Mindfulness This week a guest will share thoughts about mindfulness in daily living. These thoughts come complements of Leila Nabors, a local professional counselor. Leila’s background includes time training with Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn who developed the first Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In Huntsville, Leila provides services through the Alabama Institute for Mindfulness. A visit to her web site provides an overview of the services available. If curious about meditation or mindfulness, consider joining Leila for one of her free monthly drop in classes. What follows is a short story from Leila. The story touched me. Perhaps it will also resonate with you. Although the story did not originally have a title, I’ve chosen to introduce the story with the title shown below. Lessons from a Dog Yesterday I was walking one of our family dogs through the neighborhood. She is a big ole goofy ten- month-old puppy named Coco. Since she is part German Sheppard and part Shar-Pei, Coco can be a handful, especially if the dreaded garbage truck comes down the street. When the garbage truck or any such truck comes upon us, our practice is to stop, sit (Coco, not me), listen to all the noise and look at the truck. Over time by sitting with all the noises and facing the scary thing, Coco has learned that there are no consequences to all the noise and the arrival of the truck. She still gets a bit wide-eyed and anxious but it passes without Coco’s go to avoidance behavior of dragging me down the street or slipping out of her collar and running away. It occurred to me yesterday that humans are a lot like Coco. When we become fearful or anxious we want to run away too. It is just that the human form of “running away” might be eating when not hungry, trying to control everything, drinking too much, distracting myself with social media or TV, not taking care of my health, or like one of our other dogs, snarling and snapping at the people who love us. These avoidance behaviors may help in the short term but over time they may become more problematic than the feeling of fear or anxiousness that we are trying to avoid. It is not about being calm in all things, but it is about unlearning our avoidance behavior when anxiousness and fear arise. As we all know anxiety and fear are part of our lived experience, a part of life. The fear response is an inherent aspect of our makeup and without it we would not have survived as a species. But when fear and anxiety escalate unchecked they can wreak havoc in our daily lives or even evolve into one of many anxiety disorders. So, other than avoidance, what is another way each of us can begin to meet the anxiety and fear that we will surely encounter in life? From a mindfulness perspective, it might mean that we begin to bring curiosity to our experience of fear or anxiety. Fear causes us to move away from something but curiosity draws us in. Can you be curious about your anxiousness and fear? What is it like to be with this feeling of fear? Where do you notice it in the body? Just because fear and anxiousness are present does not mean there is a threat or danger. The stick I saw on the trail and thought was a snake clearly was not a threat. Even if I thought it was for a moment, I was never in any danger from the stick. Often our fear and anxiousness are only mental events, not real- xworld threats. Mindfulness is about learning to be with anxiety (or any other experience) when it arises. It is about learning to encounter all the experiences in life, the good, the bad and the ugly; the pleasant and the unpleasant. By beginning to turn toward our fear instead of turning away or avoiding, we may be surprised to find a sense freedom that we have not ever known. Avoidance behaviors over time may only make things worse but with mindfulness, engagement of our fear, of our lives may prove transformative. Wishing you peace on the journey! Warmly, Leila Nabors Alabama Institute for Mindfulness * * * * * * * Mindfulness training can be used alone or to complement other therapies and has evidence supporting its use for increasing awareness, reducing rumination, stress reduction, anxiety reduction, decreasing depression, boosting working memory, decreasing emotionally reactivity, improving cognitively flexible, improving relationship satisfaction, enhancing self-insight, and increasing immunity to resist disease. If the concept of mindfulness or the practice of mindfulness still seems too abstract to take on by yourself, then consider dropping in on one of Leila’s free classes. My thanks to Leila for sharing her thoughts. If you missed my previous newsletter about mindfulness, you will find more related ideas in the newsletter titled “Is Stress Good For You?” You may wonder if being lost in the magic of a beautiful morning walk can coexist with a mindful state of being. Join me Saturday morning for a walk by the lake and I’ll share my answer. Nancy Neighbors, MD Huntsville, Alabama |