Be Mindful, Feel Better: Stress-free Living Through Mindful Thinking

by Lynne M. Kenney, PsyD

It may be time to change your relationship to your thoughts, feelings and sensations and guess what, no alcohol needed!

Becoming mindful is the newest and most productive way to feel better, live more passionately and feel more deeply.

Mindfulness is an activity in which a person becomes intentionally aware of his or her thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally. Being mindful has been seen in research studies to help people cope better with stress. Research through The Center for Mindfulness at University of Massachusetts Medical Center by Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues has shown the benefits of mindfulness (non-judgmental sustained attention) on reducing pain, distress, anxiety and the effects of rumination in depression.

Think Without Judgment

Think for a moment, when you feel distressed, angry or disappointed, what comes first the judgmental thought or the feeling? What might surprise you is that most often, each feeling you experience is preceded by a thought. That's right. Most people believe that you feel and then think but really you think and then you feel. Your thoughts guide your feelings. You think "I am fat," then you feel sad. You think, "He really loves me," then you feel happy. You think, "My children should behave," then you feel angry. You think, "That dog might bite," then you feel scared.

If your thoughts are causing you to criticize yourself, to feel angry toward your children or interfere with your relationships at work, it may be time to step-back and recognize that your thoughts are just that, only thoughts. They are reflections, observations, and opinions. They are not immutable all-powerful determiners of feelings or behavior.

Thoughts Can Be Altered

Thoughts can be altered, transformed and changed in order to help you feel better, more positive and more hopeful. In fact, the impact of positive and negative thoughts on our health is explored by Dr. Bruce Lipton in his recent book, The Biology of Belief

It's helpful to know that a thought is a biological process of communication between neurotransmitters in the brain. What we think is influenced by our individual life experiences, genetics and neurobiological predispositions.

Practice Positive Thinking

Keep a journal of your thoughts for 72 hours and reflect on whether your thoughts benefit your well-being or distract from your health. Carry the journal in your pocket, when you drop your children off at school, order lunch, or interact with a colleague, write down what you are thinking on the left side of the page and how you are feeling on the right.

In the following 72 hours do the same activity but make a third column for thought replacement, write down alternate positive thoughts to replace your negative thoughts.

Taking a look at your judgmental thoughts as well as your positive thoughts is the first step toward better health. Replace your negative thoughts with neutral, non-judgmental or positive thoughts; post your positive thoughts around your home, on your bathroom mirror, in the pantry and on your fridge. When you stop at a red light think one positive thought before the light turns green. Green is for "Go Positive."

Soon we'll explore how to add mindful mediation to positive thought development for better well-being so stay tuned... Be healthy, feel strong...

--Lynne Kenney, PsyD
The Family Coach