Mindfulness - what it is and how to achieve it through practices

Today we decided to finally examine the topic of mindfulness. We will fully answer the questions: what is it, why and how to gain this very awareness, and what practices exist that help you become aware of yourself.

“While you are reminiscing about the past or dreaming about the future, you are wasting the precious time of the present” is a resonant and sobering quote. But which of us really knows how to appreciate the moment “here and now”, and not live it automatically? A conscious life is the result of long and painstaking work on oneself. After reading this article, you will learn how to become mindful and look at the world a little differently.

What is awareness? What does it mean to be aware?

Mindfulness is a person’s ability to mentally and physically experience the present moment . And this means:

Concentrate on the activity or creation of something. Understand the degree of importance of the matter, do not switch from primary to secondary.
Feel your body and understand its needs: hunger, discomfort, pain, fatigue, etc.
Consciously experience emotions . Understand when you are annoyed, when you are “on edge,” when you are depressed, etc. This point also includes the ability not to judge yourself for the lack of “necessary” and “appropriate” emotions.
Do not make value judgments. Understanding yourself as a unique individual among many other unique people eliminates the desire to “label”, give unsolicited advice and make comments.
Don't lose confidence in your beliefs due to criticism. This point follows from the previous one. Some tactless people take the position that their point of view is the only correct one, and those who do not correspond to it are fools / have no taste / morals / do not have enough experience, etc. If you are a conscious person, then you a priori cannot perceive Such attacks are close to the heart. You understand - a thought in a stranger's head is just an intangible idea of how you should look through the prism of their life experience.

It doesn't sound that complicated, but in real life very few people apply these rules to themselves. Remember how many times you simply “passed out” during a boring lecture? How many times have you started looking at your phone at a meeting with friends when an interesting dialogue didn’t go well? How often have you caught yourself thinking that you haven’t eaten even a drop of poppy dew all day, just because you were so carried away by something? Or answer yourself honestly: how often at work, instead of doing really important things, do you read news on the Internet or play online games? If all this is more than familiar to you, then it’s time to turn your attention to increasing your awareness and getting rid of the habit of procrastination.

Procrastination is a psychological state in which a person tends to put off all important things until later or replace them with less energy-consuming tasks. Thus, he creates for himself artificial conditions of “pressing deadlines” in which he experiences a mixture of pressure, stress, shame and disappointment.

Mindfulness in everyday life greatly changes the way you look at standard things and situations. You learn to act in conditions of partial uncertainty, being aware of your desires and capabilities: physical, moral, material.

Imagine that you are watching a film in which the main character acts completely illogically and thoughtlessly under the influence of emotions or lack of composure. You are annoyed: “How can this be, it’s obvious that you can’t do that! Now, if you had acted differently, everything would have been different!” So, self-awareness is when you are a direct participant in events and an outside observer at the same time. You are completely in the moment, while understanding who you are, where and how you feel.

Extreme attentiveness and non-judgmental perception will help you achieve your goal.

Mindfulness in Psychology, Philosophy, Religion and Martial Arts

Based on the above, awareness is a concept that is close in essence to mindfulness and concentration. But what distinguishes one from the other ? The answer is simple - the level of mental and spiritual development . Even animals are characterized by concentration. For example, predators can stalk their prey for hours, concentrating all their efforts on achieving a simple and understandable goal - satisfying hunger. Service dogs are trained from puppyhood to be alert and can actually recognize familiar smells, commands and gestures.

Animals perform certain actions under the influence of their natural instincts. Human consciousness, like his very existence, is more multifaceted. Let's figure out how self-awareness is interpreted in different teachings.

In psychology

Psychologists are unanimous in their opinion: the central and peripheral nervous systems serve as a kind of filter that sifts out the conscious from the unconscious. If it were not there, then the part of the brain that is responsible for the ability to cognition simply would not have time to digest and sort information received from the outside.

With some mental disorders and after the use of psychotropic substances, the natural filter between consciousness and unconsciousness is turned off. It may seem to a person that he has realized the essence of all existence (has received expanded consciousness).

In philosophy

“I think, therefore I am” - this famous saying belongs to the French philosopher Rene Descartes. It was he who first spoke about how important the practice of mindfulness is for a person . The philosopher stated that he experienced a kind of awakening and awareness of his every action, thought and feeling.

