Altering Negativity Through Mindfulness

For several years, I spent my time providing crisis care for individuals struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues. One thing that was evident in all of my clients was traumatic life experiences. For over a year, I worked with clients struggling to regain control over their lives after traumatic life experiences. Having lived through my share of trauma, I find that I have a deep level of empathy for individual struggling to stabilize, recover, and ultimately rediscover their best selves. I have been a part of helping others rebuild their resiliency and exerting their personal will over the lives they found themselves in. I have held the hands of individuals who wish to end their personal pain. I have sat with people who deal with their pain by using substances to deaden the pain, individuals who disassociate as a means of escape, as well as those who harm themselves to control the pain in their lives.

​​One of the things that I have learned that most helped my clients was mindfulness. Many individuals recovering from trauma have lost themselves and no longer feel their emotions in the context of the environment around them. To clarify, some individuals experience an amount of anxiety and a perception of threat that appears inconsistent with the situation in which they find themselves. Many of my client's were dealing with PTSD and found themselves reliving extreme trauma when in environments that to others didn't appear to hold heightened levels of threat. Others had deadened themselves to low levels of anxiety and failed to respond to situations that many people would perceive as threatening.

Regardless of whether individuals experience overly reactive or deadened responses to threatening situations in their daily lives, they can reconnect with their authentic experiences and reduce inappropriate responses. Why, you may ask, do I think that you dear reader need to know this? The answer is actually quite simple. Any practice that can help individuals recovering from extreme trauma to re-calibrate their experiences can help individuals who are dealing with less extreme circumstances.

I find that mindfulness practices are helpful to maintaining balance and a sense of personal grounding. When I find myself experiencing negative emotions, I know that I can choose to remain in a negative space or I can choose to do something to alter my negativity. Like most people, much of the negativity I experience is associated with irrational thoughts. I find, regardless of how healthy an individual is, we are all apt to have negative thoughts and emotions from time to time. However, when we have learned how to behave mindfully we do not have to live in these places.

So, how you may ask, do I alter my negative thoughts and feelings. Well, if I am to be totally honest, I must first decide if I wish to wallow in a negative place. And sometimes I do wish to feel angry or jealous, or whatever I am feeling. Generally, however, I recognize that choosing to feel this way will only prolong negative feelings and keep me from enjoying my life. So, most of the time, when I find myself in a negative space I choose to change the place I am. I find that this can be done more or less quickly depending upon the amount of time and energy I want to spend to alter my thoughts and feelings. If I am feeling depressed, I may well want to spend less energy to feel better than if I am feeling jealous.

​​So simple ways to move into a mindful space are to engage your senses. Remember that mindfulness is, simply put, experiencing the present moment simply as it is. So, to move from a negative to a positive or neutral mind space can be as simple as engaging in something that breaks negative self-talk. For example, eating something that you enjoy while being fully in the moment is a great way to alter a negative mind set.

​​If I am willing to expend more energy and am looking for a longer lasting balance, I will generally practice yoga. I have found that yoga has many benefits including helping me to lower feelings of anxiety for extended periods of time. Guided mindfulness meditations, which can be found on youtube, are also extremely helpful if you are calm enough to meditate. Granted, depending upon what you are feeling, meditation may not be obtainable. Often doing something physical like walking, swimming, or running/jogging is helpful in breaking a negative mind space. This is due partly to the break in self-talk, partly due to making you increasingly aware of your physical body, and partly due to the physical alterations in your body due to exercise.

One of the things I always teach my clients is that while it is easy to be mindful when you are in a positive space, it is often difficult to be mindful when you are in a negative space. In order to effectively use mindfulness to alter an negative mood or negative thoughts, it is helpful to make mindfulness a regular part of your life. If you are practicing mindfulness you are more apt to use mindfulness as a skill to help you when you are in a negative space. However, if you only attempt to practice mindfulness when you are in a negative place, you are less apt to find that it works for you. I would recommend finding a mindfulness practice that you enjoy and making it a habit.