Cultivating Mindfulness for Stress Reduction

Stress and anxiety are a normal part of life and usually subside after the root cause of these feelings has ended. However, there are millions of people in the United States alone that have stress related or anxiety disorders, and for these individuals the feelings of worry, nervousness, fear, frustration, anger, and so on not only continue, but can increase, getting worse over time. (MedlinePlus, NLM, & NIH, 2011) Alcoholics, addicts, mental health patients, domestic violence victims, college students, or anyone else who might be experiencing more stress than the average person can mitigate the very harmful effects of heightened or prolonged stress to your health by practicing mindfulness meditation, both formally and informally.

According to an article published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can be a successful tool in alleviating “[…] suffering associated with physical, psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders [by helping the individual to] develop enhanced awareness of moment-to-moment experience of perceptible mental processes [because it cultivates] greater awareness [that will] provide more veridical perception, reduce negative affect and improve vitality and coping.” In the meta-analysis of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programs, 64 empirical studies were reviewed and 20 were deemed acceptable for the analysis at hand. In the end, the analysis concluded that the results from these 20 studies suggested “[…] that MBSR may help a broad range of individuals to cope with their clinical and nonclinical problems.” (Grossman, Niemann, Schmidt, & Walach, 2004)  In other words, by practicing mindfulness in one’s life, an array of different types of stress and anxiety can be reduced or alleviated, from just feeling rushed or in a hurry all the time, to clinical conditions like alcoholism, addiction, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) just to name a few.

By cultivating mindfulness and generally increasing one’s awareness, focusing on the present moment, it helps the individual to feel more at peace because they can become more of an observer of all that’s happening around them, rather than jumping into a purely reactive state. By being more of an observer of the present surroundings, events, action, noises, smells, and even one’s own emotions, it gives the person the opportunity to achieve inner peace and remain centered. And with special regard to observing emotions, one can even employ the “RAIN” method. With the RAIN method, you first “[…] recognize when a strong emotion is present,” next “[…] allow or acknowledge that the feeling is there,” then “[…] investigate the body, emotions, and thoughts,” and finally “[…] non-identify [or detach from] whatever is there.” This gives you the chance to be less emotionally reactive and actually choose with purpose and more composure, from a more rational state of mind, how you think or feel about something, an event, a person, or circumstance, as well as how to respond.

There are many mindfulness meditations which are productive in not only slowing one down, but having a calming effect and generating a state of awareness and clarity. If mindfulness is practiced continuously, one can turn their entire life into a meditation of sorts. Since leaving an abusive marriage, that is what I have been attempting to do for myself. While I have done the “Breath Awareness Meditation” and the “Loving Kindness Meditation” as outlined by Ronald Siegel, PsyD in The Mindfulness Solution (Ronald D. Siegel, 2010), there are other ways to “meditate,” in a manner of speaking, throughout the day even while you are involved in your daily activities o work. The changes I have made in the way I am living my day to day life include things such as eating mindfully at each and every meal with no distractions like television or trying to work while I eat,  walking mindfully when I am going somewhere, noticing all the surroundings, smells, sounds, and even feeling the ground beneath my feet with each step I take, practicing thought labeling when certain bothersome or judgmental thoughts might enter my mind, and practicing compassionate listening with both my family and friends. I also do yoga, therefore cultivating body awareness physically, as well as emotionally by being cognizant of any tension I may be carrying in certain parts of my body, such as my lower back, hips, gluteal muscles, shoulder region, and gastrointestinal system. Last, I have continued to exercise daily gratitude, which is a practice I started right after I left my ex-husband. With this practice, at the end of my day I thank God for everything I consider to be a blessing in my life. This process usually takes me 45 minutes, at which point I make a general statement of gratitude for anything I may have forgotten. After I am finished, I turn on a classical piano cd and focus my entire attention on each note played until I fall asleep. In addition to these mindfulness practices, I have started taking regular breaks throughout the day from my work, eating on a more regular basis, eliminating multi-tasking from my life in general, and have started reading daily meditations that are designed to bring comfort, peace, tranquility, and most of all acceptance into my life.

