MENTAL HEALTH
In the first of our new mental health series, psychotherapist Owen O’Kane looks at mindfulness and the power of being present
Our new series with psychotherapist Owen O’Kane
Ithink mindfulness has become a little more complicated of late than it needs t o be. For me, the premise is simple. It is learning to become more present in y our life, here and now. Whatever you decide t o bring a deeper awareness to, and truly notice, is OK, and can be accepted without judgement.
How you bring attention t o the here and now is entirely up t o you. It could be paying attention t o drinking a cup of tea: tasting, smelling, savouring the moment. That’s meditating, that’s mindfulness. It’s a single point of focus on one thing at any given time.
It could be a walk in which y ou focus on your senses and absorb everything you see, hear, feel and touch.
It could be staring at the sky, watching your breath rise and f all, or listening t o the sound of the sea.
On a broader level, mindfulness is about showing up – mentally as well as physically – in y our everyday life. Instead of focusing on the f uture, it’s about becoming more eng aged in the ‘ now’. That involves experiencing more, listening more, looking more, feeling more, and being more engaged in the life y ou have at this present moment.
As simplistic as it sounds, this is where your power will be found – in the now. Much of the ener gy spent focusing on the f uture is wasted time. Most of what y ou need is right in front of you. The challenge is giving yourself permission t o come out of the future ( and the past) and step into what you have in the present.
It’s no more complicated than that. Living this way will bring y ou more peace and happiness than y ou can imagine. I know this, not just as a therapist, but also as someone who wasted many years living in the future; nothing I sought was there.
Letting go of future- based living will have a significant positive impact on your life. These are the improvements, based on my experience, that you will discover:
A sense of having fewer burdens as you focus on managing what is happening currently, rather than trying to manage events in both the present and the future
Decreased anxiety – future- based worries lead to overthinking, so reducing this will in turn reduce worry Improvements in your mood – taking your focus off the f uture will allow you to experience more of the here and now, which, studies sho w, has a beneficial impact on mood
Improvements in concentration, creativity, productivity and memory from freeing up space in y our brain
Renewed appreciation and gratitude for what y ou have in your life right now
More of an awareness of what is actively happening in your life. This will allow you to make better decisions when it comes t o making helpful changes.
Ten Times Happier: How to Let Go of What’s Holding You Back by psychotherapist Owen O’Kane is out now ( HQ, HarperCollins)
“Step into what you have in the present”