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How to pay no mind to the rantings and ravings of the mind (The Age, Sunday 18th of Sept)
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VIRTUALLY overnight, mindfulness has hit the mainstream. Once a niche therapeutic tool, it is now taught to athletes, primary school students, cancer patients, the anorexic, the obese, corporate lawyers, prisoners, bankers and medical undergraduates. In short: anyone and everyone.
”Let’s take a year 12 student who has had an argument with her friend and she’s going over it and over it in her mind and getting more angry and resentful and hurt. The mind is like a train of thought [that] pulls up and the person unconsciously gets on and goes to the end of the line and all you find at the end of the line is anger and hostility, self-doubt, self-criticism, fear, depression … ” Dr Hassed says. ”What we say is: ‘We can’t stop the train of thought from coming but what we can do is determine whether or not we are going to get on the train.’ ”
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At its essence, mindfulness is about living in the present, letting go of worries about the past and fears for the future.
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”Basically, in a mental state of mindfulness you are able to engage fully in what you are doing and you are able to let unhelpful thoughts come and go as if they are just leaves floating down a stream,” explains Russ Harris, the Melbourne-based author of the bestseller The Happiness Trap (2007), which popularised mindfulness as a tool.
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”You’re able to let painful, difficult feelings flow through you instead of getting caught up in a struggle with them and being pushed around by them, so it’s hugely helpful for dealing with any manner of negative or stressful thoughts.”
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”Mindfulness is about accepting that experience, it’s about saying ‘Of course I’m nervous, of course I’ve got worries and doubt – why wouldn’t I? I’m trying to kick a goal in front of a huge crowd at the MCG and I’ve missed my last three shots.’
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Janet Etty-Leal, the teacher-turned-consultant who introduced Fountain Gate to mindfulness, has been teaching mindful meditation for a decade. It is, she says, an antidote to the fleeting attention spans modern life demands of young people as their focus flits between homework, Facebook, email, SMS and listening to their favourite song.
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It’s a skill that needs practice, but once mastered may have many applications, psychologists say.
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”The main goal … is to free you from the tyranny of your mind so you can focus your attention on more important things.”
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