A Mindful New Year

It is a new year and some would say it is our last.  I don’t concern myself with apocalyptic theories because the truth is that for many this year will be the last… that’s a very simple and reliable fact of life.  If we avoid taking life for granted and live each year as though it may be the last, doomsday prophecies become somewhat moot.

moot. adjective; of little or no practical value or meaning

Do you make resolutions at this time of year?  What have you resolved to do?  Personally I’ve never been a big fan of new year’s resolutions.  I like to set goals for myself.  Sometimes I accomplish them and sometimes I don’t, but I don’t make a big deal about doing it at the beginning of each year.  That said, however, I have set a couple small goals (resolutions if you must) for myself in the past week or so.  One is to take more pictures every week (because one of the many hats I wear is that of a hobby photographer) and I will try to post one picture for each week of 2012, likely on Facebook.  This is a self-care related goal because I so enjoy taking photos that I get lost in my own little world, a phenomenon Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls ‘flow’.  Doing something that gets us into a ‘flow state’ is an important technique for enhancing happiness.  When I am out in nature looking for a great scenic photograph I often find myself in an almost meditative state so it seems this goal will be a good one in my ongoing quest for self-care and balance in my grad student lifestyle.  And on the topic of meditation, my other little goal that coincides with the new year is to begin a more regular mindfulness practice.

I have a challenging relationship with mindfulness meditation.  I believe whole-heartedly in its utility and benefits, but can’t seem to make time for it in my life.  At its most basic, mindfulness practice is about getting in touch with our own breath.  It’s about noticing what is happening in our body at any given moment, or noticing thoughts and emotions, and then letting go of any judgement or attachment we might have to these feelings, thoughts, and emotions.  Mindfulness techniques are used to enhance concentration, manage anxiety, ease chronic pain, relieve depression, reduce symptoms of brain injury, etcetera.  There is an emerging area in the field of counselling that uses these techniques called Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).  Developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, and based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s work in stress-reduction, MBCT is becoming an effective and popular therapeutic practice.  (Of course all of it is based on ancient traditions that have been practiced for centuries in the East… it is important to give credit where credit is due and also to acknowledge that the basic techniques are tried and true, not the result of a ‘trend’ in psychotherapy.)  In my internship I find myself using some mindfulness techniques more and more with my clients and they seem to be effective.  I have begun reading some fantastic books on the topic and wish to learn more.  Yet I still have not integrated mindfulness practice into my own schedule!

So those are my most recent goals: take photos more often and practice mindfulness meditation.  As I scan over what I’ve written it occurs to me that these two activities offer two very different (nearly opposite) routes to the same outcome.  Mindfulness practice is about tuning in to our bodies, thoughts, and emotions and being highly aware of our internal experience from moment to moment.  Flow, on the other hand, is the experience of losing track of these things, losing track of time itself.  It seems almost to be a ‘mindlessness practice’.  Mindfulness can enhance relaxation and reduce depression and achieving flow states can enhance happiness.  Two different means to the same end: enhanced well-being.

Happy New Year!

Caught on camera: Lynn in a ‘flow state’ : )