What is Psychological Well-being?
Psychological well-being is the balanced and harmonious integration of both mental and physical health. It involves the combination of positive emotions, meaningful activities, and sustainable relationships, leading individuals to feel a sense of satisfaction in their lives. This balance helps individuals maintain harmony in their relationships with themselves and others.
Mind: Taking care of mental health allows individuals to effectively manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. A healthy mind enhances reasoning, problem-solving, and innovation skills while promoting self-compassion, empathy for others, and general awareness.
Body: The body and mind should be considered as a whole. Maintaining physical health is crucial for a healthy psychology. Hormonal balance, addressing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, as well as maintaining a regular sleep and nutrition pattern are the foundations of psychological health. Thus, addressing the body's needs positively impacts mental health.
Relationships: Healthy and meaningful relationships contribute to individuals feeling valued and respected. Such relationships not only enhance personal happiness but also help foster community development. Good relationships are built on trust, support, and mutual understanding, strengthening the sense of belonging in one's life.
Meaning: Finding meaning in life adds depth to an individual's experiences and helps discover what is truly important. When a person seeks meaning in their life, they better understand who they are and where they want to go. This sense of meaning guides the individual, making life more fulfilling and purpose-driven.
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness can be defined as experiencing the present moment with all our senses and awareness, free from distracting thoughts. Our minds are programmed to constantly think, causing many thoughts to flow through our consciousness, often without us realizing it. Sometimes this flow becomes so rapid that thoughts begin to scatter. Emotions such as stress, anxiety, worry, fear, excitement, and anger can further accelerate this flow. These emotions can also increase our breathing rate, heart rate, and other bodily functions, leading to physical and mental fatigue and tension. By using mindfulness techniques, we can slow down both our bodies and thoughts, allowing our minds and bodies to relax.
Our brain is not a fixed structure. Anything we repeatedly do physically or mentally stimulates the corresponding areas in the brain. Over time, new connections form in these stimulated areas, and as we continue repeating the action, those regions grow, making us more skilled in that particular area. This flexibility in brain structure is known as "neuroplasticity." Practicing mindfulness exercises allows our brain to operate at a different mental state than its usual (default mode). In this process, the amygdala, responsible for stress responses, shrinks, while regions responsible for executive functions such as reasoning and planning see an increase in gray matter, the cortex thickens, and changes occur in brainwave frequencies. Initially, the duration of these exercises may be short, but over time, this duration extends. Eventually, these exercises influence our daily lives, allowing us to live more in the moment, consciously and with awareness.
THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING IN THE MOMENT
For millions of years, humans have focused on thinking about the past and future to protect themselves. They learn from past experiences and try to foresee future dangers to be prepared. However, if this mental mechanism is not managed correctly, it can result in negative emotions for the individual. Instead of learning from the past, dwelling on past events and emotions can lead to feelings of regret, sadness, and guilt. A deep longing for the past can pull a person away from the present and the future. The ability to think about the future, on the other hand, can create stress, anxiety, and worry due to uncertainty. Yet, the only time period we can control and choose our actions is the present moment. When we succeed in staying in the moment, we can clearly separate our current situation, emotions, and thoughts, and begin to live our lives with conscious choices rather than automatic reactions. Becoming aware of these moments brings a more conscious and mindful life.
Stages of Mindfulness Practice
Mindfulness practice consists of three stages:
Observing Our Mind: We observe our thoughts and emotions at this stage. We bring ourselves to the moment using our senses. We scan our body. We focus on our breath and look at our self in the moment. We look at the thoughts in our mind and we look at what emotions we have.
Training Our Mind: When we focus on our breath, relax our body and observe our mind, we see that our thoughts and emotions are not stable but in flow. The more relaxed our body is, the slower our emotions and thoughts flow. The more negative our body is, the faster our thoughts and emotions flow. In the second part of the exercise, we train our mind not to fasten again. We focus on the moment and our breath more and more.
Freeing Our Mind: At the very last stage, we learn to stay in the moment. Staying in the moment, we keep our distance from thoughts and emotions and try to view them from an outer eye instead of falling prey to them. We get to know our true self in a way that is purified from emotions and thoughts and this liberates us.
Benefits of Mindfulness
- It strengthens the memory
- It increases the awareness
- It decreases the anxiety
- It regulates the emotions
- It decreases the stress
- It improves the concentration
- It decreases physical pain
- It makes you sleep more sound