Mindful wellbeing module 2 hic v2
- 1. Welcome to the Mindful Wellbeing Workshop Module 2: Automaticity
- 2. Outline – Module 2 • Homework Debrief • Seated Meditation • Exercise – Walking down the street, Jill and her mother • Automaticity • Cycles • Dealing with difficult feelings • Eating with awareness • The body Scan • Homework
- 3. Homework Debrief Did you practice the body scan? If so, what was your experience? If you did not practice the body scan, what prevented you from practicing it? What would help you increase your commitment or the likelihood of practicing? Did you pay attention to daily routines? What was your experience? Did you practice mindful listening with colleagues? Do you have any other questions or concerns?
- 5. Exercise: Walking down the street Sit comfortably and try to imagine the following scenario as vividly as possible: “Imagine strolling along a street with which you are well-acquainted. As you look up, you notice that there is someone you know from work on the other side of the road. You smile and wave; however, the person does not respond. The person continues to walk without giving the slightest reaction…”
- 6. Exercise: Walking down the street REVIEWING THE EXERCISE • As you were imagining the scenario, what thoughts did you notice? • As you were imagining the scenario, what emotions did you notice? • As you were imagining the scenario, what body sensations did you notice? • Was there a link between your thoughts, your feelings, and/or emotions and body sensations? • Did you have thoughts that led to certain feelings and/or emotions or body sensations? THE GOAL OF THE EXERCISE • The goal of this exercise is to introduce a very common automatism of the mind: making up stories. After witnessing an event, the mind automatically creates a story of what just happened. Certain feelings, emotions, and body sensations may automatically arise based on the nature of this story. For instance, the thought “He didn’t even notice me. He must be mad that I haven’t responded to his email yet.” may cause worry to emerge. The thought “How rude. He clearly saw me.” may automatically trigger the feelings of anger. • It can be valuable to discuss possible ways to effectively deal with the scenario. • From a mindfulness perspective, one could direct attention to the thoughts and feelings that are present in the current moment. In doing so, one disrupts the cycle of negative thinking and emotions and takes a step back. This awareness offers the possibility to observe the interplay between thoughts, emotions, and body sensations. We are not trying to change the emotions, feelings, or body sensations that are present, but only to observe them. • We accept what we experience. By turning attention back to the present moment, to the feeling, we allow ourselves to connect to the reality of this moment, rather than our mind’s version of it. The present moment offers the chance to step out of the continuous stream of thinking and the emotions that follow from thoughts. • Thus, mindfulness can help us become aware of the automatic influence of thoughts on emotions and body sensations and vice versa.
- 7. Exercise: Jill and her mother Jill must go to school. Her mother asks her to get out of bed. Jill replies that she will be there in a minute. After 5 minutes, her mother asks her to get out of bed again. Jill replies that she will be there any minute. When her mother angrily shouts that Jill should really get out of bed now, she replies that her mother should not treat her like a little child. Her mother replies that it is inappropriate for the head of a school to show up late for school
- 8. Exercise: Jill and her mother REVIEWING THE EXERCISE • What did you notice about your thoughts while the stories were being told? • In what ways did you notice how your mind automatically assumes things and creates its own version about what is going on in each story? • Have you ever noticed the same thing in your own life? • If so, how did your mind automatically react towards something that happened in your own life? THE GOAL OF THE EXERCISE The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate again how our mind automatically reacts to information and creates its own stories, even when very limited information is available. This exercise illustrates that what we think can be very different from what is actually happening. Becoming aware of this automatic tendency of the mind can be a very powerful tool to reduce its negative effect.
