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“Fighting pain perpetuates and spirals it into the dimension of suffering,” he says. “Mindfulness meets the pain with an attitude of allowing, not protesting.”
Mindfulness is often learned through a form of meditation. Mindfulness meditation combines focusing on some present experience, like taking a breath, with open awareness to whatever else – sights, sounds, feelings, thoughts – arises in the moment.
Mindfulness involves five aspects:
* Intent – choosing to be in the moment;
* Wakeful energy – cultivating relaxed alertness;
* Attention – sustaining focus on some present experience instead of mental wandering;
* Awareness – open perception of all current experiences; and
* Acceptance – the attitude of non-judging or non-resistance to what arises in our experiences.
Dr. Lumpkin says that practicing mindfulness keeps us from contracting around the pain experience.
“It is a profoundly simple discovery,” he says. “We find that it is our pain stories, not pain sensations, that make up most of our suffering.”
Visit www.utsouthwestern.org/mentalhealth to learn more about UT Southwestern’s clinical services for mental health.
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