Mental health articles

mindfulness for dummies definition Mindfulness is the practice of simply paying attention with an open and
nonjudgmental attitude. It involves attending to each moment in a very
real and immediate fashion—directing attention to only one thing in the moment. Th ose who promote mindfulness consider the process of concentrating
on experience, rather than interpreting experience, to be an antidote
for stress.
Anyone who observes college and university students will notice that in
reality the practice of mindfulness is rare. Talking on a cellular phone while
walking to class, eating lunch while working at the computer, listening to
the radio while taking a shower, thinking about academic responsibilities
while talking with friends, thinking about preferred activities while studying—
these are just a few examples of students’ typical nonmindful activity. It’s
fairly easy for students to understand the concept of mindfulness, but implementation
can be challenging. Th us clinicians who promote mindfulness as
part of a stress- management or stress-prevention package do best by starting
with small steps.
An example of a common mindfulness exercise would be for the student to
become more mindful while eating, walking, or showering. Eating can be an
extremely enjoyable activity, but most oft en the experience is compromised by
attending to media, computers, recent conversations, and upcoming responsibilities.
Similarly, the sensations of showering can be enjoyable and relaxing,
but this experience is typically compromised by focusing on upcoming activities,
academic concerns, and so on. Walking provides a great opportunity
for attending to the environment, but again is oft en compromised by cellular
phones or preoccupation with past or future responsibilities. Counselors who
encourage mindfulness therefore suggest that the student select one of these
activities and practice being mindful about it. Th ey are to sense the experience,
simply take it in, and not judge it. During the fi rst week, simply doing
this for 5-minute periods is suffi cient.
Recently, the concept of mindfulness has been creatively applied to the area
of alcohol abuse, which could easily be considered a nonmindful ingestion
of alcohol and is oft en an inappropriate and ineff ective attempt at reducing
stress. Students who drink 8 to 10 beers in a 2-hour period are presumably
not doing so mindfully. As a method of harm reduction, then, teaching a student
to drink only 1 or 2 beers mindfully can be an enlightening experience
and help address problem drinking (Bien, 2002). Typically, students who have
been referred to counseling to address alcohol issues deny having a problem.
Most commonly, the problem is the manner in which they drink. Proposing
the notion of mindful drinking oft en takes students by surprise, since they are
anticipating being told that they should stop drinking. Proposing the concept
as an experiment seems to increase the chances of participation. A recent client,
very skeptical at fi rst, reported signifi cant changes aft er only a few weeks.
He found that his taste had changed to better, more expensive beers, which he
could now aff ord because he was having 3 instead of a dozen. As he became
more mindfully aware, he also lost interest in going to smoky bars with friends
who could not maintain a personal conversation.