The Buddhist Secret to Healing and Growing

It was the final year of my high school when I visited the small Himalayan hamlet of Rishyap. The place itself was very small, but the natural beauty it had to offer was unparalleled. It also had a small Buddhist monastery, which was lovely and beautiful. I visited the monastery to enjoy the beauty but encountered something even more- the secret to a happy and meaningful life. However, it was only years later, during a time of great personal turmoil, would I learn the usefulness of it. 

I am talking about mindfulness.

What is mindfulness?

I am sure you have come across this word in one place or another. The word is being used everywhere, from self-help books to academic literature, but often out-of-context. Often its meaning is overcomplicated, and at other times oversimplified. In essence, mindfulness is really simple. It refers to the ability "to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us."

When you go to a fancy restaurant and you have the food in front of you, if you are aware of what you are eating, if you feel the taste of the food as you chew it and slowly gulp it down, and enjoy the food without being reactive to the taste or the presentation of the food, congratulation! You were eating mindfully.

Mindfulness has its roots in the Buddhist tradition of Vipassana. But of course, mindfulness is much easier to practice than Vipassana, which requires years of training. 

Why mindfulness?

Mindfulness has loads and loads of benefits. From mental well-being to physical health, mindfulness helps in every important aspect of life. A list of benefits of mindfulness would include a reduction in anxiety, reduction in bias and prejudices, and increased cognitive abilities and focus. The evidence points to increased benefits with increased practice. 

However, mindfulness probably contributes the most to healing ourselves and the resultant growth from the process. Now, by healing, I certainly don't exclusively mean healing from my mental or physical disorder, No, we at times need to heal ourselves from the pain we inflict upon us. We punish ourselves every day, criticise ourselves at every moment, and chastise ourselves at any fault of ours. We sometimes need to heal these wounds we inflict upon ourselves. 

But how does mindfulness help in that you ask? Let's introduce you to rumination. When we continuously focus on our distress and its symptoms and ponder over its causes and consequences, rather than trying to figure out a solution, we are engaging in rumination. A lot of times, we find this cause of distress within ourselves. We blame ourselves for the current situation. Mindfulness has been found to reduce rumination. How does mindfulness do this? I don't really know. But I presume it is because we become aware of the problem in a better way and thus engage in problem-solution more effectively. And due to the component of non-judgementality, we don't try to blame ourselves but accept the situation as it is. 

As we accept ourselves better and love ourselves despite our flaws, we tend to grow. We learn to caplitalise on our strengths rather than focus excessively on our weaknesses. 

How to practice mindfulness?

There are a number of ways in which mindfulness can be practiced. It can be practiced while engaging in daily activities as well. However, the most common way it is practiced is through the various mindfulness meditations. 

I will be sharing some videos of mindfulness meditation so you can practice it on your own.

KEEP HEALING AND GROWING!