It’s Hard to Be Mindful When We’re Focused on Survival
Be gentle with yourself when mindlessness is more appealing
This year really put me through the paces. I had to tap into my resourcefulness, courage, and resilience like never before. My focus shifted to survival, and if I’m honest, there wasn’t a lot of mindfulness practiced during that time.
To be fair, there were moments. I would go out into my garden and focus on my plants rather than my problems. I did what I could, but most of the time, I just wanted to check out of my life when I finally had some downtime.
I downloaded games on my phone, watched mindless shows on TV, and looked for easy ways to lower my stress because I was all stress, all of the time. I’d even wake up in the middle of the night with the weight of the world pressing down. Even sleep wasn’t an escape for me.
Survival Before Self-Actualization
People preach mindfulness all the time without taking into account that everyone’s circumstances are different. At the toughest of times, we might want to be mindless, not mindful. It’s a natural human response, and it’s not always the unhealthy option.
As a mental health clinician, I sometimes think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. First, physiological…
