This is how achieving a calm mind brings us well-being

When talking about well-being, many people tend to imagine habits such as eating a healthy and balanced diet, the absence of diseases, practicing regular exercise, etc. While it is true that all of these experiences are strongly linked to what makes us feel good, focusing only on health is to have a biased and incomplete vision of what it really means to enjoy a lifestyle that brings us well-being.

And it is that to feel good at these levels it is necessary not to neglect psychological well-being, everything that makes us feel comfortable and excited about our day to day, in a healthy balance between valuing the good things we have and the motivation to achieve goals that motivate us and give meaning to our lifetime. And in this sense, it is key not to allow this tension between our present situation and the future we want not stress us so much that it tears us apart psychologically by keeping us anchored to frustration and hopelessness

Therefore, in this article we will see how true well-being is based on having a calm mind, and all that this implies emotionally.

• Related article: "10 daily habits that improve your emotional balance"

What does it mean to have a calm mind?

A part of what it means to have a calm mind is something we have already seen: maintain a balanced relationship between “am” and “should be”. Of course, neither of these two elements will do us any good if it completely occupies our mind to the exclusion of the other.

Staying immersed in the "I am" leads to emotional stagnation, a lack of goals and vital meaning that leads us to an existential crisis and, in many cases, to suffer depressive-type symptoms, since we feel that it is not worth considering any goal and it is not in our "nature" to aspire to any.

On the other hand, letting the "should be" completely bury us leads us to a state of constant frustration, a psychological wear caused by because of the stress and anxiety of noticing that no matter how much we worry about something and are desperate to reverse a problem, we cannot move along.

Curiously, both harmful emotional management dynamics can take turns, causing us to swerve and go from one to the other without reaching a balance between the two. And that is why it is important to learn attentional and emotional modulation strategies and techniques to encourage a calm state of mind in us. This state implies recognizing the imperfections that shape our identity, and also the problems that we must face, but without letting pessimistic narratives immobilize us and prevent us from to get better.

In fact, this experience leads us to focus on the here and now, without allowing ourselves to become obsessed with intrusive and pessimistic thoughts about our past or about our hypothetical future, which normally only serve to confirm the negative and dysfunctional beliefs that we have been feeding without realizing it.

• You may be interested: "The 12 Best Mindfulness Books"

The difference between mindfulness and mindfulness

Mental processes are always complex and multifaceted phenomena.. It is difficult to know where one ends and another begins, due in part to the nature of these psychological elements is precisely their dynamism, the fact that they are constantly changing and transformation. For this reason, and because it is difficult to express in words what happens inside our heads, it is common for misunderstandings to occur. about what it means to experience mindfulness, the psychological state linked to Mindfulness and certain meditation practices with origins millennials.

Having full attention is literally feeling overwhelmed by what happens to us, being trapped by a torrent of looping thoughts that puts us at the limit of our ability to reflect and attend to our around. It is a state linked to anxiety and stress, in which our nervous system is in a state of hyper-activation.

Instead, mindfulness is based on limiting ourselves to observing what comes and goes from our mind, without trying to modify or block it; In other words, it is based on an attitude of acceptance and not judging what crosses our consciousness, so that we do not give it more importance than it really has. And for this reason, it allows us to do a "mental reset" in which we break the vicious circle of obsessive thoughts and we can finally focus on what is happening to us in a more balanced and realistic way, without dragging behind the fears that have been dragging. In this way, starting from a state of having a calm mind, we face our real problems in a constructive way.

• Related article: "Mindfulness: 8 benefits of mindfulness"

How does having a calm mind generate well-being?

Now that we have seen what it means to have a calm mind, let's see how it contributes to our well-being.

1. Limit the power that anxiety has on us

Having a calm mind does not imply completely eliminating anxiety or completely preventing it from affecting us, but prevents the occurrence of looping thoughts which leads us to unnecessarily prolong these states.

2. Helps us move from intentions to actions by carrying out healthy routines

Having a calm mind helps us overcome dysfunctional thoughts such as "I won't be able to improve my health" or "I don't deserve to have friends/partners", since breaks with self-sabotaging dynamics and constant reinforcement of feelings of guilt.

• You may be interested: "Types of motivation: the 8 motivational sources"

3. Prevents insomnia problems

Being able to do a "mental reset" helps us fall asleep at key moments, something that in turn produces a very beneficial ripple effect on our well-being by allowing our body to regenerate and allowing us to have a greater capacity to face the challenges of everyday life.

• Related article: "Insomnia: what is it and how it impacts our health"

4. It makes us not feel "weak" when feeling unpleasant emotions

Having a calm mind also means understanding that no one can be constantly happy or well 24/7. Experiences linked to emotional pain are part of life and we must not let the simple fact of living them damage our self-esteem.

Do you want to enhance your well-being through Mindfulness?

If you want to learn the basics of Mindfulness and the healthy habits linked to it, you may be interested the training program “Gurumind Stress Free”. Through this proposal Gurumind You will receive training in various techniques of emotional management and modulation of the attentional focus. In addition, Gurumind offers other training options for individuals and companies that may interest you.