Mindful in Midlife

‘Do you think mindfulness, being mindful in midlife will work for me, will it make me happier and more content?’  my clients often ask. The NHS tells us paying more attention to the present moment and to your own thoughts and feelings can improve mental wellbeing. I’m sure that’s true, but mindfulness and therapy – now there’s a powerful combination! I’ll tell you why.

Midlife mindfulness – mindfulness and therapy combined

Pushing away thoughts takes energy, mental energy. To stay in the moment when niggling thoughts are chasing you around is hard work. Take a step back I suggest to all my clients.

Self awareness and exploration

Let’s work out why you’re having these worrying thoughts in the first place.

Often this will require a psychological journey back to earlier times but this increased self-awareness and exploration enables clients to sit with the origin of the worry, examine it, put it in context, and decide how relevant it is to them currently or if indeed the worry belongs to someone else – by this I mean, is worrying a learned behavior from a parent who was a constant worrier with a fatalistic attitude to life?

Are your worries really relevant and true or have your parent’s worries about money, the safety of the world, being lazy if you’re not constantly busy, being the perfect parent, been passed down to you trans-generationally?

See also my blog on ‘Rules’ and ‘shoulds’. If you explore your history you may find examples like these, and if you do, hand them back psychologically to the person they actually belong to.

Free yourself and discover how to be mindful in midlife

Free yourself from this baggage, then with the fulness of knowledge you truly can be mindful in midlife as you dismiss these unwanted, unwelcome acquired thoughts which are not yours and concentrate on what really belongs to you.

For more mindful in midlife tips and tricks, follow me on Twitter at @lostatmidlife or get in touch if you are interested in seeking further support.