Jodel Katrina Q.

Fernandez April 29, 2019

Psych. 252.11 Reflection Paper #1 Dr. Gilda Lopez

1. Importance of home practice (formal and informal)

As I observe the people that I encounter every day, it is fair to assume that everyone has
“a lot on their plate” and that the “times have changed”. Students are a lot more stressed.
Adults are always catching up on deadlines. Less children are playing outside because of
their gadgets. People are still answering e-mails and working way beyond office hours. Back
then, Las Vegas was the only we would refer to as “the city that never sleeps”. Now it seems
as if the whole world never sleeps. And so I believe that we need mindfulness now more than
ever.
I have been interested in mindfulness for some time now. I have read about it and have
been interested in the practice. I have downloaded several applications in hopes I can
incorporate it in my life, but sometimes it becomes difficult to be accountable for yourself. I
have shown interest in attending mindfulness workshops, but they are usually expensive and
beyond my means. So I took the opportunity to enroll in this mindfulness class when I had
the chance, and I have benefitted greatly ever since. Although the journal article shows hardly
any difference in the results between a formal and informal practice; for me, personally, I
think they work together hand in hand. Although home practice seems unmanageable for me
at the moment, it would have been more impossible for me to get started on it without the
formal practice in class. So sometimes, especially for the less-motivated people, attending a
formal practice of mindfulness can help one get started on their mindfulness journey.
Likewise, one cannot only attend a formal practice and end there. One should practice what
she has learned in the formal setting and incorporate it into their daily lives.

2. Mindfulness vs. Relaxation

Comparing the two might seem like we are pitting the two against each other—as if we
should choose one over the other—but I think both, in its own way, has benefits to one’s
well-being. Examples of mindful practice may include activities such as breathing awareness,
mindful listening, mindful walking, body-scan, etc. On the other hand, relaxation activities
may include a massage or going on a vacation. Although both may have benefits for the
body, I believe mindfulness may have a lasting effect. Mindfulness acknowledges the
emotions or the stimulus, while relaxation may not necessarily target the root cause of
distress. Relaxation for me, then, seems more like a short-term fix or a Band-Aid solution.
However, this does not discount the benefits of relaxation. Relaxation still enables me to calm
my thoughts and avoid unwanted impulses. In addition, relaxation does not require the same
kind of practice and effort as mindfulness and may still be reliable in certain situations. In the
end, although relaxation may be a by-product of mindfulness, but not the other way around
and that being mindful could be killing two birds with one stone, I would still like to have my
massage.

3. Emotion Awareness at a young age

One of the skills that mindfulness has taught me is to be aware of my emotions. Although
even prior to taking this mindfulness class, I felt that I had the ability to identify my feelings
in various contexts, I did not know that there is so much more to it than that. Through
mindfulness, I learned that being aware of one’s emotions consists of many aspects. This
includes parsing or the ability to differentiate body sensations, thoughts, feelings, and
impulses when faced with a certain stimulus. This is an important discovery for me because I
realized that this is a way of tackling issues that may seem rather overwhelming at the present
moment. Having emotional awareness reminds me that I can take things a little at a time
making thoughts and emotions more manageable. Lastly, emotional awareness gives me an
insight that there is a spectrum of emotions as opposed to the normal basic descriptions such
as happy, sad, angry, etc. By having more and precise words to describe my emotions, I am
more able to understand and process them better.

4. Emotional Awareness and its Relation to Emotion Regulation

Mindfulness has been helpful in making me aware of my emotions and has also helped
me in regulating my emotions. I’m the kind of person who often overthinks things, often to
my own detriment and others around me. My thoughts have the tendency to dictate what my
emotions will be. Mindfulness reminds me that “thoughts are not facts”. Although still
difficult, this reminded has made an impact with my emotions. Mindfulness, for me, creates a
larger space between stimuli and my responses. It enables me to pause and examine my
thoughts about certain stimuli. Emotional awareness, through parsing, allows me to ask
myself many questions. What am I thinking? Is it necessarily true? Am I making judgments
about myself? Am I overthinking again? How is this affecting my body sensations? Did my
breathing change? Is my head throbbing? Did my heart beat change? How is this making me
feel? What do I want to do about it? Is it making me do anything impulsive? By asking
myself these questions, I have more chances in being successful in regulating my emotions as
opposed to going back to my old habits of allowing my thoughts and emotions to have
control over me instead of being in control of my emotions as well as my actions.

