Mindfulness, a Tool for Self-Control

How regulating your emotions helps you make decisions

In 2017, a team of researchers from the CDC set out to uncover trends in complementary health care, finding that meditation had grown threefold, from 4 percent to 14 percent. The researchers labeled it the fastest-growing health trend in America.

Many believe meditation is the act of emptying the mind. In reality, mindfulness exercises help limit intrusive thoughts, but it doesn’t mean your mind is “blank.” Successful practitioners become more aware of the present moment and spend less time fixating on emotions. Thoughts are acknowledged and let go.

These two facets, ”present moment awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance of emotions and thoughts,” make mindfulness a potent tool for executive control.

Emotion Regulation

Think of the last time you were angry or frustrated. What was your thought process? If it looks anything like mine, you started by reconstructing the story that led to your anger. The story could be truth-based but often involves made-up stories or loosely bound connections that fuel your beliefs.

The last time I was frustrated with my partner was over a small remark. I can’t quite remember what she said, but it was something like, “why are you always so obnoxious?” Instead of acknowledging it at the moment, I ruminated on every other time she made a hurtful comment.

A few minutes later, I’d done a remarkable job of backing up my story. Not only did I make that single remark seem severe, but I also doubted our entire relationship. It was an incredible display of mental gymnastics and the worst thing I could have done for my mental health.

Mindfulness offers a radically different approach. While the initial hurt will always occur, how long those effects last and my response to them could have been different.

Present moment awareness means recognizing the physical and mental signs of anger. As I do so, I’m better aware of how the feeling manipulates my behavior. Nonjudgemental acceptance means acknowledging the feeling, not pushing it aside as if it never existed. Together, this allows me to reappraise[L] the severity of my emotions.

Acknowledging the situation for what it is, is one of the signs of healthy emotion regulation. Psychologists Rimma Teper, Zindel Segel, and Michael Inzlicht argue that mindfulness is core to developing emotion regulation and the executive control supporting it.

Mediating Control

I frequently hear folks talk of self-control as a single process; you either resist temptation or don’t. But that’s not correct. Successful control is a multistep process involving attention, response, and action. Mindfulness enhances the first two stages.

The root of control is conflict, which creates a “negative affect.” When faced with conflict, our brain signals that our current actions don’t align with our goals. This process produces a negative affect, which, if too small, is unlikely to change our behavior.

Negative affect then becomes a pivotal component in changing your habits. I often catch myself acting in ways that don’t align with my goals. Yet, I continue to act in the same way.

Noticing your mistakes and failing to take action is a hallmark of behavior change. It’s one of the things that makes self-regulation so tricky. Even when we acknowledge we’re doing the “wrong” thing, we fail to take action to change our behaviors.

But, our response to these cues is critical. If we believe we’ve earned a break or our mistakes are a one-time fluke, it’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking it won’t happen again. Essentially we’re failing to take responsibility for our actions and pretending it’s due to outside forces.

In a 2013 study, Inzlicht and Teper examined the brains of experienced meditators. This group of meditators had enhanced error-related negativity, an area of the brain thought to detect internal conflicts and possibly the response to those conflicts.

In simpler terms, these experienced practitioners found it easier to admit and respond to mistakes rather than brush them off. Meditators seem better equipped to learn from their errors and prevent them from happening again. This behavior has its root in a concept called locus of control, where the more responsibility we attribute to ourselves, the better our ability to influence personal outcomes.

While we understand the underlying process and why meditation can be such a powerful tool, we’re still not sure why it happens. Our researchers have a few ideas behind what empowers acceptance and awareness as agents of change.

“Conflict begets control and any tool that increases awareness of clashing priorities increases self-regulation.”

Iterative Processes

In a series of studies, researchers exposed meditators to jolts of pain. Compared to non-practitioners, they showed more significant activity in areas of the brain that process pain rather than respond to it. Their ability to practice mindfulness meant a greater likelihood of attending the event rather than shifting focus elsewhere.

A greater focus on processing is a unique and powerful skill. It’s so easy to get caught up in our emotions and feelings that we never spend time working through them. Instead, we focus on amplifying them. We want others to feel pity for us or commiserate with our sadness. When we’re alone, we justify our thoughts and feelings internally, and when we do, our attention shifts from immediate conflict to past transgressions. It’s a distraction from what’s in front of us.

Experienced meditators don’t fall for this self-deception. Their higher levels of awareness allow them to notice goal conflicts. Non-judgemental awareness enables them to attend to that conflict without the distraction of intrusive thoughts.

How does this relate to self-control?

Let’s imagine I’m your coworker and working on my anger management. The class I’ve been attending recommends practicing mindfulness meditation to attune myself to my emotions. As I continue guided practice, I notice a subtle change in my thought process.

Now, when I get angry, I’m more aware of my guilt over my reactions and shame for what I cause others to feel. In the past, I would tell a story to justify my overreaction. Now that I can accept those feelings rather than justify them, I am more likely to recruit self-control. My desire to react appropriately triggers a more significant negative effect. My response to that cue is self-regulation.

When we think of meditation, it’s easy to conjure images of monks sitting cross-legged at peace with their surroundings. As research expands on the psychology underlying that calm nature, we better understand how impactful mindfulness is for blossoming practitioners.

We now know that mindfulness meditation is a practical tool for self-control. It creates a heightened awareness of our emotions while allowing us greater influence over how we process our feelings. Doing so gives us a reason to harness self-control and work toward our goals.

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