- 9. Practicing Mindfulness A core ingredient of mindfulness practice is the ability to observe thoughts. This video clearly explains what observation of thoughts means
- 10. Automaticity Involves behaviour that is guided outside of our conscious awareness Some researchers believe that 90% of our behaviour is carried out automatically Example – driving home after work – unaware of how we change gears, feet movements, steering – all happens automatically Automatic patterns are not limited to behaviour such as driving or playing piano – they also concern the initiation of thoughts or dealing with setbacks or stress
- 12. Situations triggering automatic reactions SITUATION - FEELING OR EMOTION - THOUGHT - BODILY SENSATION REACTION - SUPPRESSION - ABSORBTION - AVOIDANCE AUTOMATIC Fig. 1 Situations triggering automatic reactions
- 13. • Figure 1 displays how a certain feeling, thought or sensation can automatically lead to a reaction, like for instance suppression or worry. In these situations, we are not in conscious control of the reaction. The reaction is the result of an unconscious tendency. There is no room for consciousness between the trigger and our reaction. This way of dealing with situations is referred to as impulsivity or reactivity. • The only way to change automatism is by means of attention. Therefore, becoming aware of automatic patterns is at the core of many psychological treatments, like for instance cognitive behavioral therapy. Situations triggering automatic reactions
- 14. Automaticity Attention can be used to recognise automatic reactions and patterns Once reactions and patterns are recognised – only then can they be changed Mindfulness promotes attention to feelings, thoughts and sensations Cultivates awareness – present (here and now) By cultivating awareness, space is created between what is happening in this moment – and the reaction that follows If experiencing an emotion like anger – it helps us pause for a moment and to devote attention to the experience
- 15. Mindfulness creates room between a situation and a reaction SITUATION - FEELING OR EMOTION - THOUGHT - BODILY SENSATION REACTION - THE RESULT OF CHOICE INSTEAD OF AUTOMATISM MINDFUL ATTENTION - CONSCIOUS ATTENTION TO WHAT IS PRESENT - CREATE ROOM TO LET IT BE - ACCEPT THAT IT IS THERE Fig. 2 Mindfulness creates room between a situation and a reaction
- 16. Cycles AUTOMATISM – CAUSES US TO GET STUCK IN A NEGATIVE CYCLE OF FEELING AND THINKING RECEIVE A BAD EVALUATION – IMMEDIATE RESULT IS SADNESS/FRUSTRATION – AUTOMATICALLY START THINKING NEGATIVE THOUGHTS WE ARE NOT AWARE OF THIS AUTOMATIC INTERPLAY BETWEEN THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS, SO WE GET CAUGHT IN A CYCLE OF THINKING AND FEELING FOR A VERY LONG TIME. WE LOSE AWARENESS OF WHAT IS HAPPENING: WE ARE CAUGHT IN A GAME OF FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS
- 17. Automatic cycle of thinking and feeling SITUATION EMOTION THOUGHT Figure 3 - repetitive negative thinking
- 18. • Figure 3 is an example of how we sometimes easily get lost in worrying or ruminating (repetitive and negative thinking about the past). • The situation that is depicted in fig. 3 shows how we can get completely lost in a train of thought. We are devoting so much attention to our thoughts that we lose ourselves completely in them. All our attention goes to the content of our thoughts. We are not present in the now anymore, but are living in our head. Our thoughts determine automatically how we feel. We are a slave to the thoughts and barely notice how we are being moved between thoughts and feelings. • And even if we notice that the above described process is taking place, we often use strategies (like for instance suppression or putting things in perspective) that not only fail to get us out of the cycle, but pull us back in even more than before. • From a rational point of view, these strategies appear to be an effective way to exit the cycle. However, the more we attempt to avoid or get rid of the thoughts and feelings, the more they will persist. Automatic cycle of thinking and feeling
- 19. Attention to the here and now SITUATION EMOTION THOUGHT MINDFUL AWARENESS Fig. 4 The role of mindfulness in an automatic cycle of thinking and feeling
- 20. The role of mindfulness in an automatic cycle of thinking and feeling • By paying attention to the thoughts and feelings that are present in the current moment, we can disrupt the cycle and create room for awareness. • This awareness provides the possibility to observe the cycle between thoughts and emotions (see fig. 4). For instance, if you receive a bad evaluation that automatically triggers negative thoughts, mindfulness involves taking a step back and noticing these thoughts. • Just pause. For a moment, just focus on your breath. Then become aware of what is going on inside of you. What thoughts are currently running through your mind? What kind of feelings are present in this moment? Where in your body do you notice these feelings? • By taking the role of a neutral and curious observer, the automatic cycle of thinking and feeling is disrupted. If you notice that you are not observing anymore but are taken away by thoughts or feelings again, simply focus your attention on the breath once more, and use this neutral point to take the role of an observer again. • Note that you are not trying to change the emotions or feelings that are present, but rather observe and accept what you experience. By turning attention back to the present moment, you create room and insight. Thus, mindfulness can help to become aware of the automatic influence of thoughts on emotions and vice versa. • Thoughts and emotions are not changed or modified; it is how you relate to these emotions and thoughts that is altered. Feelings are less guided by thoughts and you become more like an observer, one who is less guided toward action based on the content of thoughts and feelings.