5. Decentering and Depression

Decentering is described as the capacity to take a present-focused, non-judgmental stance
to thoughts and feelings and to accept them. Mindfulness increases a person’s ability to
“decenter” and even reduce levels of depressive rumination by teaching patients a more
adaptive way of relating to their thinking. Oftentimes, and most especially referring to those
suffering from depression, there is a tendency to ruminate over negative feelings, over-
identify themselves with different states and situations, and overthink. However, it also
happens to all us. It even happens to the best of us. We are often the worst judgers of
ourselves and have the tendency to give ourselves a hard time and be generous with harsh,
negative criticisms.
Mindfulness helps. After identifying one’s feelings, emotions, thoughts, and body
sensations over a stimulus, one is more capable or more ready of decentering. That is, one
can remove the focus off of oneself and be more able to look at the situation for what it is.
For example, if one failed at a task, she can either brood over it to the point that she becomes
depressed because she truly identifies with herself as being stupid, worthless, and not good
enough; or she can take a step back and look at everything in a non-judgmental way—
recognizing that human beings are fallible and they do make mistakes and making mistakes
does not lessen the value of a person nor does it means that she cannot do better next time.
Making mistakes simple mean that you are human and the ability to decenter allows a person
to accept that—to accept one’s fallibility and imperfections. By being more accepting of
one’s self and by being a lot less judgmental, we are aiding ourselves in our journey to a
healthier mental health and self-awareness.

6. Effects of Brief Mindfulness Training Self-Reported Interoceptive Awareness

Again, we talk about the effects of mindfulness. This article talks about how mindfulness
increases one’s ability to interoceptive awareness. Interoceptive awareness is defined as the
sensing of the physiological condition of the body and the mental representation of the sensed
condition. Personally, mindfulness has given me the ability to focus on a lot of things about
myself. This includes the ability to keep still (during meditations) and to really focus on one
or a few things than on everything at the same time. Not only did mindfulness help me focus,
but it also allowed me to consciously slow things down including, and most, especially, my
thoughts. Mindfulness is most helpful when my thoughts are racing and I come up with all
sorts of negative assumptions that affect my emotions which may not even be true and I only
end up hurting myself. The good news, however, is that we don’t have to be stuck in that rut.
We don’t always have to explode when faced with something unpleasant. Mindfulness helps
in allowing us to be in touch with our emotions as well as how our body reacts to these
emotions. By being aware of these things, we are more likely to be capable of decentering
and in managing our impulses, thoughts, and feelings.

7. Mindfulness and Self-Compassion

As I have mentioned earlier, we are our own worst enemies. Sometimes, even more than
anyone, we are very critical of ourselves and can be very unforgiving. Self-compassion tells
us that personal flaws and shortcomings can be approached in a kind and balance manner that
recognizes that imperfection is part of the human condition, even when self-evaluations are
negative. This means that self-compassion can lessen feelings of self-loathing without require
that one adopt an unrealistically positive view of oneself. Self-compassion, therefore is an
effective and sustainable way to counter chronic self-criticism. Personally, I think self-
compassion is just being able to apply to ourselves what we are normally capable of doing for
others. For instance, when a friend approaches us for advice because she messed up on a task
or maybe she’s even having a bad day, oftentimes we are capable of showing compassion.
We are able to tell that friend that everything is okay and that her mistake does not define her.
However, when a similar thing happens to us, most of us can’t tell ourselves the same thing.
So, most likely, we are already capable of showing compassion, we just fail to show it to
ourselves. Again, by being more accepting of our mortality and our being human, through
mindfulness, chances are we also might be able to show compassion to ourselves when it
matters most.

8. Overall Reflection
From all these journal articles, clearly we are being shown the benefits of mindfulness.
First of all, mindfulness is for everyone and is easily accessible in that one can practice it
anytime and anywhere that is convenient of her. Mindfulness also leads to emotional
awareness which leads to emotion regulation over time. Mindfulness also makes possible
decentering and interoceptive awareness. Lastly, mindfulness can also lead to self-
compassion. I’m sure that mindfulness has many other benefits, but these articles do well to
break down some of the more important benefits of mindfulness.
I do, however, have some questions that I have not figured out the answers to yet. This
thought came after a series of discussion about self-compassion. Particularly, I feel that self-
compassion is rooted in a privileged position. To be self-compassion is to be forgiving of
one’s self, to be kind to one’s self, and to acknowledge that we are only humans. However,
how can you teach self-compassion to, let’s say, a jeepney driver and a tricycle driver? How
can you tell them that it’s okay if they failed to meet the day’s boundary? It’s not okay if they
fail to earn their days’ worth of work. Self-compassion is not going to put food on their table.
Self-compassion is not going to afford their kid’s milk or diapers for the day. So how can we
tell them to have self-compassion? How can we teach them to be aware of their emotions?
How can we teach them parsing and not come from a privileged and entitled position? It
seems easier for us. We seem to have time to attend mindfulness workshops or do yoga. We
seem to have the time to be still and reflect on our emotions, thoughts, feelings, and body
sensations. How can we teach people who are too busy thinking if they will have anything to
eat for the day to do the same?