In religion

The concept of a mindful lifestyle is most inherent in Buddhism. The development of awareness there is interpreted as spiritual growth and enlightenment . And as you know, an enlightened person is deprived of typical worldly experiences, suffering and dissatisfaction, which are generated due to the discrepancy between reality and the world of illusions.

The role of mindfulness in Buddhism is extremely important

In martial arts

Understanding and being aware of yourself in the present moment is an important skill that is taught in martial arts. The ability to listen to your body and at the same time monitor the actions of your opponent allows you to win and maintain physical health.

The Role of Mindfulness in Martial Arts

In the Chinese martial art of Yiliquan, mindfulness is the basis of everything. For training, various physical exercises aimed at balance and relaxing meditation are used.

Perspective is...

Using the concept of “perspective” in colloquial speech, we do not think about what its direct meaning is. Translated from Latin, “perspicere” means “ to look through ,” i.e. look into the distance.

Artists, mathematicians, draftsmen, engineers and those who are not specialists but study these disciplines are well familiar with the term.

In the Dictionary of Modern Russian Language, Efremova gives the following definition of perspective :

Schematically, without technical details, we will consider the concept in each of these areas.

In fine arts

When we look at a painting painted in the style of realism (we will not touch upon surrealism and abstractionism, this is a completely different story), we see what is depicted as if we ourselves were observing the captured scene.

The artist depicts characters and objects in the distance as small, and those in the foreground as large. This is how the human brain perceives three-dimensional space.

Thus, the artist, trying to convey the position of objects in his painting as accurately as possible, deliberately distorts their proportions and shapes for adequate perception by the viewer. This is the use of linear perspective .

Panoramic perspective is a technique for depicting volume on a plane of everything that the viewer sees around him. A person seems to be inside a volumetric cylinder, on the walls of which the surrounding space is depicted using linear perspective.

An example of using the panoramic perspective technique is the panorama of the Battle of Borodino in Moscow:

Tonal and airy are options for linear perspective.

In addition to changing the size, the artist changes the color and shades of the object in the direction of “muting” in order to give the most accurate idea of the shape and location of the object. In the foreground, everything seems clear and distinct, and then everything is “blurred” and seems blurry:

In geometry

This concept in geometry is given in the high school curriculum.

To display a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object on a plane, the perspective method, or central projection method, is used. This method reflects the visual perception of an object.

The essence of the central projection: if you connect all the points of the projected object at one point (the center of the projection corresponding to the position of the observer), then when these lines intersect with any plane, all the points of our object will be displayed on it, i.e. you get its projection:

Levels of consciousness according to David Hawkins

Awareness of one's emotions and emotional energy state helps a person take responsibility for everything that happens in his life.

David R Hawkins

David Hawkins is a kinesiologist, psychiatrist and consciousness researcher. He drew a map on which he marked out the levels, each of which corresponds to a dominant emotion, energy level and perception of life, which is reflected in the state of the individual and his behavior.

The higher we rise on the scale, the correspondingly we increase the amount of vital energy, and the perception of life changes for the better. The lower we go on the emotional scale, the lower our energy and the more negative our emotions.

Below is David Hawkins' scale of consciousness in order from lowest to highest:

Shame (disgrace) is a deep disappointment in oneself, the people around you and life in general due to a global failure to meet expectations. This is the level of people in deep depression bordering on suicide. Inside a person there is shame that he does not fit into the world around him. Often the feeling of hatred is directed towards oneself.
Guilt - a person repeatedly returns his thoughts to the past, experiencing those moments where he was guilty of someone, said something wrong or did not act as he should. The level of self-torture is so great that a person still sometimes has thoughts of suicide.
Apathy - a person believes that he has neither the strength nor the ability to change anything, so he is inactive. He believes that all rich and successful people were simply lucky or got something thanks to connections. Many dependents and homeless people are stuck at this level.
Grief is a feeling of irreparable loss and longing. People who have experienced divorce, the breakup of an old friendship, or even the death of a loved one fall into this level. Grief is a level higher than apathy, so a person gradually begins to get rid of stupor through some kind of activity. We recommend material with methods of getting rid of resentment.
Fear - in most cases, it is the fear of leaving your comfort zone, even if it has nothing to do with the concept of comfort. This could be a relationship built on selfishness, misunderstanding and violence, an unloved job, or uncomfortable living conditions. Such a person is extremely unsure of himself - he needs help and approval from others.
Wish. “Got into all kinds of troubles” - this phrase perfectly characterizes a person stuck at the level of desires. Consumption and abuse (alcohol, cigarettes, drugs), frequent change of sexual partners. The predominance of the material (passion for money, power, fame, approval, etc.) over the spiritual.
Anger. The feeling is directed at the person himself, due to the fact that he cannot fully satisfy his needs. He envies more successful people, and if the outcome is good, this encourages him to work hard on himself.

