can trigger this system. Of course, we don’t need to run or fight if we are merely stressing over school or work. But our body doesn’t know that. So it continues getting ready to run and fight almost all the time. This drains your energy, causes indigestion and in extreme moments, panic attacks. So the goal with mental health and mindfulness is getting our nervous system to only activate if there is a serious threat or danger in which we need to actually fight for our lives. That way, we can handle more minor threats with ease and peace of mind.
So how do I stay mindful?
That is exactly what this category is going to be all about. It will consist of all kinds of coping mechanisms for stress and anxiety as well as ways to be one with yourself and really be content with who you are and the life you live, staying in the present no matter how hard things get. This will include things like breath-work, meditation, spirituality, and more.
I hope this was helpful and I’m excited to coach you through making your mind be something you can live with contently. Namaste,
