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Mindfulness Session 2 - Automaticity
- 3. Outline – Session 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
- 4. 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?
- 6. Exercise: Jill and her mother
- 7. A core ingredient of mindfulness practice is the ability to observe thoughts. This video clearly explains what observation of thoughts means
- 8. 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
- 9. Automaticity
- 10. Situations triggering automatic reactions SITUATION - FEELING OR EMOTION - THOUGHT - BODILY SENSATION REACTION - SUPPRESSION - ABSORBTION - AVOIDANCE AUTOMATIC
- 11. 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
- 12. 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
- 13. 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
- 14. Automatic cycle of thinking and feeling SITUATION EMOTION THOUGHT
- 15. Attention to the here and now SITUATION EMOTION THOUGHT MINDFUL AWARENESS
- 17. The Gifted Wisdom of Unpleasant Feelings - Dr Joan Rosenberg
- 18. 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
- 19. The body scan - meditation
- 20. Practice – Eating with awareness
- 21. Homework 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?
- 22. Log Book Exercise Times performed Observations or perceptions during the exercise Body Scan Routine Work Activities Eating with Awareness
Editor's Notes
- 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 REVIEWING THE EXERCISE Discuss the following questions with participants: • 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? EXPLAINING 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.
- 1.42 minutes
- 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 I 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. Fig. 4 The role of mindfulness in an automatic cycle of thinking and feeling
- 15 minutes Joan I. Rosenberg, PhD, creator of Emotional Mastery™ and Emotional Mastery Training™, is a highly regarded expert psychologist, master clinician, trainer and consultant. As a cutting edge psychologist who is known as an innovative thinker, trainer and speaker, Joan has shared her life-changing ideas and models for emotional mastery, change and personal growth in professional and educational seminars, psychotherapy sessions and graduate psychology teaching.
- 5.30 minutes
- THE BODY SCAN - SCRIPT •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.