In “suppressive” relationships (in the family, at work...) you can often see a couple where one is filled with anger and the other with fear.

Pride - A person begins to feel good. But this is a false feeling, since it depends on the external environment (money, prestige...) and therefore it is very vulnerable. It is pride that can lead to sectarianism, religious fanaticism, Nazism, and racism. A person’s behavior is aimed at self-denial in the name of a general idea, and attacks, or even slight doubts about his foundations, are perceived as an insult to the individual, so it is better not to even start arguing with him. Self-esteem is shaky, as it depends entirely on the external environment and surroundings

Courage is the first level of true willpower. A person realizes that life is full of difficulties and trials, and this does not frighten him, but rather, on the contrary, awakens excitement in him. This stage is characterized by an unbearable thirst for a change of environment - changes help to feel the flow of life. There is a desire for personal growth, be it education, career or creativity. There is a clear understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship between the events of the past and present, without value judgment and blame.
Neutrality . “Allow yourself to be yourself, as you are, and others to be different” is the motto of all people who have risen to the level of neutrality. They don’t have to prove anything or chase a certain social bar for success. They have their own formed vision of the world, which they do not impose on others. They prefer to work autonomously, adhering to a comfortable pace sufficient for self-sufficiency. This is the level of entrepreneurs, freelancers and sometimes downshifters.
Readiness is the highest level of neutrality. The person still feels safe, calm and comfortable. At the same time, he understands that if he were a little more organized, his level of income would be higher. At this stage, thoughts about time management and self-discipline appear. Such people are outstanding leaders, entrepreneurs, or reliable “cogs” in a large working mechanism.
Acceptance - a person is not afraid to “come down to Earth” and face the truth. He knows that if something is wrong, it can be fixed or changed altogether. You just need to make an effort. A person begins to accept responsibility for his role in this life and in the world. If he understands that in some area of life not everything is in order (career, family, health, relationships..) he sets a goal and achieves it. Often this level motivates people to change jobs, create their own business, etc. They prefer to associate with outstanding and inspiring personalities. They weed out ill-wishers and people from their social circle whose communication spoils their mood and lowers their self-esteem.
Intelligence - a filter appears that sifts out all emotions of lower levels from the rational. The human mind is pure and aimed at logical work with data. This is the level of development of doctors, scientists, physicists, programmers, etc. A person at this stage says to himself: “So, I’m now at point “A.” To get to point “B” I need to spend so much effort. I can do this in a certain amount of time.” Discipline and activity at this level helps people use their minds to their full potential and discover their innate abilities.
Love is not “love” in our ordinary understanding, since it is not the emotion of “love.” This unconditional love, when you come to understand your connection with everything that exists and surrounds you in this world. This is the level when, thanks to self-awareness, comes understanding and acceptance of the many differences between people and their views on life. At this stage there is no place for condemnation and censure . And also a person does not take attacks and insults from others personally, realizing that this is only someone’s point of view that does not coincide with his own. Anyone who has reached this stage is characterized by strong empathy and psychological intuition: he can, and most importantly, wants to help others. He knows that every person on this planet deserves to be understood and listened to.

Hawkins claims that according to statistics, only one person in 250 reaches the stage of love.

Joy is the level of advanced spiritual teachers. At this level, life is governed by intuition and coincidence. People's consciousness does not need goals and detailed plans. Expanded consciousness allows you to operate with higher concepts.
Peace (Harmony) – spiritual enlightenment, insight, reconciliation. The level of yogis, ascetics, spiritual mentors. As Hawkins himself assures, only one person in 10 million can reach this level.
Enlightenment is the highest level of awareness that can be achieved. On it, a person can be considered practically a deity, with highly developed intuition, sensitivity and all-acceptance.

