Mindfulness

I attended a webinar on Mindfulness last month (October being a Mental Health month) and would like to share here what I gained from the short session (I had attended one similar programme before). The session was conducted by Ms Evelyn Soong, a Clinical Psychologist.

 

She started off by sharing that we can become our own therapist by:

1. Knowing how our body works - physiological and psychological changes

2. Understanding mindfulness

3. Applying S.T.O.P. strategy

 

Flight-Fight-Freeze (FFF) Response is a self-protection and survival mechanism.

 

Physiological

When FFF is activated, breathing starts to slow down, heart rate and blood pressure increase. Blood flows to major muscle groups and sensory becomes sharper. Mouth goes dry, and you may start to sweat or have tremors.

 

Psychological

Negative thoughts, tunnel vision, anxious and scared, hypersensitive, restless.

 

Effects of Chronic Stress

Physical: increased risks of:

1. Gastrointestinal problems e.g. loss of appetite

2. Cardiovascular diseases because the heart beats faster than normal

3. Skin problems e.g. acne, pimples

4. Reproductive problems - difficulty conceiving, premature ejaculation

 

Psychological

Possible effects:

1. Cognitive: can’t concentrate, memory problems

2. Emotional: irritable, moody, lonely, unhappy

3. Behaviour: affects eating and sleeping habits, withdraw from others

 

Mindfulness: awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose in the present moment and non-judgementally. Being aware of what you’re feeling, of your surroundings and what is happening, for example stopping back at a zebra crossing and looking at traffic and watching others non-judgementally. Being mindful means being fully present for the moment, paying attention to self, sensations, thoughts, what you see around you, and not overly reacting to the situation.

 

How being mindful is beneficial:

1. Reduced activation of amygdala

2. Changes in brain reaction, better emotional regulation, reduced anxiety and aggression

 

Mindfulness helps calms one down, improves concentration, reduces rumination, improves communication in relationships, enhances body immunity

 

S.T.O.P. strategy

Stop what you’re doing and putting things down for a while

Taking deep breaths, you can also extend it to a few minutes

Observe your experience, bodily sensations, thoughts, feelings, senses

Proceed to what you were doing earlier or something that makes you feel supported.

 

I hope you will gain some benefits from the above and start applying the techniques.

Humbling

What a year it has been so far, eh. It’s sometimes difficult to reconcile what started out as a promising new year to the current, almost desperate situation. It seemed that life has thrown us all a curveball when we least expected it and the thing is, just when we thought that the situation was beginning to improve, the cases spiked again. And again. And again. What was a period of no death spell is now a period of almost daily deaths. It’s not just Malaysia but a lot of other countries are also experiencing their second, even third, wave and have also reinstated lockdowns and travel restrictions.

 

I for one find this experience humbling. I find it humbling that this invisible menace has the ‘power’ and ability to affect and change so many lives throughout the world. We, the intelligent beings, have yet to come up with a vaccine to fight it successfully. We have not managed to arrest, curb and halt its spread - what we managed earlier was a temporary respite (number of cases has been increasing since end of September) - and the twice-extended conditional movement control order has so far not been successful. We are presently, in short, at its mercy. When I think about it, I wonder why people have to be arrogant and smug, condescending, dismissive and patronising to others when we are all equally vulnerable to the threat and risk of being COVID-19 positive or, worse, casualty. Don't they know that Nimrood die from a mosquito? Do they not remember how the army of Abraha was defeated by a flock of Ababeel birds? And this modern day virus has now claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. So why do some people act like they're invincible and untouchable?

 

If anything, this pandemic helps to remind me of the five before five (youth before old age, health before sickness, wealth before poverty, free time before preoccupation, and life before death).