Mindfulness towards the Past
Posted on January 06, 2024 by Rajeeb Rashid, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.
Living in the present often is hard to practice, although we all may have great appreciation of mindful living. Here is to practice welcoming the past
Did we know that we have anywhere from 10,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day? Surprisingly, 95% of those thoughts are repetitive and tend to loop in our minds. Even more astonishing, two third of those thoughts are either neutral or negative! What’s even more awesome is that almost half of the time during those thoughts, we are not fully present in the moment, that totals into almost half of our entire lives- living elsewhere!
Understanding how we live in the present while our past (and future) lingers in our minds is a fascinating phenomenon. Through the work I do with my clients, we have found that being aware of the recurring nature of our past coming back to our minds is the first step towards accepting the past. This awareness can be cultivated through consistent practice over several months, gradually developing a sense of comfort in acknowledging the past.
Once we begin to notice and accept the presence of the past in our lives, we enter a better stage, ready to embark on the next level of our journey towards living in the present moments. We have seen that when we recognise the intrusion of the past into our thoughts, we can respond with compassionate reflection and then release it as another thought takes its place.
This reflective process can be practiced by verbally acknowledging the entering past with phrases like “there!” or ’ahah!" or “its you!”. And then assigning an identity to it such as “you pain!” or “sad you!” or even “interesting!” or “it did happen!” We then observe the thoughts that arise from this conscious acknowledgment and identification of the past in our present.
I was told by a wonderful mind years back that verbally talking to ourselves may help to normalising events and experiences and thoughts and it appears that research and studies are there on the same! (www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-04047-3)
It is possible that following this way of accepting the past thoughts may work for some of you; I would encourage you to explore and study the mind, the nature of thoughts and the latest developments in mindfulness practice.
Did you find some food for thoughts in this article?Do you want to give it a try and observe what thoughts are mostly occupying your moments?
If you are interested to work with me to bring mindful living in your lives, please feel free to have a chat with me and see the possibilities we might bring together.
In health and gratitude-
Rajeeb Rashid
Hong Kong
The 4th of January, 2024
ii. I have got all the numbers and data above from the work of other scholars, researchers.