- 21. The Gifted Wisdom of Unpleasant Feelings - Dr Joan Rosenberg
- 22. Therapist Dr Strong explains how he uses mindfulness in his treatments. He explains how suffering is often kept alive by learned patterns of reactivity. because we keep reacting in the same way to situations and circumstances, problems persist. Mindfulness can help to recognise automatic patterns of reacting and create a starting point for change
- 23. Practice – Eating with awareness
- 24. • Start with becoming aware of your posture. Close your eyes for a few seconds and focus on breathing. • Now, open your eyes, but wait before taking the first bite. Look at the food, the color, the texture. Just become aware what is in front of you. You can also briefly consider the amount of work necessary to make this food possible. • Then, take a first bite. Eat slowly, one bite at a time, prolonging the sensation of the food in your mouth, the feeling of the food on your tongue, and try to become aware of the taste, the movement of the fork, the whole eating process as much as possible. • Thoughts will come up and will distract you. This is normal. Just notice them and gently direct your attention back to the food. • It is easier to eat mindfully without external distractions such as television, magazines, etc. Make eating the meal the most important activity. Devote all your attention to it. Practice – Eating with awareness
- 25. INFORMATION: EATING WITH AWARENESS • Eating is a daily habit. It is no wonder that it involves many automatic processes. Eating does not always require focused attention. We can easily have dinner and watch television, send an email or have a conversation at the same time. When we do so, we become less aware of the process of eating and tasting the food. Our attention is not focused on the sensation of eating but on the t.v., email or the content of the conversation. When this happens, we tend to enjoy the food less. • In fact, what we experience while we eat (e.g. the taste, smell and texture of the food) can be regarded as an anchor, comparable to the sensation of focusing on one body part at a time in the body scan practiced earlier. When you eat mindfully, you will notice how many times your attention is drawn away from eating by thoughts or other distractors. The idea is to gently direct attention back to the experience of eating. • This exercise can show you that even when your attention should be focused on eating the food in the present, it is quite frequently directed at the future; we take a bite and before we even swallow, our mind is already paying attention to the next bite. This is a pattern that is often present when eating candy, chips or other desirable food. • Mindful eating can contribute to a healthier pattern of eating. Mindfulness reduces emotional eating (Alberts, Thewissen, & Raes, 2012) and can help to contribute to a healthier weight (tapper et al., 2009). Because mindful eating reduces the speed of eating, one is satisfied earlier and eats less. This reduces the chance of overeating (and thus the consequences like high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer as well). Practice – Eating with awareness
- 26. The body scan - meditation
- 27. The Body Scan - Script Find a place where you will be safe, secure, and undisturbed. Lie on your back on a firm mat or cushioned floor, arms resting by your side, palms facing upward. If you find it difficult to stay awake during the meditation, it may be helpful to open your eyes or prop your head up with a pillow. If neither helps, you can change position that that would help you stay awake. Other positions include standing or sitting in a chair. Close your eyes and start to focus your attention on the fact that you are breathing. Allow each inhale and exhale to flow through your body. Notice how your body feels with each breath as well as where the breath flows. With each breath, allow yourself to sink deeper into the floor. •Keep in mind that your mind will inevitably wander through this practice as that is what all minds do. When this happens, notice it and gently and kindly bring your attention back to the part of the body on which you were focusing. As you