In fact, it is quite easy to climb the Hawkins scale and manage your level of happiness; you just need to approach this issue consciously and instill in yourself a new useful habit of managing your emotional state, yourself, in order to live in harmony and a state of total happiness.

Time perspective of life plans in adolescence

Human life, on the one hand, is a biological phenomenon, and on the other, a socio-historical fact. The socio-historical, human-specific quality of individual existence is captured in the concept of life path.

The problems of “personal life path”, “life styles” and “life strategies”, “personal life program” and “life perspective” were discussed in the 70-80s of the 20th century. The problem of personality as a subject of life was dealt with by K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, S.L. Rubinstein, B.G. Ananyev, N.A. Loginova, L.I. Antsyferova, T.B. Kartseva and others. Currently, the study of life path problems continues, as evidenced by the results of research by psychologists such as V.I. Kovalev, A.A. Kronik, R.A. Akhmerov, K.V. Karpinsky, V.M. Slutsky, S.S. Goncharov and M.I. Yakovchuk. In the works of K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, her colleagues and students, the relationship “personality - life” is determined by a holistic approach [1; 2].

Contents of V.N.’s research Ukrainian, L.V. Sokhan, E.I. Golovakha, A.A. Kronik, L.E. Shklyar mainly concerns the “person’s life program”, “life perspective”, “subjective picture of the life path” [4; 5; eleven]. These researchers view life as the interrelation of a series of events with their subjective experiences. From the point of view of the “event-biographical approach” developed by these authors, the psychological fate of an individual is determined by the way of experiencing life events.

The life path is viewed as multidirectional and continuous, as a connection between the subjective past and the future. One of the most famous Russian psychologists of the “middle generation” who worked on the problems of a person’s life path, A.A. Kronik in his works synthesizes the scientific achievements of the Kyiv, Moscow and Leningrad schools, remaining the main promoter of the “subjective-event approach”, since the subject of his research is a subjective picture of the life path of an individual.

In domestic and foreign psychology, research aimed at studying the path of life has been carried out for a long time, but does not lose relevance today. There is no doubt that the changes, sometimes radical, that are taking place in our society have affected people’s perception of life and their place in it. For the younger generation, whose self-awareness, system of norms and values is formed in new, still changing conditions set by society, the problem of their perception of their life path is especially relevant, since teenagers and young men face the problem of self-determination, primarily professional, but also self-determination in personal life.

According to N.A. Loginova [9], in the study of life path, two aspects can be distinguished that correspond to the two main directions of biographical research in psychology:

a) age aspect, disclosure of general personality characteristics at different age levels;

b) individual psychological aspect, the study of the uniqueness of the psychological development of a specific, individual personality.

Based on the analysis of research, it is possible to define the life path of an individual as a successive in its stages, a generally completed length of time in a person’s life, objectively determined by age-related changes in his natural organism and socio-historical changes in the human personality.

In recent years, more and more evidence has accumulated indicating that human activity is significantly determined not only by his past, but also by his future, the so-called “advanced reflection.” A person’s actions and deeds, and therefore the manifestations of his abilities, are largely determined by his future, by the model that reflects a person’s ideas about his future life. Mastery of time in this sense, according to V.E. Chudnovsky, “...this is, first of all, the ability to create a perspective for one’s own future, plan it, see oneself in the future, work on the implementation of these ideas, strive for self-improvement” [12. P. 23].

According to P.I. Yanicheva [13], psychological future:

in relation to the psychological present, it motivates and gives value or makes meaningless and depreciates. “Not only does the present influence the future, but in turn, certain expectations and ideas about the future affect a person’s behavior in the present and his experience of his present; positive expectations towards the future give value to the present, negative ones devalue it”;
in relation to the psychological past, it is compared with the past, accepted as continuity and development of the past, or as its rejection and negation. A person can view his life as a continuous line of development, projecting the continuation of this development into the future, or he can plan to change his lifestyle, even to its complete opposite.

Functions of the psychological future, according to M.R. Ginzburg [3], are to provide a semantic and temporal perspective of the individual. Accordingly, as structural components of the psychological future, a distinction is made between the semantic future (personal) projection of oneself into the future and the temporary future (planning itself).

Since the semantic future belongs to the value-semantic plane, it is primarily characterized by its value characteristics, namely: richness, emotional appeal, activity/passivity. Other significant parameters are certainty/uncertainty and stability/instability of the semantic future.