With regard to acceptance, I would say that this is the core of what makes mindfulness-based stress reduction so effective. This, coupled with non-judgment, “[…] adds warmth, friendliness, and compassion to the attitude,” and “[…] acceptance allows us to be open to both pleasure and pain, to embrace both winning and losing, and to be compassionate with ourselves and others when mistakes are made,” as Dr. Siegel writes. He goes on to say that “Acceptance allows us to say ‘yes’ to the parts of our personality we want to eliminate and hide […and] is at the heart of how mindfulness allows us to work effectively with fear, worry, sadness, depression, physical pain, addictions, and relationship difficulties- all of which, as we will soon see, are [perpetuated by our refusal to accept some thought, feeling, or other experience.]”

Last, he notes that “Ultimately, it’s acceptance that allows us to embrace both our ever-changing life and the ever-present reality of death.”  However, he also warns that while “[…] cultivating an accepting attitude towards our experience” is the most important aspect for many people, that it’s also “[…]the most challenging” for many. Additionally, by resisting to accept things as they are, we cause ourselves a great deal of grief. (Ronald D. Siegel, 2010)

I think that people’s resistance to such acceptance is due to our innate desire to control things so that we can avoid as much pain as possible and, therefore, achieve the goal to have a happy life. We just don’t realize that by trying to control everything all the time and resisting to be at peace with things when they don’t go as we wish, that this refusal is what actually causes us the most misery of all.

In one of my daily meditation books called The Language of Letting Go, by Melody Beattie, it is written that “A magical potion is available to us today. This potion is acceptance. We are asked to accept many things: ourselves, as we are; our feelings, needs, desires, choices, and current status of being. Other people as they are. The status of our relationships with them. Problems. Blessings. Financial status. Where we live. Our work, our tasks, our level of performance at these tasks.” She goes on to say that “Resistance will not move us forward, nor will it eliminate the undesirable. But even our resistance may need to be accepted. Even resistance yields to and is changed by acceptance. Acceptance is the magic that makes change possible. It is not forever; it is for the present moment. Acceptance is the magic that makes our present circumstances good. It brings peace and contentment and opens the door to growth, change, and moving forward. It shines the light of positive energy on all that we have and are. Within the framework of acceptance, we figure out what we need to do to take care of ourselves. Acceptance empowers the positive and tells God we have surrendered to the plan. We have mastered today’s lesson, and are ready to move on.” Then she instructs the reader to recite that “Today, I will accept. I will relinquish my need to be in resistance to myself and my environment. I will surrender. I will cultivate contentment and gratitude. I will move forward in joy by accepting where I am today.” (Beattie, 1990)

 

I think this passage is very powerful and embraces the heart of mindfulness at its crux. Dr. Siegel’s and Beattie’s messages both helped me to find acceptance in my life no matter what was transpiring at any given moment in the world around me. Acceptance that my marriage was extremely abusive and not only over, but that I must accept the ugliness of its end. Acceptance that I have been taken advantage of, lied to from the very beginning, defrauded, greatly mistreated, and abused by this man. Acceptance that he has no remorse or compassion for what he’s done to me. Acceptance that, while it isn’t fair, that there is just no way to win in this situation. Acceptance that in addition to the abuse I endured while I was still with him, that I must now assume large amounts of debt that he created with the promise to pay them back, and that I will even have to file bankruptcy now despite having maintained flawless credit my whole life. Acceptance that I’m not even the same person anymore and that many of the characteristics that I felt made up my identity are gone, some temporarily and others forever. Most of all, acceptance that this is all okay, because I can rebuild my life from ground zero far easier than I can reclaim even a small part of what I used to have back from him and because there have even been blessings that came from all the ugliness he gave birth to- and that was because I had both the power to choose how to narrate the story to myself and others, as well as how to respond to the situation and rise again…victoriously. To create a new life and future that’s even more magnificent than before.