continue to breathe, on the inhale, imagine the breath filling your lungs and then moving down into the belly, into the left leg, and all the way out of the left toes. As you exhale, imagine or feel your breath moving in through your toes, up the left leg, through the abdomen, all the way up into your chest, and finally out through your nose. With a playful approach, practice a couple of cycles of this kind of breathing. Use this breathing technique throughout the remainder of the scan. When you notice a tense or unpleasant sensation, breathe into it and imagine relaxing, releasing, and letting go. Notice all the sensations in your body, beginning with the bottom of your left foot. Where do you feel pressure? What does it feel like? Move with your attention from the bottom of your left foot, up the ankle to the left leg, lower leg, knee, upper leg, across the pelvic region, down the right leg. Move into your pelvic region, scanning the front and back of your body. Notice all the sensations that arise and let them go. As you focus on each part of the body, observe what you see and feel there without forcing anything to happen. If you don’t feel anything in an area of your body, that’s okay. Simply act as an observer, noticing how your body feels today. Continue up through the stomach, upper chest, neck, down the left arm, back up through the collarbone down the right arm, up to your hairline, forehead, and finally face. Remember to observe each small area of every part of your body. For example, you may want to notice what is happening in between your toes, ankles, shoulders, ears, tongue. Investigate every area of the body with gentle curiosity. After observing every point in the body, feel your body as a whole, breathing in and out, fully alive.
- 28. • Do the “eating with awareness at work exercise” one or more times this week • Practice the “Body Scan”. For more information on the “Body Scan”, see “session 1”. • Choose three work activities, and try to do them with as much undivided attention as possible. Notice how often your attention is automatically drawn away from what you are doing by thoughts, emotions or body sensations. • This week, I will do the following work activities with full attention: 1. _____________________________________________________________________ 2. _____________________________________________________________________ 3. _____________________________________________________________________ • If you notice this week, that you are worrying or ruminating, or are brought out of balance by a certain situation, try to pause for a moment. Can you re-focus your attention on the experience in the present moment. Can you let the feeling be and become aware of the thoughts that automatically arise? Can you become aware of the cycle that is described in this session’s chapter? Homework
- 29. Log Book Exercise Times performed Observations or perceptions during the exercise Body Scan Routine Work Activities Eating with Awareness
- 30. Welcome to the Mindful Wellbeing Workshop Module 3: Judgment
- 31. Outline – Session 3 • Homework Debrief • Seated Meditation • Judgements • Judgement strengthens duality • Judgement limits reality • Judgement creates conflict • Mindfulness and judgements • Being aware of judgement • Judgement Meditation • Homework
- 32. Homework Debrief Did you practice the body scan? If so, what was your experience? If you did not practice the body scan, what prevented you from practicing it? What would help you increase your commitment or the likelihood of practicing? Did you pay attention to daily routines? If so, what was your experience? Did you practice mindful eating? What did you experience? Do you have any other questions or concerns?
- 34. Benefit Finding Recall a painful event that you have experienced in the workplace. • What were the most negative consequences of this event? • Now, focus on the positive aspects and the ways in which the experience has benefited you as a person. For instance, how has the experience helped you better meet the challenges of the future? • What did you learn from this experience? • How have you changed or grown as a person as a result of the experience?
