Have you ever heard of the phrase “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind”? Researchers from Harvard University found that the more detached we are from the present activity, the less happy we feel.
This mind-wandering was found to be the cause of unhappiness and not the consequence! Mindfulness keeps finding scientific substantiation in an era when we need it the most. Let’s discuss how it can help us lead a happy and fulfilling life, not despite tech, but supported by it!
Mindfulness: Do We Actually Need It?
According to the World Health Organization, around 301 million people worldwide suffer from anxiety disorders and 280 million from depression. The overflow of notifications, disturbing news, easy access to fast dopamine, and other distractions coming from technology slowly but surely impair our mental health.
Unable to focus on anything for more than a few minutes, our attention span shrinks, robbing us of the chance to fully savor life’s joys. Instead of diving deeply into experiences, we merely nibble at the surface, as small tasks and distractions constantly pull at our attention.
Do you remember the last time you actually enjoyed the food you ate, feeling all the complexities of its taste? Or maybe you watched a movie without scrolling sessions every ten minutes?
A short look at your daily life may prove that the researchers from Harvard were indeed right and that our mind-wandering makes us unhappy or, at least, not as happy as we could be.
But wait, it doesn’t mean that you need to abandon your phones and laptops altogether! This source of anxiety can easily turn into a helpful instrument to make your life more joyful.
Befriending Tech to Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness includes a variety of practices designed to bring attention back to the present moment and train the brain to stay engaged without getting swept away.
Phones are often seen as major sources of distraction, but that’s only because of how we use them—any tool can play for either team, depending on your intention!
Many apps can help you practice present awareness through meditation, grounding breathing exercises, physical activities, or educating yourself on mental health.
Let’s take the HeyZen app as an example. It provides you with a real structured plan, which means you don’t need to waste your energy on yet another task of organizing your mindfulness routine. All app’s features are based on scientific research and include the following:
- a variety of meditations for gentle grounding of your mind,
- yoga therapy sessions to naturally make your brain release anxiety and tension,
- podcasts with techniques from cognitive-behavioral psychology (CBT) to help you cope with inattentiveness, stress, or overwhelm with negativity in a healthy and non-toxic way.
Does Mindfulness Actually Help?
Yes, and numerous research supports it. For example, one study recruited individuals to practice mindfulness for 8 weeks, during which they had to cultivate awareness of the present moment through breathing, body-scan meditation, and Hatha yoga.
Every exercise involved non-judgemental observation of one’s current physical sensations, feelings, emotions, and thoughts. Together with it, participants practiced mindfulness at home, i.e., tried being fully present while eating, bathing, etc.
Such a program showed positive results in improving stress and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, mindfulness increased the participants’ agreement with positive self-statements (such as “Even if things don’t go well, it’s no catastrophe” or “I can handle everything”).
Key Features of Effective Mindfulness App
Considering the results of the study above, a mindfulness app should include the following features to actually work:
Meditation and Breathing Exercises
Meditation and controlled breathing prove to be effective exercises in increasing awareness of the present moment and, hence, keeping in touch with your inner self. Try to find an app that offers different meditation types so that you can choose those that fit your present state of mind.
Together with soothing anxious thoughts, mindfulness meditation also has a positive effect on the immune system, blood pressure, sleep quality, depression, and other conditions, according to the National Institute of Health .
Yoga Classes
Yoga, regardless of its type and school, allows people to cast away the unnecessary distractions of life and focus on the bodily sensations of the now. By stretching and moving your body in a specific way, you actually teach your brain to be more attentive and present.
Its positive effect on anxiety and depression is explained through its improvement of the function of different parts of the brain, such as the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, etc. Moreover, yoga may also mitigate age-related cognitive declines.
Educational Content
In order to practice mindfulness, you need to fully understand this concept and all the causes that can drive you away from it.
Moreover, knowing exactly what psychological techniques to use in order to cope with stress, anxiety, and negative thoughts not only help you stick to the present awareness, but makes the practice deeper as you don’t run away from your problems but work through them.
Understanding yourself and the machinery of your psyche is an important component of practicing mindfulness fully, so make sure to use your phone in order to gain this knowledge!
Personalized Programs and Progress Tracking
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to mental balance, so when choosing an effective app, make sure it can offer you a personalized experience. It can be an anxiety relief program with only the relaxation exercises that you need at the moment or your personal mindfulness routine tailored to your schedule and preferences.
Also, look for apps that have a progress-tracking feature so you can monitor your improvements over time. This helps keep you motivated and ensures that your mental health journey evolves with your needs.
So, How Do I Start My Mindfulness Journey?
Start small: don’t try to apply mindfulness to all spheres of your life right away. Most probably you’ll bounce back to the past routine full of distractions, as the brain doesn’t like big and sudden changes that make it alter its normal habitual patterns.
What you can do is, for example, start eating your lunch mindfully by getting rid of all distractions for these short 30 minutes. Try to fully sense all the shades of taste, understand how you feel before eating, and detect the sensations once you finish.
Later, you can extend the practice to other daily activities and bring along a helpful app to meditate, do yoga, and engage in other fulfilling mindfulness activities that will help you experience daily life more fully and, in turn, feel happier.