Finding this acceptance wasn’t easy for me, but I knew I had to at least take back control of whether or not I was going to allow him to continue hurting me even longer than he already had. With nearly a year having gone by, waiting for our divorce to be finalized and having to battle him through the legal system, and knowing how much the stress of it all has negatively impacted my health and well-being, I asked myself a simple question. “Even if I win back the money he still owes me, if I have a stroke in the process and my lip is hanging down to the ground, have I really won?” My answer was just as simple as the question- no. It was at that point I realized that it doesn’t matter how much money he has or how little I have, that he stole every last penny I had saved for the last 3 years, all my student loans, racked up thousands on my credit cards maxing each one of them out and leaving me homeless with nothing to live on, and it doesn’t matter that I’ve worked hard to maintain excellent credit all through the years even in the most difficult of times. What matters most is my ability to be well… to live well, to enjoy my life, and get back to living that life for myself again. I think what made finding acceptance of all of this so hard for me was that I felt it was so unfair and unconscionable what he had done to me, and that I shouldn’t be the one to pay the price for his wrongdoings. I wanted a just and fair resolution. I had resisted the idea of bankruptcy for 2 years now, even after my therapist and a few family members suggested that I consider that option due the amount of debt he had created in my name and was trying to unload on me. I have always held myself to extremely high standards, demanding only perfection of myself in the areas I “felt” I could control. But I even found acceptance in not having to be perfect anymore now. I found acceptance in that it’s okay if I lose this time, acceptance that it’s okay if I fail to maintain financial goals that I had for myself, and even acceptance that if anyone judges me for any of these losses or failures that I will still be proud of myself for making the decision to lay this burden down now and just start over fresh because that’s what I needed to do for me. I finally realized that I didn’t need other people’s approval to find acceptance for myself.

In the movie Eat, Pray, Love, based on the book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Elizabeth’s character reflects on the Agusteum, all the changes it’s endured since it was erected, as well as the changes the world around it has gone through during that time, and writes “It is one of the quietist and loneliest places in Rome. The city has grown up around it over centuries. It feels like a wound, a precious heartbreak you won’t let go of because it hurts too good. We all want things to stay the same [and will] settle for living in misery because we’re afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins. Then I looked around this place…at the chaos it’s endured, the way it’s been adapted, burned, pillaged, then found a way to build itself back up again and I was reassured. Maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic, it’s just the world that is… and the only trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation. Even in this eternal city, the Agusteum showed me that we must always be prepared for endless waves of transformation.” (Murphy, 2010) This is merely an elaborate way to word a simple, yet profound concept- that nothing is permanent and that everything will eventually change. It is our ability to float with the ebb and flow of life and adapt to the changes moment to moment with acceptance and grace as quickly a possible whether we initially prefer them or not…and to realize that everything is a gift- sometimes we just don’t like the wrapping paper.

Dr. Siegel echoes the same message and how to accept the impermanence of all that exists with the utilization of mindfulness. He writes “Mindfulness can help us see and accept things as they are. This means we can come to peace with the inevitability of change and the impossibility of always winning. The concerns about things going wrong that fill our minds each day begin to lose their grip. The traffic jam, rained-out picnic, misplaced keys, and lost sales are all easier to accept. We become more comfortable with the reality that sometimes we’ll get the date or promotion and other times we won’t. By letting go of our struggle to control everything, we become less easily thrown by life’s daily ups and downs—and less likely to get caught in emotional problems like depression and anxiety or stress related physical problems like chronic pain and insomnia.” He goes on a bit later to say that in addition to reducing our suffering, “[…] mindfulness allows us to experience the richness of the moments of our lives [and] frees us to act more wisely and skillfully in our everyday decisions as we become less concerned with the implications of our actions for our particular welfare and more focused on the bigger picture [which] allows us to live each day with a sense of dignity and appreciation.” Last, “We actually find that our minds operate more clearly when they’re not so burdened by anxiety about what others will think about us or whether we’ll get what we want.” The result is that “It becomes fun to watch our minds work freely while our creativity unfolds.” (Ronald D. Siegel, 2010)

Both of these passages struck a chord with me, and I instantly understood on an emotional level, as opposed to just in theory, that there were three truths here. One, that everything changes—everything. Just as it’s impossible to always win or only have good days, there is also an impermanence to the bad times and they, too, must eventually come to an end. And that’s okay, because experiencing the depth of the bad times only enhances the richness of the good ones. Two, that by practicing mindfulness and finding a way to cultivate acceptance for all that is, suffering would be reduced to minuscule amounts compared to the suffering that we create through our own resistance. And, three, that when we find that mindfulness in our daily lives moment to moment and master the art of acceptance, it no longer matters what is going on in the chaotic world around us, the temporary problems of our lives that once seemed so heavy begin to seem like paper dragons we’d fought for so long and now have walked through their mirrors and smoke, and that we are at peace within ourselves finally. For me, this concept was monumental and I had never even attempted to grasp it.

