The results of mindfulness are real, but the goal of fixating on self-improvement and how well we’re doing is not.
Barely a week goes by without some new clinical trial showing that programs that teach mindfulness can help people minimize pain and increase their well-being. Whether it’s by reducing stress, managing illness, boosting the immune system or breaking addictive habits, science is confirming what meditators have reported for thousands of years—that mindfulness is widely beneficial. At the same time, it’s important not to give up on all the data, getting sucked into looking at meditation as a quick-fix solution.
Based on the results of clinical studies, expecting meditation to “make me better” may well sabotage the practice, which benefits in part by letting go of the tendency to perceive results.
Falling into this goal-oriented mindset is fundamentally misunderstanding what meditation is, and how it helps. In fact, perhaps based on the results of clinical studies, expecting meditation to “make me better” may well sabotage the practice, the benefit of which comes in part from letting go of the tendency to perceive results.
In the UK, psychologists have characterized mindfulness within the cognitive-behavioral tradition, and there are similarities—like CBT, mindfulness offers a practical set of skills that can help people deal more effectively with their thoughts and feelings. But while CBT is primarily a change-oriented approach, mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy show us how to struggle for change. Their magic lies in enabling us to come to terms with who and where we are, in the moment.
We don’t have to “try” to be better
This approach is based on ideas and practices that have thousands of years of history and tradition behind them, and which are commonly advocated as part of meditation training to facilitate a profound change in the way we experience ourselves, others, and the world. A basic premise of this training is that we are already fundamentally okay – we don’t need to “try” to get better, we just need to learn how to uncover and be who we really are.
Interestingly, adopting this attitude of deep and radical acceptance often seemed to produce some of the change we were looking for. So, there’s a paradox: Mindfulness can change us, and can lead to effective change, but when it’s attempted, it doesn’t come from struggling. In fact, struggling can actually be a form of self-aggression, which only creates more pain.
Mindfulness practice, then, is not so much a tool for self-improvement, but another way of relating to our lives in a spirit of awareness, openness, and kindness. Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, recently said, “Mindfulness is not a technique. It’s a way, a way of seeing, a way of knowing.” It nurtures the process of allowing things to settle, so that prosperity can emerge from the flow, even when we don’t like being like them.
It’s true that such awareness can be the basis for more skillful decision-making and behavior—but when we can let go of the stress created by striving to be better or healthier, the need to ‘cure’ our problems—even if one were possible—seems less relevant. And then we might start to feel a lot better.
