What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is noticing and recognizing your emotions and thoughts.
A starting point. We look inside and become familiar with our reactions. It is up to us what to do with that data, whether to manage reactions, consider them during engagements, or only be aware.
Mindfulness and labeling for reframing
Mindfulness helps you to notice and recognize your thoughts and emotions so that you can work with them.
You look inside, feel, scan your body sensations. Name the reaction, if possible. Labeling can on its own reduce unwanted emotion’s intensity.
Labeling also allows you to:
- clearly address the emotion during practice
- investigate and reframe its causes
- notice it when it arises in future
- understand it — learn from others, discuss, etc.
Being mindful – monitoring and introspection
Mindfulness helps you monitor your state of mind during the day. Especially, when you have time for check-ins: before, during, and after interactions.
Remote, digital, asynchronous contacts usually provide a gap you can use. Do brief introspection and response fine-tuning.
You may use reminders in the beginning to create a habit of monitoring and self-checks. As your mind sees the benefits, alertness, and introspection become natural. You witness the results of your timely interventions. Improved balance, better mood, etc.
Manage reactions early
Mindfulness allows you to notice unwanted emotions and thoughts early. Manage them before they mature and cause interferences.
We are normally too busy to notice and deal with minor emotional undercurrents. We keep on working, doing what has to be done despite minor agitations. But, emotions trigger and mutually amplify each other. Instill an emotional background we carry on day-to-day without even noticing. It usually starts small but accumulates over time as irritators come in.
Such emotional background impacts our daily interactions. It polarizes biases, and electrifies reactions to undesired scenarios, gradually causing trouble. Neglected emotions can also reverse the results of your mind training practice.
Unless you notice and manage emotions that comprise the background.
Extra centering
Even a glimpse inside means you switch your attention from an external context. Enjoy a little bit of extra centering, stepping back from the situation.
A brief pause to look inside helps your awareness. It also enhances your ability to act with consideration. Emotions you have reframed before are losing their power as soon as you become aware of them. You see them via the lens of the new framing.
Even if the emotion persists, you can put it on the to-do shelf to reframe later.
A litmus test for constructive engagement
What is your emotional investment in the situation? Self-checks reveal the ecology of your interactions and intentions. Are you ready to act gracefully, based on reason and compassion? Or is it best to take a time-out to manage your state and restore your ability to engage constructively?
To-do cleanup
If you only watch your daily unwanted emotions, mindfulness becomes a discouraging hurdle. It only adds to your stress if you register repetitions, but do not change your responses. Even if you quick-fix the emotional symptoms.
But if you learn from your experiences, looking inside becomes rewarding. Clean up your reframing to-do list. Complete the tasks and integrate the positive changes.