The function of the temporal future is to provide time perspective. Time perspective is a vision of one's future in time, or planning itself. A positive attitude towards planning and making plans in a certain way order the future, which can be represented as a sequence of achieving a series of goals. As a result of a negative attitude towards planning and a lack of plans, the future appears virtually unpredictable. Therefore, an essential characteristic of the temporary future is whether it is planned (a positive attitude towards planning and the presence of plans) or random (a negative attitude towards planning and the absence of plans) [3].

Another important characteristic of the temporary future is its organization, i.e. provision of goals with means to achieve them. At the positive pole it appears as organized (goals are secured by means), on the negative pole it appears as unorganized (goals are not secured by means). Parameters of planning and organization M.R. Ginzburg [3] combines “structuredness” into an indicator. According to this indicator, the temporary future appears at the positive pole as structured (planned and organized), and at the negative pole as amorphous (random and unorganized).

The more saturated the time perspective is with events, plans and hopes, the more intense and meaningful a person’s life. And vice versa, the fewer hopes, plans for the future and real events on the time horizon, the poorer and more meaningless his life.

As noted by E.I. Golovakha and A.A. Kronik [5], the lack of life plans is usually associated with the lack of a positive image of the future. Hence the resistance to change. However, opposition to planned development may also stem from commitments to the past. A person often strives for goals that are not present in the present, but are in the near or distant future, and sometimes even beyond the boundaries of his own life. For this reason, incentive motives and behavioral acts are analyzed not only by content, but also by their temporal location.

It has now been proven that the formation of a time perspective (realistic organization of its structure, clear designation of life goals in it, its continuity, etc.) is the result of socialization. Experiments have repeatedly discovered that, for example, in delinquent youths, the future time perspective is always shortened, while non-delinquent youths comprehend their lives for a significant period [6].

K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya proposes to distinguish psychological, personal and life perspectives as three different concepts [2].

Psychological (time) perspective is the cognitive ability to foresee the future, predict it, imagine oneself in the future. Personal perspective is not only the cognitive ability to foresee the future, but also a holistic readiness for it in the present, an attitude towards the future (for example, readiness for difficulties in the future, for uncertainty, etc.). Such a perspective can occur even among individuals with a cognitively poor, undifferentiated, unconscious idea of the future. A personal perspective opens up in the presence of ability as future opportunities, maturity, and therefore readiness for surprises, difficulties, inherent potential, and the ability to organize time. A psychological perspective is possessed by someone who is able to foresee the future, who sees a personal perspective, and has life experience—personal potential [2].

The existing definitions of a person’s life prospects indicate a lack of unity in the approach to the study of this phenomenon. As noted by E.V. Nekrasov [10], some authors identify life prospects with goal realization. We can only partially agree with this, since the goal is an ideal image of a person’s future activity, and life prospects are not only images of the results of activity, but also the results of changes that do not depend on subjective efforts. According to V.N. Ukrainian [11], it would be more correct to consider the life perspective of an individual through the concept of “expectation,” which reflects not only positive, but also negative circumstances of an individual’s life.

Life perspective is determined by E.I. Golovakhoy [5] as “a potential opportunity for personality development.” At the same time, the life perspective also acts as the inevitability of certain events and changes in the future life of the individual. In particular, a manifestation of the objective foundations of a person’s life perspective is his awareness of the finitude of individual existence.

According to V.I. Kovalev [7], life prospects represent a kind of “view” of existence, with the recording in the consciousness of a person of various events, changes in the results of activities throughout his life path. A person’s comprehension of his existence contributes to the fact that the image of the future creates in the subject a state of readiness to act in a certain way, adequate to this comprehension. Life perspective, as noted by D.A. Leontyev and E.V. Shelobanov [8], includes a set of circumstances and living conditions that, other things being equal, create the opportunity to optimize further advancement in life.

K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya points out that “life prospects are not only future goals and values, but also the pace of life movement, optimal development, and increased activity of the individual. Of course, the formation of life prospects also opens up a subjective psychological perspective, but the presence of subjective psychological prospects (aspiration for the future, awareness of the future) does not yet indicate the presence of personality development potential, i.e. life perspective (for example, in adolescents). At the same time, work and profession are the most important conditions for self-determination of the individual, the formation of a person’s personal position” [1. P. 140].