When our experiences don’t match up with what we’ve been told they should be, either by other or ourselves, we fight the outcomes and refuse to accept that it’s okay that things didn’t go as we had expected.  This was the problem I had. I just couldn’t believe that my marriage had turned out the way that it did, especially because I don’t believe in divorce. I couldn’t believe or accept that anyone was capable of the things my ex-husband did, and I had difficulty accepting that what he had told me, promised me, even the way he acted was all just a “performance” as he later told me…that he was “only playing a role,” as he had put it, and “never even loved [me].” How could anything so fake appear to be, seem to be, feel to be so real? How was that possible? I couldn’t accept that there would be no fair outcome, either, or that I was going to lose everything I had held dear or felt protected my future. Not until after I began practicing mindfulness, that is, which started my journey toward acceptance not only of this circumstance I found myself in presently, but of myself and the mistakes that I have made in my life. I now find myself learning to be forgiving and compassionate with myself, which has never been my strong suit, and practicing mindfulness is at the center of this new ability. In fact, practicing mindfulness on a regular basis has been so effective for me that I not only have a keen awareness of my thoughts during the day, but even during my dreams now it seems.

During the day, I never allow myself of to think of the past because it only brings pain to remember and it isn’t useful in helping me to live a happy life. I tried to just focus on the here and now when I was awake, but I was really frustrated that I would be going along, doing just fine for several weeks, and then be smacked in the face with a dream about getting back together with my ex even though I knew I shouldn’t because I would never be able to trust him again. I was frustrated that I didn’t want this when I was awake, but that I would have dreams that I did when I fell asleep…and I feared that maybe this meant on some subconscious level I really did want  him back. I was left only with questions and frustration. Then I had an answer a few nights ago when I started to have another dream about my ex-husband. In my dream, I was driving in a car and as I looked into the rearview mirror, I saw my him and memories of us. All of a sudden I ripped the mirror off of the windshield and threw it out the window, scolding myself in a stern voice saying “No! I will not let you look back like that anymore! Eyes forward!”  I woke up shortly after that and was so pleased because in my dream I had an awareness that I was actually dreaming and I took control of my dream and asserted how I wanted to think and even dream. That I was going to stop looking back at the past and focus on the road before me, the present here and now. This was hugely transformational for me, and I attribute my ability to do that to having been practicing mindfulness which has made me acutely aware of my own mind, even when I am dreaming.

Another book that I’ve been using for mindfulness meditations is Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young. Although written with Christian religious beliefs, this daily meditation book gives messages that I think anyone could adjust to fit their own spiritual beliefs or lack thereof to create mindfulness in their lives, too. The first meditation that I really liked was about not trying to control the outcomes of any situation. Young writes as if Jesus is speaking the words, saying “LEAVE THE OUTCOMES UP TO ME. Follow me wherever I lead, without worrying about how it will all turn out. Think of your life as an adventure, with Me as your guide and companion. Live in the now, concentrating on staying in step with Me. When our path leads to a cliff, be willing to climb it with My help. When we come to a resting place, take time to be refreshed in My presence. Enjoy the rhythm of life lived close to me. You already know the ultimate destination of your journey: your entrance into heaven. So keep your focus on the path just before you, leaving outcomes up to Me.” The message is to let things happen as they will and not stress yourself out trying to control the outcomes of situations in your life, but to simply enjoy the ebb and the flow, the good and the bad.

Young also writes a meditation on gratitude, which can be a very powerful tool with regard to practicing mindfulness and overcoming negative feelings during hard times. She writes “THANKFULNESS takes the sting out of adversity” and that while “it can seem irrational and even impossible [to be thankful] for heartrending hardships,” that those who can find gratitude on a daily basis will be “invariably blessed, even though difficulties may remain.” She goes on to write that “You may still be in the same place, with the same set of circumstances, but it is as if a light has been switched on, enabling you to see” things from a different perspective. On another day she writes that “PROBLEMS ARE A PART OF LIFE. They are inescapable: woven into the very fabric of this fallen world. You tend to go into problem-solving mode all too readily, acting as if you have the capacity to fix everything. This is a habitual response, so automatic that it bypasses your conscious thinking” and that by doing so you will only frustrate yourself. She continues, writing “Do not let fixing things be your top priority. You are ever so limited in your capacity to correct all that is wrong in the world around you. Don’t weigh yourself down with responsibilities that are not your own.” (Young, 2004) The first and last passage both reminded me of the story we read in class of Gautam Buddha teaching the art of meditation to Ananda, in which the moral of the story was that if you wait and watch passively, things will fall into place on their own eventually, causing you far less stress and anxiety. The same message is also ever present in Lao-Tzu’s words when he said “Trying to understand is like straining through muddy water. Be still and allow the mud to settle.” (Khamisa & Quinn, 2009) It’s also reminiscent of the serenity prayer. Last, the meditation that focused on thankfulness is also a useful mindfulness practice because by focusing on the things that you are happy with, things that you consider to be good or even blessing in your life, it’s impossible to feel depressed, frustrated, angry, or anything else negative in those same moments of gratitude. Therefore, focusing your attention to thankfulness instantly lifts your spirit and reminds you of all that you do have instead of what you don’t have or isn’t going the way you want.