- 35. Judgements The importance of becoming aware of judgments, without judging them
- 36. Judgement colours reality • A judgment is like a pair of glasses or a filter. We see the world through the glasses of our judgment. • A judgment stems from our beliefs (“Uneducated people are stupid”, “I’m always unlucky”, “A man is not supposed to cry”) or norms (“One celebrates Christmas with family and friends”)
- 37. • A judgment can be faced inwards, to our own feelings and thoughts. For example, when we experience sadness, we may label this sadness as “unwanted”. In turn, this judgment will affect the thoughts that come with it. We are rather inclined to end up in a negative spiral of thoughts (“I should not feel like this; I don’t want to feel like this”), and the chance of feeling negative emotions increases. When we subsequently judge these emotions also as “bad” or “wrong” we become further dragged into a cycle of thoughts and emotions, as described in session 2. • • Judgments can also be faced outwards. An example of a judgment outside of ourselves is when we call somebody a “loser” because of his lack of education or position. This judgment will affect how we interpret the person’s behavior and how we treat that person. As we see this person as a “loser”, it is likely that we treat this person with less respect then if we were to see him as a successful person. The moment we judge, we only see our own projections and not other aspects of the person that may be hidden behind these projections. • Judgement colours reality
- 38. Coloured perception: the influence of judgments on perception of reality
- 39. What does judgement say… • Interestingly, a judgment often says more about the person who makes the judgment than about the person about whom the judgment is made. No matter how accurate or describing or appropriate a judgment may seem, it is per definition a reflection of our personal opinion and beliefs. • Thus, our judgment of another person is not a true characteristic of that person. After all, the person who we call a “loser” because of his lack of education can be a successful person to someone else (e.g. because the person spends a lot of time with his/her family). In this example, the judgment says something about the criteria of a “loser” of the judging person (lack of education or position). It is likely that the judging person also applies these criteria to himself. In other words, the judgmental glasses with which the person sees the outside world corresponds to the judgmental glasses with which the person looks at himself.
- 40. A JUDGMENT STRENGTHENS DUALITY Dichotomous in character – thought of in extremes – good/bad, desirable/undesirable Judging creates duality (contrast) – opposites exist only in relation to each other Two sides of a coin When judging we focus on a specific half of a coin – on one of the two opposites – we don’t see the entire coin – our reality is therefore limited to the one half (with our full attention) At the moment that this separation takes place, we tend to hold onto the good and avoid the bad because we see them as independent from each other – individual events that are unrelated.
- 41. Duality • Opposites can only exist in relation to each other • A judgment focuses our attention on a specific half
- 42. Duality At the moment we see that the one (bad) is required for the other (good), the tendency to fight and get rid of the bad is less. As we again focus on the whole and not the individual parts it gets easier to experience peace on the dark side of the coin. Eventually, it might be possible to be grateful for the experiences we perceive as less enjoyable because we know that these are necessary to be able to experience the other side. Negative experiences are just as necessary as the pleasurable ones.
- 43. A JUDGMENT LIMITS REALITY
- 44. A Judgement limits reality • A judgment always highlights only one side of the given information. The reality is in fact endlessly complex. By labelling something “good” or “bad”, you reduce it just to that: “good” or “bad”, although there is nothing only good or bad. • An event that at that moment is perceived as difficult or bad (e.g. being fired or dismissed from a job), later often turns out to be a positive change (a new and better job). Was the event then good or bad? The judgment delineates an area. It creates a boundary, a limited space in which the reality itself may happen. For example, if we judge a feeling as “bad” we limit the moving space of this feeling; the feeling must not move or get worse, it may not be there, it has to leave. It also reduces the experience and perceived complexity of the feeling. Even negative feelings can give us valuable insights as we are willing to look at them and allow them to demonstrate these insights. • As we look at the earlier mentioned example, the judgment “loser”, we can see that we reduced the endlessly complex person to the limited label “loser”. The behavior of this person will subsequently be interpreted within our framework of “loser”. This framework indicates the boundary in which that person can move. • When this person for example registers a success, we are rather inclined to assign this to luck or the situation, while in case of failure we see this rather as a result of the person’s own action and thus confirm our image of his “loser-being”. We ensure that the person fits in our judgment without realizing that we limit the person and ourselves. The judgment “loser” limits us to perceive the human that is hidden behind our projection. • The limitations and one-sidedness of a judgment are also clearly illustrated by means of cultural or historical differences. Where a person who, 50 years ago, didn’t go to church was easily judged as a sinner, people nowadays are just labeled as naïve when they say that they believe in God and go to church. It can be enlightening to see how the same event, depending on age, ethnic background or religion, can be judged differently and thus experienced differently.
