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By Andrea Lanier, Group Facilitator previous page
Personally, I have learned to start my days and weeks differently than I did in the past. I have retrained my mind to be conscious of what it is that I am thinking and feeling. I have also trained my mind to return to the present moment and to my immediate environment anytime it drifts into thoughts that lead to undesired feelings. At the very root of this is my acceptance of what is. This includes my self, what I feel, and what I think. I am aware that not all is as I might prefer it to be, but I do not spend energy to change it. With this in mind, I focus on what is when I awaken. I focus on how the bed sheets feel on my skin and how the contact between my body and my bed feels right there and then. I notice my breath. I might deliberately touch my face; or I might touch one of my hands with the other. I might stretch and focus on how that feels. Next, I might notice the ceiling or a picture in the room, the door or the window. But if I see the sun or the rain, I merely do so in recognition and not with evaluation of whether either is good or bad. When I decide that it is time to get up, I focus on what I am doing then, on putting on a shirt, then maybe a sock and then another. It is important to note that I use the term decide. I do not tell myself that I should get up, but I make it my choice to do so. When thoughts enter my mind of something that I will need to do that day, I acknowledge them and the fact that at some point of the day I will address what needs to be done. But as for the present, what I will do later is of very limited consequence. It may cause some anxiety to let thoughts and plans and worries go. If this is the case, I may write a note about what one wishes to remember later. However, this note serves only as an aide to one's memory, not as an inflexible order, demanding what must be accomplished.
Practicing 'present-mindedness' in this fashion can reduce and perhaps even eliminate early-morning-anxiety and Monday-morning-anxiety. Present-mindedness may help one to preserve energy for when you need it, instead of allowing your energy to be used up by anxiety. Naturally, to retrain the mind with new, healthier habits will likely take some time, and it will require patient practice. But valuable tools and resources are available to accomplish an increased sense of well being. With the help of guided relaxation tapes one can learn to relax mind and body. With the help of the book like, Wherever You Go There You Are, written by Jon Kabbat-Zinn, you may teach your mind to focus, and you may also gain greater control over thoughts and emotions. Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now may deepen your insight into how to live more in the present time and place. And to conclude the process of retraining your mind to adopt a habit of healthier thoughts, you might study David Burns' book Feeling Good. This book provides an education on how a change in one's cognitions can lead to a positive change in emotions including anxiety.
References.
Burns, D. (1980). Feeling Good. New York, NY: Avon
Kabbat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York, NY: Hyderion.
Tolle, E (1999). The power of now: A guide to spiritual enlightenment. Novato, CA: New World Library.
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