Mindfulness Is Not About Thought Or Emotional Control

Cultivating mindfulness is one key action people can take to improve their lives through better focus, reduced stress, and a better approach to life and decision-making. This is one of the reasons Technalink encourages people to meditate and cultivate mindfulness for themselves.

However, while there are benefits to mindfulness in areas such as stress reduction, that does not mean mindfulness eliminates these aspects of our lives. That isn’t how it works.

Reactions Matter

Stress happens, as do emotions like anxiety and thoughts that can enter our minds to generate or even worsen these reactions. People should understand that meditation and entering a state of mindfulness do not stop these thoughts from happening. People do not have control over their thoughts and emotions.

Instead, mindfulness provides distance, an ability to step outside the thought or emotion, and a sense of control of the self, even as the experience happens. This distance often gives people more agency in deciding how they want to react to the thought or emotion rather than having the thought or emotion be in complete control.

It is unrealistic to think that meditation can give people complete control over the thoughts they have or the emotions they experience. Thoughts and emotions are natural, spontaneous reactions to the things that happen around us. However, we always have a degree of authority in our response to these experiences. For example, musicians, dancers, and other stage performers often experience stage fright. However, through repetition and familiarity with the emotional reaction, they have learned to move forward and take action despite the fact they are experiencing nerves.

In other words, mindfulness gives people the tools to control not the thoughts and emotions but the final response we decide to have to deal with these thoughts and emotions. If you’re interested in learning more about how this can help both at home and at work, try reading about it in The Om Factor, now available in print, eBook, and audiobook.