- 45. A JUDGMENT CREATES CONFLICT • Suppose you feel gloomy. By judging this feeling as bad you start a relationship involving struggle with that feeling. The gloomy feeling is there, but it is bad and therefore undesirable. • The moment something is judged as undesirable or bad a conflict occurs; namely between how things are now (bad) and how things should be (good). • Not only can this conflict cause us to feel upset, it can also encourage us to want to avoid or to escape from the current, as negatively judged, situation. • We are encouraged to expend effort to get rid of the feeling, which often leads to the paradoxical effect that the feeling gets stronger. • In fact, there is only a problem or conflict when a situation, event or feeling is judged as such.
- 46. Mindfulness and Judgement • Mindfulness helps us learn that people, places and things, and events are neither good nor bad, but that our mind labels things as such almost automatically. • Events, feelings or persons are not intrinsically good or bad, they “are” simply what they are; events, feelings and persons. Only when we label them as right or wrong, they affect our thoughts and behaviour • An important part of mindfulness is to understand judgments. Judgments often happen automatically. This is the conditioned functioning of our mind. There is nothing wrong with that and it is also necessary to interpret the world around us. • However, as previously described, judgments may limit us severely or can even be counterproductive if we forget that they don’t reflect reality but our beliefs about reality
- 47. Mindfulness and Judgement • By becoming aware of the natural tendency of the mind to judge, the effect of a judgment on our functioning is reduced. • The more we become aware of our judgments, the less our minds will tend to label automatically • The conversation with the person who is sitting opposite you is no longer limited to the box in which you put this person
- 48. Practice: Being aware of judgements • NOT striving to not judge – the mind judges automatically - Try to notice this week as many negative thoughts you have about other people, groups, yourself, situations at work. Become aware of when you are judging things. • Become aware of and observe the judgements – try not to judge yourself • Simply note this judgment and then return to your breathing, the anchor point of your attention. That it happens is not bad, it is an automatic process. And if you have a judgment, ask yourself who you really see: the person/feeling or just your own judgment. That is how you create room for choice again • Once you become aware of the fact that you want to judge something, see if you can let go of the judgment and if you can use a more objective description in which a judgment is not or at least barely present. For example: “He didn’t show up, therefore he doesn’t care about me” versus “I was there, he wasn’t there”. Or: “He was wearing ugly shoes” versus “His shoes were not quite my taste”. It can be really helpful to train your mind this way.
- 49. An inspiring video that shows how important our outlook on reality is for the way we feel about things.
- 50. Jon Kabat-Zinn explains what non-judgment in mindfulness practice means.
- 52. Collaboration • As humans it is Important to connect, we connect easier with those we trust – to build trust you need to accept people • Be aware of judgements we make about other people • We have little control over other people, accept that fact • Shift our judgements and perspective – find a way to accept a person as they are and find a way to work with the other person
- 53. Working with difficult people Accepting the person as they are – we are all different and unique Mindfulness gives us the ability to have difficult conversations with emotional intelligence Helps us to be courageous to speak the truth Acknowledge own thoughts and emotions and have the courage to do what is right Using empathy for the self and the other person
- 54. Homework • Exercise being aware of judgements at work this week • You can use a bracelet or elastic band as a tool. Whenever you find yourself making judgments about yourself, others or situations, simply switch the wrist on which you are wearing the bracelet. Do this switch without judgment, without being hard on yourself, or negative internal dialogue. Just switch in a friendly manner. You may become aware of how often you actually (automatically) judge. This exercise may feel somewhat confrontational, however, it also helps demonstrate in a visceral way that you are becoming more aware of your thoughts and actions. • Do the Body Scan and seated meditation as often as possible, preferably on a daily basis. • As you do the “Body Scan” or seated meditation, try to pay attention to the judgments you make during or after the exercise: examples of judgments are; “This is useless”, “I can do this well”, “It didn’t go well”, “It should feel different”, etc.
- 55. Log Book Exercise Times performed Observations or perceptions during the exercise Body Scan Seated Meditation Awareness of Judgments