How Mindfulness Can Help You Through Stressful Times

Whatever our particular situation, life can be a whirlwind for us all. Feelings of uncertainty, stress, and anxiety can easily overwhelm us, and it can be difficult to know what to do to alleviate them.

There are a number of resources for practicing self-care, but mindfulness—the ability to focus on the present and resist distraction—is a particularly powerful tool. Much like exercise strengthens our bodies, mindfulness strengthens our minds, allowing us to approach stress with a valuable equanimity. With some simple techniques and online resources, here's how mindfulness can help you through stressful times.

What is mindfulness?

Picture yourself watching a movie in the dark, completely engrossed. What if you suddenly paused for a moment and shifted your focus instead to the edges of the screen? What if you reminded yourself in that moment that what you’re really looking at are flickers of light on a wall? This story isn’t really happening. Those characters aren’t really there. For most of us, this would break the spell the movie is designed to cast on us. We would be unable to be captivated—or sucked in—in the same way.

Of course, when we’re watching a movie we don’t want to break the spell; part of the pleasure is getting lost in the story. Getting lost in our own unpleasant thoughts, however, is not so fun. Our feelings have a way of sucking us in, overwhelming us, and negatively affecting our mood and behavior. The truth is, we spend much of our lives this way—distracted by our thoughts and seemingly at their mercy. We’d all love to break that spell.

Mindfulness is the ability to view our thoughts and feelings with a similar shift of focus to the screen rather than the movie. It allows us to avoid being sucked in by offering a strategy for paying closer attention. When we’re mindful, it’s easier to exhale away our fear and anxiety—controlling it before it can control you.

How to practice mindfulness

Mindfulness comes in many forms, often tied to different meditation practices and philosophies, but at its core, it consists of three basic steps.

1. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths.
2. Pay close attention to the sensation of breathing—the rising and falling of your abdomen, for example.
3. Whenever you realize you’ve been distracted by a thought, gently return your focus to the breath.

The challenge, you’ll find, is that it is very difficult not to get lost in thought. In fact, it might be tough to even realize you’ve drifted off. Don’t let this discourage you. Instead, remind yourself that every time you catch yourself, you’re successfully being mindful. The practice is the goal.

As you continue to develop this skill, you will eventually have the ability to pause, observe thoughts as they appear, and watch them pass away before you're captivated by them. Rather than being sucked into the movie of your anxiety at any given moment, you will be able to step back and free yourself from it.

Mindfulness resources

Although it's simple in principle, the practice can be challenging—especially in the beginning. Luckily, there are a number of resources to help guide you through.

Waking Up features guided meditations, podcast conversations with teachers and experts, lessons delving into the concepts behind consciousness and the nature of mind, and even a section of meditations for children. I’m a subscriber, and the link provided here grants you access to a free month of the app, on me! The team’s policy is that money should never be the reason people can’t access their service, so if you’re having a tough time and want more than a month’s worth, email them and they’ll give you a year for free, no questions asked.

Insight Timer is the world’s largest library of free guided meditations, with thousands of sessions dedicated to managing stress, coping with anxiety, and improving your sleep.

YouTube is also home to countless guided meditation sessions, ranging from just a few minutes to a full hour or more.

WNYC’s Free Meditation Minute, hosted by director of listener services Lorraine Mattox, is the perfect pause for those with just a moment to spare.

Headspace offers a variety of guided mindfulness meditations, complete with animated visual aids to help drive concepts home. It features a robust library of tailor-made mindfulness courses, covering everything from managing anxiety to expanding creativity. They offer a free two-week trial, student and family pricing, and free meditation resources to help you through our current crisis, which you can access any time.

Calm focuses on mindfulness practices to relieve anxiety, get you better sleep, increase productivity, and build self-esteem. It also features nature scenes and sounds for background ambience, video lessons on mindful movement, and music designed to help you focus, relax, and get some rest. Calm offers a free trial, so you can take it for a spin with no added pressure.

Inner Kids uses Zoom to host mindfulness meditations for children, parents, tweens, and teens as well as caregivers and educators. They operate on a “pay what you can” model with a $5 minimum, making this the go-to mindfulness source for anyone of any age. Sign up for the Inner Kids mailing list to keep up with their latest schedule and class offerings.

Annaka Harris, an author and mindfulness teacher with Inner Kids, also has a library of guided meditations for children on her own website. The sessions cover everything from soothing uncomfortable feelings, sending friendly wishes, and nighttime meditations for easy sleeping.

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With all that's happening in the world, things can be difficult, uncertain, and stressful for many of us. That’s why peace of mind, and the tools with which we can attain it, are more valuable than ever. Whether you’re looking for ways to mitigate anxiety or just give yourself a moment to refresh, a little mindfulness goes a long way.

Take a deep breath. You’ve got this.