All of these things discussed so far are facets of mindfulness and have the power to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Dr. Siegel writes in The Mindfulness Solution, “Life is frightening” and “Every day new threats arise or old ones return. Countless things could go wrong, and many of them do. On top of this our minds regularly anticipate even more misfortunes than actually befall us. It’s no wonder we feel afraid. We hear every day about terrible things—accidents, addiction, assaults, aneurisms, adultery, Alzheimer’s, attacks, amputations, abductions, atherosclerosis, abandonment, AIDS—and these are just a few at the beginning of the alphabet. Some misfortunes are caused by other people, some by our own missteps, and many simply by the fact that everything changes,” as we have already discussed. However, even “Fear is constantly changing.” What mindfulness can do for a person, though, is help them to “see that our minds and bodies respond similarly” in all of the different situations that can make a person feel stressed out, fearful, or anxious. As Siegel notes with regard to mindfulness, “It can help us work with both the little moments of fear and anxiety that pass through our minds all the time and the big ones that can be overwhelming,” and will teach you how to “work more effectively with these inevitable parts of life.” By doing formal meditations such as focusing on a visual object, a sound, an image in your mind, or sensations within the body, or informal mindfulness practices such as focusing on whatever you are doing at the moment whether it’s mowing the lawn, washing dishes, or paying attention to each brush stroke as you paint a picture, you can greatly reduce your worry, anxiety, and stress in general. However, you’ll get even greater results if you take the time to also learn and understand how your body reacts to these stressful and anxiety-producing people, things, or events and then learn “specific mindfulness techniques designed to work with frightened states [in order to] deal with them even more effectively.” (Ronald D. Siegel, 2010)

As I noted earlier, I have taken up several forms of mindfulness meditation, both formal and non-formal, but I have also been striving to be consciously aware of how I react to specific stressors. After observing myself, my mind, emotions, and body, I have found that most of the time I have a physical reaction in combination with my thoughts and emotions. The majority of the physical reactions are tight, sore muscles, as well as neck and back pain. However, every now and then I have experienced a bona fide panic attack. One included uncontrollable crying and hyperventilating and I didn’t even know what had triggered it other than I was just generally too stressed out because of what my ex was doing to me. Another actually had me thinking I might be having a heart attack because I had a sharp pain in my chest. Again, though, this was not the most common response my body had to anxiety and stress. As I’ve mentioned before in previous writings, I have been under extreme amounts of stress for the last 2 years due to a fraudulent and abusive marriage that lasted only 5 weeks and turned into an ugly divorce that lasted over a year, having been left financially destitute, having to go on food stamps, living with my parents at the age of 33, facing bankruptcy which goes against my standards I hold myself to,  and the deaths of 5 close family members all within a matter of months.  I have also been overly concerned about my future due to past events that I don’t want to have repeat in my life, so I have spent a lot of my time and energy worrying about my grades. This has all lead to living an imbalanced life where I spend all my time on homework and studying, leaving no time for anything else like a social life, exercise, hobbies, or even good self care such as sleeping and eating on a regular schedule, and feeling responsible for things that I have no control over. Additionally, I have regularly worried about trying to keep my family from getting upset or trying to keep them happy in general, trying to make people like me, love me, accept me for who I am, have let things that others have done have an impact on my ability to enjoy my life in general, and have been extremely co-dependent, trying to take care of everyone else, fix any problems in the world that I am ever made aware of whether they are my problem to fix or not, and have cared far too much about relating certain parts of my identity to other people’s opinions of me. Now I have stepped into a different role, learning all about self-love.

