Mindful & Relaxation Practice: Loving Kindness (with Self & Others)
What You Do Affects How You Feel
Make a list of activities you do throughout the week like showering, exercising etc.. Break them down if need be – so for example, “work” can become “emails” or “meetings.”
Now look at each on and ask yourself:
Does this activity lift my mood, give me energy or nourish me? (if yes, write N next to it)
Does it drain me of energy and deplete me? (if yes, write D next to it)
You may end up with some activities that neither nourish you or deplete you.
What this exercise demonstrates is what you do can really affect how you feel. So, it follows that you can change how you feel by changing what you do.
By skillful use of activity, you can actually treat depression or improve your mood.
Activities that Help: Mastery and Pleasure
There are 2 types of activities that can lift your mood:
1) Pleasure: These are things that give a sense of enjoying like calling a friend to chat, going for a walk or taking a hot bath.
2) Mastery: These are things that give you a sense of accomplishment or satisfaction, like writing a letter, mowing the lawn or doing something you’re putting off.
Mastery activities may not be pleasurable but completing these can make you feel accomplished. There is a two-way relationship between mastery and pleasure activities and lifting your mood.
While these activities can lift mood, if you feel low, you’re likely to enjoy them less and you’ll likely get less satisfaction from them.
However, even if you’re depressed you can tip the balance of the two-way relationship so these activities will still improve your mood.
To do this first examine your day to day experience to discover the mastery and pleasure activities that are already in your life. It’s important to have these tools available in advance.
My List of Pleasure Activities
Write a list of pleasure activities below. Examples: visit a friend, watch something funny or uplifting on TV, listen to music.
Activity 1_________________________________________________________________
Activity 2_________________________________________________________________
Activity 3_________________________________________________________________
Activity 4_________________________________________________________________
Activity 5_________________________________________________________________
Activity 6_________________________________________________________________
My List of Mastery Activities
Now write a list of Mastery activities. Examples: clear out a drawer, pay a bill, catch up on emails, wash the car etc.
Activity 1_________________________________________________________________
Activity 2_________________________________________________________________
Activity 3_________________________________________________________________
Activity 4_________________________________________________________________
Activity 5_________________________________________________________________
Activity 6_________________________________________________________________
Two Ways to Weave Mastery and Pleasure Activities into Your Everyday Life
Now that you have identified your activities, it’s important that you start incorporating them into your life now, while things are good so they are there at your fingertips to lift your mood as soon as you notice your mood sinking. These can also make your everyday life happier and more satisfying.
To do this you can:
1) Build the activity into your daily or weekly schedule. For instance, adding one brisk 10 minute walk to your day or other exercise.
2) Link mastery and pleasure activities to Responsive 3- Minute Breathing Spaces. The breathing space gives us a way to remind us to use the activity when unpleasant feelings come up. See Daily Practice for more details.
Intention is Key
In dealing with depression, motivation works backward. For instance when you’re not depressed you can wait until you want to do something before you do.
But when you are depressed, you have to do something before you’re able to want to do it. Therefore, it’s best not to wait until you feel like doing something before you do it.
Also, in the same way when you’re not depressed, if you’re tired, rest can make you feel better. When you’re depressed resting can make you feel more tired, so it’s best not to give up on activities.
Thoughts That Stand in the Way
Hopeless thoughts, combined with guilt for taking time for yourself can undermine your motivation to engage in actions to increase your wellbeing.
Similarly, focusing too much on getting rid of bad moods, can get in the way of doing so.
Instead, focus on doing your mastery or pleasure activities as a way to take care of yourself, not with the aim of getting rid of the mood.
The Responsive 3- Minute Breathing Space offers a way for you to do the same in your own life.
Sustainable Mindfulness Practice
For this exercise, just focus on a mindfulness practice that you’ve learned which you feel that you can sustain once the program is over and focus getting into this pattern of practice. This can be mindful stretching, mindful movement, walking etc.
It is fine to have different daily practices for weekdays and weekends but focus on something you know you can maintain even given your time constraints.
Each day jot down what you intended to do and then what you actually did and then what you found was actually workable so you can finalize the pattern you want to follow.
Then put down in writing the pattern of formal practice you intend to sustain. Be sure to include a Responsive Breathing Space in each day as your first response to any awareness of difficult feelings.
The 3 Minute Breathing Space – Responsive: The Door of Mindful Action
As you come out of the responsive breathing space, after reconnecting your expanded awareness in the third step, ask yourself, what do I need for myself right now? How can I best take care of myself right now?
This may be doing something pleasurable, doing something that gives you a sense of mastery, or acting mindfully by focusing on what you are doing right now and pay attention to the sensation of your body.
Staying Present
Remember to use your body as a way to awareness. This can be something like staying mindful in your posture or your movement.
Be patient practicing what is there until it becomes second nature to notice the movement you feel.
Keep practicing as this relaxing into the body and the moment gives you awareness to live mindfully.
Preparing an Action Plan
You’ve already identified your early warning signs that it’s time to constructive action.
This week develop a specific concrete plan for what you will do.
