Stress In Robert Wright's Why Buddhism Is True

Effective mindfulness meditation requires training and practice and it has distinct measurable effects on our subjective experiences, our behavior, and our brain

As a former Army Soldier, I know that life is full of stress and stressors that can have an impact on my life. In fact, I believe as a Soldier, you can have an additional form of stress known as combat stress that can produce long term effects to your health and well-being. I retired from the Army in 2009 after deploying six times to various combat zones and dealt with other stressors that you have in the Army. I believe that I have some effects from the stress that I endured while in a combat zone. Finding ways to deal with stress without going and asking for help through meditation and relaxation exercises would be beneficial to me, so that I don’t have to turn to someone for help. Besides combat stress or related stress, I also have the stress that everyone in life endures. My top stressors are that of work in my current job, family life to include extended family, finances, continuing my education, and lastly combat stress from when I was on active duty. According to the Mayo Clinic in an article from mayoclinic.org titled Healthy Life Styles Stress Management, “Stress might be affecting your health without you even realizing it.” In this paper I will answer the questions like, what causes this stress. Is it time management? I believe what causes a lot of this stress is not having enough time in the day to do it all the things you want or need to do without causing a negative feelings or anger. In this, I

Mindfulness is an incredible skill, it is a practice that is taking the world by storm and helping more and more people live in their present.

Chronic stress has become an epidemic; it affects almost everyone in the western societies. We are taught that stress is given and we just need to manage it and try to change those circumstances or “stressors” we can somehow influence. Everyone has their own coping mechanisms, for some it is exercise, for some alcohol, shopping, meditation, etc. We want to escape stressful thinking and everybody finds their own way. Unfortunately, although we might experience a temporary relief, something usually triggers the stress again. Relief can only be temporary because stress is not caused by the circumstances and thus fixing those or getting relief outside is not going to help. Overwhelm and stress is coming from our thinking. As long as we don’t see it, we are trying to fix the wrong target.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the best selling author of Wherever You Go There You Are and the creator of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, describes mindfulness meditation as "paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally."

The definition of mindfulness is, “Paying attention to something, in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). The definition accurately explains mindfulness. The beginning of sessions, in office and equine assisted psychotherapy, Rita helps the client with a mindfulness technique. I have learned the technique, but still developing this skill. The books she suggested I read is Mindfulness Skills Workbook for Clinicians & Clients (both, one for adults and one for adolescents). Mindfulness techniques can be used in a variety of ways. Mindfulness is a method to help clients to dismiss distracting thoughts and learn how to meditate (Burdick, 2013). I have learned in practicum that asking a client to meditate may not be successful. When Rita helps the client with a mindfulness technique, the client becomes relaxed and stress levels decrease. The books have helped with additional mindfulness exercises, but I really like the ones Rita uses in sessions. The technique I have learned in practicum is beginning mindfulness by closing your eyes and paying attention to something present in your surroundings. Then focusing your attention on it and within you and using your senses, listening, smelling, touching, tasting. When you are focused, dismiss other thoughts which may arise. Then slowly open your eyes and come back. I noticed people in sessions seem calmer and

Chapter Five: This chapter is about about finding peace, discovering who we and The Four Immeasurable Minds. It is important to think about who we are, who we were before we were born, and before any physical existence did we exist in another form. When we practice the art of meditation one can find peace and happiness which are the key to, “measuring the fruit of practice” (Hanh, 2010, p.109). If we do not feel happiness and peace then it can mean that we are not meditating correctly.

At its essence, mindfulness is about developing a focused state of mind through a process of directing and controlling thoughts and thought patterns at a specific time. It involves developing a better sense of self-awareness, being focused on breathing or anything else that helps to create a point of focus, removing mental

To refocus the mind on the main goal at hand people should stop moving around for a moment and take a deep breath. It can prove very useful to stop and look around at everything, so that one does not miss important details. It does not take a long amount of time to stop and survey ones surroundings. For example, a person that is running and looking straight ahead is not going to notice a coin lying on the ground, but a person who is calmly walking will notice the coin because he is taking in every aspect of the surrounding

Many people think that mindfulness meditation consists solely of sitting still and thinking about nothing for twenty or thirty minutes and are put off by the thought. In fact, mindfulness

From their research, Raffone and Narayanan concluded that since focusing attention on a singular object or mantra is an imperative aspect of meditation, the repeated practice of mediation revealed an increase in an individual’s ability or skill to hold their attention for longer durations of time, with a decrease in the effort to do so (Raffone & Srinivasan, 2010). A specific style of mediation known as Focused Attention mediation, or (FA) meditation, can result in these changes in attention span after prolonged practice. (FA) mediation is exactly what the name implies: a style of mediation that involves not only the focusing of attention on a single object or mantra, but also the acknowledgment of, and disengagement from, distraction. Another style of meditation, called Open Monitoring (OM) mediation also involves the disengagement from distractions as it calls on the individual to hold a non-judgmental awareness of their surrounding environment, focusing solely on the present moment. With repeated practice, (FA) meditators are able to notice a distracting thought but, they let it pass without so much as another moment of their attention. An interesting outcome of practicing this form of mediation is the effects on

First, meditation involves shifting consciousness to achieve awareness, control of mental processing, and increase focus. (Krause, 2015). In this definition the key to the improvement of attention is apparent. As Jamal testified, the key is the increase in focus. The ability to focus our attention onto one task is vital to our ability to perform it. For example, during Colin Cherry's famous experiment of dichotic listening, he requested participants to listen to two different messages at the same time. Each message will be heard through one ear. Afterwards, when asked about the content

      Stress is an ongoing dilemma that occurs in each and everyone’s life. It is a factor that is undoubtedly a part of daily living. Due to the trivial problems that occur in people’s daily lives massive amounts of stress can arise. People perceive and manage stress in many different ways. The causes and effects of stress are numerous and one’s ability to manage stress is vital in maintaining healthy living.

Another way one can manage stress is through breathing control and meditation. Breathing control includes the “take ten deep breaths” attempt to managing stress. Breathing helps one to calm themselves, and to think more

- Focusing - focusing attention is generally one of the most important elements of meditation. It helps to free the mind from thoughts that you turn away from meditation and cause only stress and worry. Concentrate on one particular object, image, or mantra only on your breathing.