While I already had some useful coping skills before the class on mindfulness, some of my behaviors were maladaptive. These are the behaviors I have aimed to correct with practicing mindfulness and I have seen positive results in a relatively short time already. I started taking much better care of myself, selecting only healthy foods, eating in a mindful way, taking regular breaks from work, getting enough sleep, taking time to exercise, and quit trying to help everyone else or fix their problems for them. I clarified for myself what I have the power to change or control, and have been able to successfully release that which is not really within my control without feeling negative emotions, and most of all have been able to achieve acceptance to the core of my being. I have encountered some stressful things with my ex that, while they were pretty rotten, did not upset me like it may have a few weeks ago because I have learned to be more of an observer of what is going on. This has allowed me to identify what I think without becoming overwhelmed with certain unpleasant feelings. For instance, not only did I finally agree that my husband can have all of our assets, all of  my money, and that I would assume all of the debt that he racked up in my name and had been trying to give me, but then he threw out photos of my niece and me, as well as my collection of sculptures from all the different countries I have traveled. Sculptures which he was supposed to return to me, that were of great monetary value, and that were sentimental and irreplaceable. Normally, this would have really upset me and I would have grieved the loss, experiencing the suffering that would result, all because these sculptures were important to me. Having been practicing mindfulness, though, I was able to remain calm and feel peaceful inside as I was notified that they were gone and would not be returned, and while I thought to myself that “he never ceases to amaze me with how much of a jerk he can be,” it was akin to observing something more ordinary, like “hey- these french fries are hot.” I did not for one moment allow it to upset me and started thinking about the different possibilities of what else he might do and realized that none of those things had the power to upset me anymore because I had learned the art of acceptance through practicing mindfulness. I realized that I could pretty much lose everything I’ve ever owned and that I would find acceptance if that happened, which was a huge accomplishment for me. And that was just exactly what happened, so it was a good thing I had already found that acceptance.

My ability to achieve acceptance with these kinds of things that can be stress-producing has resulted in my feeling an inner tranquility, serenity, and relaxation in general. Further, I have not only quit looking back at my past, but have learned not to be so worried about the future which hasn’t even arrived yet. I have successfully learned how to live in the present moment and enjoy each delicious bite that I take out of life at any given moment every day.

Being “present in the present” is also discussed in The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit by Azim Khamisa and Jillian Quinn. In the chapter dedicated to this concept, they write that “The richness and sweetness of life exist only in the present moment. The past and the future are not alive to you, and can never offer you the joy your heart desires. It is often said that the present is a gift—can you see that it’s really a present that waits for you to open it and experience it? If you give yourself the present of being fully present to the present, you will transform your life in a very real and practical way.” One of the authors of the book, Khamisa, was inspired to achieve this goal after having a “profound conversation with the Dalai Lama.” While he notes that he spent no time rehashing the past, he discovered through keeping a journal that he “was constantly thinking about the future” and “realized that all he had to do to live more fully in the present moment was stop visiting the future so much.”  He started being mindful of his thoughts and each time that he would notice he was starting to drift off into the future, he would pull his attention back to the present moment at hand “by focusing on his body and his breathing” and he would “feel his feet on the ground and became aware of the breath entering and leaving his body.”

The authors both note that “This simple awareness can really help you to inhabit the present moment,” and that “Like all habits of the mind, this one gets easier and more natural with practice.” Last, they give the advice that “If you want to be more ‘present in the present,’ stop hanging out in the past or the future” and conclude by asserting that “Staying in the present moment may not be easy at first, but it really is that simple.” (Khamisa & Quinn, 2009)

Again, this is exactly what I have been doing since I began practicing mindfulness and I’m happier than I have been in a very long time. I owe it all to learning how to cultivate mindfulness through meditations, total self-awareness, including my body, emotions, and thoughts, and choosing to accept that it’s okay to “lose” sometimes, as well as that all things change, and if I just allow things to happen without getting anxious about trying to fix them myself, those things will naturally work themselves out. My own experience, coupled with the numerous studies on how mindfulness can reduce stress and anxiety, are a testament that mindfulness is an invaluable tool that anyone can utilize.

Bibliography

Beattie, M. (1990). The Language of Letting Go. New York, NY: Hazelden Foundation, Harper Collins Publishers.

Dyer, D. W. (2001). 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc.

Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research , 57 (1), 35-43.

Khamisa, A., & Quinn, J. (2009). The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.

MedlinePlus, NLM, & NIH. (2011, November 29). Medline Plus. Retrieved from U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH): http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/anxiety.html

Gardner, D. (Producer), & Murphy, R. (Director). (2010). Eat, Pray, Love [Motion Picture].

Ronald D. Siegel, P. (2010). The Mindfulness Solution. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Young, S. (2004). Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.