Mindfulness: Protect mind, protect memory
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
What a wonderful world - sang Louis Armstrong, when he wrote it in 1968 to bring hope to the millions of victims suffering the effects of the Vietnam war.
We are truly surrounded by a wonderful world. In fact, the wonderful world is within us. We need space in our lives for a childlike sense of wonder and freedom, an adventurous outlook to build robust memories. Many of the things that do not allow our joy and happiness to blossom and remain are created by ourselves from negative tendencies of the mind, our emotional responses and our clouded view of our own strengths. We suffer because we are unable to use the resources within us.
What is mind?
Do we know where the mind is located? Like your heart, kidney and other organs?
Is the mind in the brain? What thinks and analyzes? Next time we eat a meal, let us ask “what is it that thinks this tastes good?” Do we watch ourselves when we eat it? If so, do we know what is happiness?
The mind has no form, but consists of 3 components arranged in hierarchy:
the storage system,
the Intellect
and the I-sense. In the storage system, all our experiences and sensory impressions are collected and retained as thoughts, feelings and actions. When they come into our awareness we call them memories. The Intellect processes the information of the world around and within us. It makes judgments if something is desirable, not desirable, good or bad. The I-sense governs our decisions to act or refrain from acting on these judgments. We are not conscious of the interactions between all these three components. We unconsciously repeat patterns of thought, feeling and actions that result in our unhappiness and pain. So repeated experiences can change the way the brain works. This is exactly why we would want to eliminate mental patterns and habits that are not conducive to happiness. The good news is we can become aware of these operations of our minds and exert control over them. It does take time and practice because it is an exercise of vigilance and attention. Wherever and whatever we put our attention on, that’s where the mind is and that’s what grows more in our life.
What is mindfulness?
There is a lot of confusion about this term nowadays. Let us look at yogic mindfulness as the practice of yoga developed centuries ago is a logical, rational and practical method for minding our body, senses and mind. Sage Patanjali, in the Yoga Sutras describes mindfulness with two elements: right knowledge (vidya) and conscious personal effort (purushakara prayatna) to help in the transformation of the mind. Minding the mind is mindfulness. It is a way out of delusion. It is not always a virtuous thing because we could use it in an inappropriate way. We could mindfully drink a whole bottle of whiskey or eat a box of sweets! We could mindfully engage in harmful asanas when we don’t have proper preparation or instruction. So without right knowledge one could mindfully do a wrong practice. It is a practice of watchfulness. It is a practice of being in a state of alert attention. Such a practice enhances mental steadiness and strength, bringing calmness, discernment and clarity. Unless we cultivate the ability to choose one peaceful thought over other thoughts, we will not be happy even if all our wishes are fulfilled. And, why? This is due to the changing nature of our minds. We will constantly fear losing what we have gained.
What skills can we work on?
Practice of yoga
Yoga means to focus and unite. It is called samadhi - a pinnacle of a steady mind, rooted in having one thought so other thoughts cannot disturb. We have to develop will power to practice with attention so we can bring steadiness and positivity to our minds, the body, the breath and our senses, choices and most of all our relationships. When practicing asanas, let’s be present moment to moment, experiencing the movements in the body and breath, tailoring to our own steadiness and comfort. Moving the body reduces heaviness and dullness or diminishes tamas. Comfortable, long and smooth breathing reduces the restlessness in the body and mind, or diminishes rajas. This lays the foundation for deeper practices of pranayama and meditation. Later, carrying this steadiness and comfort daily paves the way for joyful, meaningful living.
2. Paying Attention
One of the most significant problems in older adults is to keep track of thoughts and prevent stray ones from entering. Every text, email, tweet and updates compete for resources in your mind with important things like self-care, decision-making and problem solving. Our minds get hijacked! The ability to focus one’s attention is fundamental to wellbeing and happiness. Distractions are the enemy of memory coding. A huge misunderstanding we have of memories is that they are all accurate. As we age, memories compete with one another for preference in recollection and is always filtered by our own interest and expertise. The key to remembering things is to get involved in them actively. Passively listening to a lecture or reading an article is a sure way to forget. Using information, generating and regenerating it engages more areas of the brain. A scattered mind cannot stay focused on a positive goal. We need awareness and attention in every action. The key to protecting our memory is paying attention. We want to protect the memories that are useful for our daily living and not have room for those that do not help us currently. We don’t want to be like robots programmed to act based upon our past actions. We can change our thoughts, our behavior, our actions and responses to environment to reframe our own mental makeup to have that one peaceful happy thought.
How to develop skills of attention in daily activities?
Exercise
When we walk, let us observe the world around us. Smell the air, flowers, grass. See the sun, moon or birds. Another exercise is to count the number of steps we take on our inhale and exhale for a few minutes. When we play a sport, we can focus on the process by paying attention to our skills more than keeping score. Let us notice how we feel? How do we know whether we are getting enough exercise or exerting too much? Breathing is a good indicator and so is perspiration. Notice if breath is hard or if we have too much sweat. If we are tired and strained it is too much exercise for our current condition. Exercise needs to have a massaging effect on the colon and soothe intestinal issues. Also, pay attention to the body and breath when using machines for exercise. What the body is doing, the mind must be involved in it. If we split attention watching TV, reading a book, listening to music as we exercise, we lack complete awareness.
