As part of my mindfulness coach certification and research, I was going through various resources related to mindfulness for the well-being.
I found some great benefits from the book – ‘You are not your pain’ by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman. I thought of sharing few ideas from the book for the benefit of the greater audience.
According to the research from the authors, human beings have 3 emotional-regulation systems,
- Achievement System,
- Threat-avoidance System,
- Soothing/Contentment System,
Refer to the below graphics to understand more about each of the above systems.
Source credit – ‘You are not your pain’ book by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman.
Authors state that, all the above 3 systems are necessary for the survival, optimal health, and well-being, but the problems arise when they drift out of balance with each other.
We need the optimal quantity of different hormones – dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins, adrenaline, and cortisol in order to be in harmony with ourselves and life.
- When the achievement system is in overly active, we may push ourselves relentlessly and turn to distractions, leading to heightened stress, anxiety, and depression.
- When the threat-avoidance system is overly active, we might find ourselves reacting in fight-or-flight mode, struggling against our experiences, and growing more frantic. This leads us to surf thru unwanted survival emotions like anger, anxiety, sorrow, guilt, aversion, isolation, and depression when our needs/wants are not met and when we cannot accept the true realities of the life/universe.
Above two systems represent an exaggerated form of the ‘Doing’ mode. However, this imbalance also indicates that the soothing-and-contentment system is not as active as it should be. This system plays a crucial role in accepting the true realities of life/universe, fostering healing and overall well-being, making it essential to promote its activation.
The Mindfulness practice activates the soothing-contentment system by intentionally nurturing kindness and compassion. Additionally, it assists in developing the ‘Being’ mode, which comes with numerous added benefits.
By cultivating daily mindfulness practices, we move from ‘doing’ mode to ‘being’ mode improving our overall mental well-being. This also helps in developing intuition, tranquillity/calmness, peace of the mind as well as divine emotions of love, acceptance, kindness, bliss, compassion, and empathy.
Authors have also covered topics on how mindfulness practice could reduce the physical/primary pain by almost 90% avoiding the mental suffering /secondary pain amplified by the mind which otherwise is hard to go through.
Thanks, and gratitude to the contributions from the authors. Hope the above wisdom is beneficial to all of us. Share your experience of mindfulness practices for the well-being in the comments below.