Mind Your Head

All these thoughts running around our brains every minute. We have up to 10 000 of them each day. Sadly 95 % of these thoughts are the exact same thoughts you had the day before. How can we change our thoughts? Can we even do this?

Research is showing that the brain has this property called "neuroplasticity" which is good news really. It means we can change our brains. Enter Mindfulness....

Recently my husband and I attended a mindfulness workshop where we learnt all these scientific facts about how being more aware can change our brains. The pre-frontal cortex actually thickens in people who practice mindfulness which is the rational thought area. So being called "thick" could actually be a compliment these days, lol.

We also learnt techniques for mindfulness. In one exercise we folded up a sheet of paper for the first time and it took a while to do this. Then we unfolded it. The next time we folded it up again it took much less time. This was to demonstrate how our brains make pathways with habitual thoughts and actions. The first time is like making a new pathway and then after that it becomes easier. However if this pathway leads to undesirable consequence eg bad habits, we can actually change this . It takes a bit of work and mental hygiene.

Mindful eating is another thing we practiced. One raisin was placed in our palm. We just wanted to eat it already, yet there was the feeling, the smelling and then the tasting! I think we would all lose weight if we ate more mindfully.

Mindful walking is another way of practicing mindfulness. In the new movie "Walk With Me", Thich Nat Hahn shows us how this is done. He is the founder of Plum Village in France where people (families and individuals) are welcomed for mindful retreats. Every fifteen minutes a gong is sounded and everyone stops what they are doing to become totally absorbed in the present moment.

When Oprah interviewed Thich Nat Hahn, she asked him what to do if you are late for an important date: how to be mindful then? He said that there is always an opportunity to be fully present in every situation. In relationships this is particularly valuable. He spoke of "deep listening" where one allows the other person to talk without interruption whilst giving them your full attention. He said it allows the other person to suffer less if you listen to them in this way and say "Darling, I am here for you". How awesome would it be if could treat each other this way always.

Becoming mindful takes patience. One needs to be in the present moment and be aware of ones breath at all times. The other day at the pool my husband was taking a really long time sitting in one spot while kids and adults moved and played around him. I was waiting for him in the sun and wondering what was taking him so long. I became annoyed with him and wanted to leave the pool by this stage. He told me he was practicing mindfulness. Haha, I guess I have a long way to go .....

So if thoughts become actions, actions become habits, and habits become our destinies, then changing our thoughts by becoming more mindfully aware of them is a step in the right direction!

More details on attending the mindfulness workshops will be published soon.