This month, we break down the science behind mindful awareness and get to the bottom of it. Cognitive neuroscience suggests two general types of mental processes: controlled and automatic. The automatic processes may be innate or automated through learning and practice.
According to the National Library of Medicine, “Automated thoughts are initiated unconsciously and are not easy to interrupt or prevent. For example, when attention involuntarily drifts away from an object of conscious attention, DMN (Default mode Network) and automatic thinking are engaged as an involuntary process.” Objective awareness of automatic thoughts is understood by which mindfulness decreases symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. Associate professor at the University of Utah, William Marchand, M.D says, “objective awareness allows one to interpret thoughts as ‘just thoughts’ and prevents experiencing irrational negative thinking as fact.”
When practicing mindfulness, be aware of what seems automatic and what may be controlled or takes some work to refocus your mind. This looks like naming the thought or recognizing it for what it is and then focusing your attention on what is a fact in reality or flipping it to see the positive instead of dwelling on the negative. Easier said than done and that is why I want to take it one step further.
To take it one step further, between the forms of self-awareness, one keeps track across time and one that registers the self in the present, according to Dutch psychiatrist and author, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. He further explains in “The Body Keeps the Score” how the autobiographical self assembles stories based on the connections among experiences. He says, “This system is rooted in language.” Then the moment-to-moment self-awareness is based on physical sensations, “if we feel safe and are not rushed, we can find words to communicate that experience as well,” says van der Kolk.
And what does this all mean? If one begins to understand the mental processes that connect us to our experiences, we can begin to communicate and recognize what is going on. Practicing mindfulness is a way to aid in engagement with the processes of self-awareness. There are many types of mindful practices, but such things as talking to yourself, reframing and free writing are essential mindful practices when dealing with mental health, trauma, or even everyday stress.
These are ways to practice mindfulness that help to communicate the conscious and unconscious processes you may not be aware of.
• Talking to yourself: Remind yourself what is true. We hear the inner voice say things like, “That wasn’t good enough, I’m a failure, I’m this or that.” Whatever that inner monologue looks like, either through naming it or telling yourself something different, it can be a way to stop dwelling on the negative.
Psalm 42:11 is a great example of this, when David asked why he is downcast and disturbed and then reminded himself to put his hope in God.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Psalm 42:11, ESV
•Reframing: Flipping the script. Helps to see and communicate that there is another way to look at the situation, which builds a mental structure to be aware that the situation could look different, changing the narrative.
Van der Kolk says, “structures harness the extraordinary power of the imagination to transform the inner narratives that drive and confine our functioning in the world.”
• Writing to yourself: Free writing. The objective is to use any object as a personal Rorschach test to enter a stream of consciousness or associations. Write what comes to mind as you observe the object and then keep going without doing any self-editing. Something you can observe as you write is called switching. As you free write, you see on the paper the way your writing changes reflects the emotions that the memory brought up.
Van der Kolk simply states, “communicating fully is the opposite of being traumatized.” ✲