Reflect on your experience over the years and look back over your last weeks of practice – these can remind you of what is helpful.
Create an action plan which you can use as a framework for coping once you notice early warning signs. You may find writing yourself a kind letter on what to do is helpful.
For instance I know you will probably not be keen on this idea but I think it is very important for you to… begin with a breathing space,…”
On days you feel overwhelmed remember that there are things you can do to make a difference and that by doing them, you can reconnect to a sense of control.
One small change can have a large impact in the end
References
Teasdale, J., Williams, J, & Segal, Z. (2014). The mindful way workbook: An 8-week program to free yourself from depression and emotional distress. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Application: Effectiveness of Mindfulness for ADHD and Other Conditions
To date, research has suggested that mindfulness-based interventions for ADHD show a great deal of promise in their ability to improve ADHD symptoms, executive functioning, and emotional regulation (Mitchell et al., 2013). Nevertheless, pharmacological treatments continue to be far more common (Hoza et al., 2008). An important factor to consider when attempting to understand the relative lack of mindfulness-based intervention is the perceptions about mindfulness held by consumers who will ultimately choose whether they wish to complete this or other forms of treatment. If consumers cannot relate to mindfulness because of cultural/religious concerns, if they do not believe they could be successful meditators, or if they do not feel that they have the time in their lives to practice mindfulness regularly, they may be disinclined to enroll in mindfulness programs. So the question remains, what are the concerns dissuading individuals from implementing mindfulness-based treatments more commonly (Williams, Dixon, McCorkle, & Van Ness, 2011)?
Recent research, though very limited, has revealed a high degree of acceptability of mindfulness-based treatments within samples of individuals with ADHD. Participants endorsed being able to understand, enjoy, and implement the mindfulness skills they were taught in the MAPs program (Mitchell et al., 2013). Results from a mindfulness-based group training program indicated that this treatment had a high degree of practicability and acceptability (Edel et al., 2014). These authors noted that “the majority of patients gave (unrequested) positive verbal feedback concerning the acceptability and subjective effectiveness of the interventions” (Edel et al., 2014, pg. 5).
Interestingly, parents of children with ADHD from another very small study (N=3) noted that mindfulness was emotionally and physically exhausting and felt odd because it was foreign to them (Singh, Singh, Lancioni, Singh, Winton, & Adkins, 2010). These parents reported wanting to quit the program after the first few sessions because of these factors, but became increasingly satisfied with the program as time went on. They noted that, with practice, they enjoyed increased relaxation and an enhanced ability to listen to their children without judging them prematurely. These qualitative findings offer a well-rounded understanding of the process of mindfulness training with individuals who have ADHD.
Although these studies offer good insight into consumers’ perceptions of mindfulness, much more research is needed in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenon. Moreover, very little research has been performed related to perceptions of mindfulness held specifically by individuals with ADHD. Given that people with ADHD struggle with inattention and hyperactivity and mindfulness commonly involves sitting still and focusing, perceptions may vary greatly depending on the presence of an ADHD diagnosis (Zylowska, 2012). Thus, a gap in the literature is evidenced.
References
Edel, M. A., Hölter, T., Wassink, K., & Juckel, G. (2014). A comparison of mindfulness-based group training and skills group training in adults with ADHD: An open study. Journal of Attention Disorders, 1-7. doi: 10.1177/1087054714551635
Hoza, B., Kaiser, N., & Hurt, E. (2008). Evidence-based treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In R. G. Steele, T. D. Elkin, & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of Evidence-Based Therapies for Children and Adolescents Issues in Clinical Child Psychology (pp. 195-219). Springer US. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-73691-4_12
Mitchell, J. T., McIntyre, E. M., English, J. S., Dennis, M. F., Beckham, J. C., & Kollins, S. H. (2013). A pilot trial of mindfulness meditation training for ADHD in adulthood: Impact on core symptoms, executive functioning, and emotion dysregulation. Journal of Attention Disorders. doi:10.1177/1087054713513328
Singh, N. N., Singh, A. N., Lancioni, G. E., Singh, J., Winton, A. W., & Adkins, A. D. (2010). Mindfulness training for parents and their children with ADHD increases the children’s compliance. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19(2), 157-166. doi:10.1007/s10826-009-9272-z
Williams, A. L., Dixon, J., McCorkle, R., & Van Ness, P. H. (2011). Determinants of meditation practice inventory: development, content validation, and initial psychometric testing. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 17(5), 16–23.
Zylowska, L. (2012). The mindfulness prescription for adult ADHD: An eight-step program for strengthening attention, managing emotions, and achieving your goals. Boston, MA: Trumpeter Books.
Loving Kindness/Metta (powerpoint):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3-1-RkV8UaCMXBwdWJTaWszZUE/view?usp=sharing
describes loving kindness
suffering
speaking kindly
how to practice Metta
benefits of Metta
Daily Mindfulness Practice (document):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3-1-RkV8UaCOWI5TWcyVHR1M2c/view?usp=sharing
brief, informal exercises to do throughout the day to add mindfulness to each day