They may all seem to break the boredom but the reason exercise is boring is because of the lack of attention.
B. Slow down; One thing at a time
“Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy “-Simon and Garfunkel
To pay attention to one thing means we don’t pay attention to something else. Attention is limited capacity resource. It is hard to find a street while listening to music and talking to a friend while driving! Switching from one task to another rapidly stresses the system by taking up a lot of energy and we pay a huge cognitive and metabolic price. Yes, we do get a lot of things done but we become less efficient with increased anxiety. The increased production of the stress hormone cortisol as well as the flight or fight hormone adrenaline overstimulates the brain to cause mental fog or scrambled thinking, aggressive and impulsive behavior. A study on effects of multitasking found that cognitive losses were greater than that from smoking pot! Let's reap the benefits of sustained focused effort. We remember things we pay the most attention to and deeper attention forms robust memories.
C. Eating/Drinking
Pay attention to what we eat, how much we eat, when and why we eat. Chew our food several times before swallowing. Notice the taste, texture and color of food and drinks. Foods influence qualities of the mind. For example, spicy foods make us animated and agitated. Observe when we feel full and allow some space for digestion. Reduce overeating by tuning into the body’s cues of hunger and fullness. Stress, boredom and emotions can fool us into thinking we are hungry when we are not. How is our mood when we eat certain foods? For example, Carbohydrates improve moods and preserve memory and are functional in body weight management and gastrointestinal health. The entire chemistry of a meal can change on how we mix and match ingredients. Glycemic index is not a very accurate tool. A high GI meal can become a low one by adding more fiber, fat and protein. It is the awareness of the effect of foods on our body, breath and minds that will make a difference.
D. Sleep
“We sleep to remember and we sleep to forget”- Matt Walker, a sleep researcher at UC Berkeley. When we are tired we don’t pay attention and take in information ineffectively. Sleep helps with memories, reducing the emotional charge. We may remember a painful experience but without the intense jolt to mind and body. We can refresh emotionally. We need to be prepared to welcome sleep. Do we struggle to wake up and feel alert in the morning? Are we having trouble falling asleep? Feel hungry at strange hours?
Our body’s timing may simply be off. The body needs information from us to keep itself well tuned like an antique delicate time piece. Regular eating and sleeping patterns help regulate sleep. We need a ritual, a routine that will give us a good sleep wake rhythm. We can unplug from digital devices, social media. Worries come so easily at night and we tend to ruminate. So why add additional stressors to our nightly routine? We can watch our thoughts or responses from a distance. Choose comforting thoughts over alarming ones. Practice silence and bring awareness to ourselves. Read joyful books, listening to music, soak in a bath, easy breathing or stretching are some of the rituals we can adopt. Choosing one that suits us we can practice with conscious effort.
E. Rumination and wandering mind
We spend many hours in a day thinking about something other than what we are doing.
The power of language helps us plan, reflect, dream with a price tag. Engagement in what we are doing is what we absolutely need for moment to moment happiness. What do we have here now? How often in the past week have we had moments when we didn’t want to be where we were, or doing what we were doing at the moment? This reveals an inner conflict within us. Negative mind wandering is an antithesis of a mindful state. Some mind wandering is creative but negative thoughts about the past, or simply dwelling in the past in thought and conversations lead to noxious stress levels. Rumination is the act of rehashing a problem, issue or subject. If we mull over an unresolved issue and find a breakthrough, it seems like we solved the problem but we will get stuck in a whirlpool of repetitive thoughts. Let’s switch to being present.
F. Listening
When we listen actively, we have no thoughts. The power of listening is in the listener controls communication. The speaker can’t force us to listen. We usually give up listening power by tuning out, get self-involved or jump to conclusions. Listening is a window to our inner world and a conduit for our relationships with others. When a friend speaks, most often we are already thinking what we are going to respond. We are unable to pay attention to what our friend is saying. We may also have preconceived notions and ideas, trapped in a model from the past, or we may have physical, mental and emotional exhaustion which leaves us little energy to listen. We perceive, interpret, evaluate and respond based on our experiences. These color the way we listen. We have to watch ourselves like a movie. Spend time in silence with no distractions for a few minutes. What do you listen to?
G. Breathing
Practice breath awareness. Becoming aware of our breath is a reminder that we are here now not in the past or future. Breathing is connected to moments, connects body and mind, family, the world. It is the current of life. Pay more attention to our exhalation. EXERCISE: Breathe in through the nose and expand diaphragm easily and slowly. Breathe out smoothy and steadily. When amount of air that enters equals the amount that leaves our bodies we are able to perform all essential functions with least exertion.
Final exercise: Check in with yourself now. Where is your mind? Were you able to pay attention to this long article? How often did your mind wander? Did you feel any conflict in breath, tightness in the body while reading? What was the effect on the mind?