Mindfulness practices can change the relationship between thoughts and emotions by fostering awareness and non-judgmental observation of internal experiences. Instead of being controlled by thoughts and emotions, mindfulness helps you create a space between them and your reactions.
Here’s how mindfulness impacts the link between thoughts and emotions:
- Increased awareness: Mindfulness enhances your ability to notice your thoughts and emotions as they arise. This awareness is the first step in changing your relationship to them.
- Defusion: Mindfulness helps you see thoughts as just thoughts, rather than facts or commands. This is called cognitive defusion, which involves “stepping back” from thoughts and not getting caught up in what they’re telling you.
- Non-judgmental observation: Mindfulness encourages observing thoughts and emotions without labeling them as good or bad. This non-judgmental approach reduces the tendency to react to thoughts and feelings with agitation or self-criticism, allowing them to subside more quickly.
- Acceptance: Mindfulness promotes the acceptance of thoughts and emotions as temporary experiences. Rather than trying to suppress or avoid difficult emotions, mindfulness encourages experiencing them fully without resistance.
- Present moment focus: Mindfulness brings you back to the present moment, reducing the tendency to get lost in worries about the future or ruminations about the past. By focusing on the present, you can observe thoughts and emotions as they arise, without getting carried away by them.
- Reduced reactivity: Mindfulness can lessen the intensity of emotional reactions. By observing thoughts and emotions with curiosity, they lose some of their power. Instead of reacting automatically, you can choose a more considered response.
- Emotional regulation: The practice of mindfulness can help you become more skilled at regulating your emotions. By paying focused attention to bodily sensations, you can recognise the ebb and flow of emotions and increase control over them.
- Changes in the brain: Studies show that mindfulness practices can lead to changes in brain regions related to emotional regulation and self-awareness. Practicing mindfulness can decrease the activity of the amygdala, which is the brain’s “smoke detector”, leading to a reduction in reactivity to potential triggers. Mindfulness may also promote connections in the brain that support well-being.
- Mindful Inquiry: Mindfulness involves exploring anxiety with curiosity. Instead of getting caught up in why you feel anxious, you can focus on what you are experiencing in the moment such as thoughts, emotions, and sensations. This helps create a space between your thoughts/emotions and your reactions.
- Interoception: Mindfulness is linked to interoception, which is the awareness of your subtle, body-based feelings. This awareness helps you to understand the connection between emotions and physical sensations.
In summary, mindfulness helps to create a different relationship with thoughts and emotions by increasing awareness, promoting acceptance, and reducing reactivity. By observing your internal experiences with non-judgmental awareness, mindfulness can help you gain control over the link between thoughts and emotions, making you less controlled by them and more able to respond thoughtfully.