Mindfulness series - Part 1 of 2
Part 1: What mindfulness is and why it helps ← you’re here
Part 2: Present moment thinking
Mindfulness often gets made to sound more complicated than it is. We hear the word and picture long meditation sessions, an empty mind and somebody sitting perfectly still.
Here, mindfulness just means noticing what’s happening before we automatically follow it. We might notice a thought, a feeling in our body or that our mind has already gone straight to alcohol.
What it looks like in an everyday moment
Let’s say work finishes and the thought “I need a drink” appears. Along with it, we might notice a tight stomach, tense shoulders and a picture of the first glass.
The usual routine can start very quickly. We think about where the alcohol is, what time we’ll have it and how much better the evening will feel afterwards.
The mindful part is simply noticing that this has already started. We might quietly say, “There’s the drinking thought,” and notice what else is going on.
The thought might stay for a while. We can still make dinner, change clothes, step outside or carry on with whatever we were going to do.
Our mind will probably go back to alcohol. Each time we notice, we bring our attention back to the room, our body or whatever we’re doing. That’s the practice.
We might still feel restless, irritated or convinced that a drink would fix the evening. But we’ve caught what was happening, and that alone can slow the old routine down.
Why this helps after years of drinking
If we’ve answered stress with alcohol hundreds of times, the drinking thought might show up before we’ve even realised what’s happening.
Because it comes so quickly, it can sound like our own firm opinion. Often, it’s just an automatic response we’ve repeated for years.
If we catch it, we get a few seconds before we follow the old routine. A few seconds might not sound like much, but it gives us time to do something different.
One mindful minute probably won’t feel like a big moment. It starts to help when we catch the same kind of moment again and again, then choose a different next step.
After a while, we start catching the drinking thought earlier, while there’s still plenty of time to do something else.
Practise when the day is quiet
A quiet part of the day is a good place to practise. It could be the first few sips of coffee, waiting for the lift, having a shower or sitting in the car before going inside.
For one minute, notice a breath going in and out. Feel your feet on the floor or your body against the chair. Listen for the nearest sound, then one further away.
Our mind will wander. We notice where it went and bring our attention back to the breath, our feet or the sounds around us. We might do that twenty times in a minute.
The same thing works while walking, washing dishes or waiting for the kettle. Notice the floor under our feet, the temperature of the water or the sounds in the room. We don’t need special music or a completely quiet house.
If we practise at a quiet time, it won’t feel completely new when a drinking thought turns up. And if we forget for three days, we just start again today. There’s nothing to make up.
When alcohol comes to mind
A drinking thought can make the whole evening feel urgent. We pause and name what’s happening: “I’m thinking about alcohol, and I can feel the pull towards it.”
Then we come back to the next decision. Maybe we need to make dinner, leave the shop, take a shower or wait twenty minutes.
Present moment thinking is really just about coming back to what’s happening now, so the next decision feels smaller.
The thought might come back several times. Each time, we notice it and carry on with what’s in front of us.
Catching the thought a little earlier gives us time to decide what happens next.
— Brent
Next up: Present moment thinking