At the end of adolescence - the beginning of adolescence, the individual determines his life position and, on its basis, a life strategy. The need for self-determination serves as a kind of “crossroads” for a high school student, at which he “turns” either towards subjectivity (which implies taking responsibility for one’s life, independence of life choices), or towards passively following life’s circumstances and refusing to try to control the course of one’s life.

At the age of early adolescence, a person becomes aware of the passage of time, differentiation of time intervals occurs; At the same time, the degree of generalization, the degree of specific representation of life time in goals, plans, and expectations increases; the level of realism increases; ideas about the past, present and future are formed in the form of a linear model of time.

In general, in early adolescence such an important structure as a worldview, a holistic picture of the world and oneself in it, is formed; professional and personal self-determination is accomplished, which is associated with a change in the perception of time; a life plan appears, ways of its implementation are chosen according to the principle of “active achievement - passive adherence to circumstances”; the life perspective changes (the time horizon deepens, covering the distant past and future, and expands, including not only personal, but also social perspectives).

In early youth, a life program (a system of life plans taking into account life circumstances) appears, although it is still characterized by extreme variability and poor thoughtfulness. In the subjective picture of the life path of boys and girls, the predominance of the future over the past and present is clearly expressed or, in terms introduced by A.A. Kronik, the predominance of potential cause-target relationships over realized and actual ones. The above-mentioned features of early adolescence give us the opportunity to study the genesis of life plans at a given age as part of the subjective picture of the life path of high school students, using appropriate methods developed by A.A. Kronik and E.I. Golovakhoy [4].

The purpose of this study was to study the features of the time perspective of life plans at the beginning of adolescence. The study involved 80 boys and girls aged 15–18 years (students of grades 9, 10, 11 of gymnasium No. 2 in Minsk).

To study the genesis of life plans at the beginning of adolescence, the “Situational Causemetry” technique developed by E.I. Golovakha and A.A. Kronik in 1984 [4].

Based on the results of the study, a comparison was made of the immediate time horizons (for 1 year) in samples of students in grades 9, 10, 11. Analysis of the average values of the rank sums of the obtained indicators allowed us to assert that in the short term, the number of life plans increases with age (Fig. 1).

Fig.1. Number of life plans in the near future

A comparison was made of time perspectives for the next 5 years in samples of students in grades 9, 10, 11. It was revealed that there are statistically significant differences in the time perspective of students in grades 9, 10, 11 for the next 5 years (p £ 0.05). The average value of the rank sums of these indicators allows us to assert that these differences are realized in the form of an increase in the number of life plans of high school students over the next 5 years with age (Fig. 2).

Fig.2. Number of life plans in time perspective for the next 5 years

Analysis of the average number of life plans in the time perspective of students in grades 9, 10, 11 for the next five years indicates that there are no significant differences in the samples of students in grades 9-11. A comparison of long-term time perspectives over a period of more than 15 years in samples of students in grades 9, 10, 11 suggests that these differences are realized in the form of a decrease in the number of life plans of high school students in a time perspective over a period of more than 15 years with age (p £ 0.01). The smallest number of life plans over a period of more than 15 years is noted in the time perspective of 11th grade students, and the largest number is observed among ninth graders (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Number of life plans in the long term

Analysis of the ratio of the considered time intervals in the time perspective of high school students, depending on the filling of these intervals with important life events, showed differences in the time perspective of students in grades 9, 10, 11 as a whole (Figure 4, 5, 6).

For 9th grade students, their life plans are fairly evenly distributed throughout their entire life journey. At the same time, the largest number of life plans is noted in the long term, covering a period of more than 15 years (35.2% of all events).

For 10th grade students, the most fulfilling life plans are the first two five years of their future life, with slightly more life plans occurring in the second five years (33.4% and 34.5%, respectively).

Rice. 4. Distribution of life plans among 9th grade students

Eleventh-graders have a clear priority for the first five years of their future life over other time intervals. This time period accounts for 42.5% of all life plans, while more than half of these plans (22.3%) relate to the immediate time horizon of 1 year.

Rice. 5. Distribution of life plans among 10th grade students

Rice. 6. Distribution of life plans among 11th grade students

We can talk about the approaching time perspective of life plans of high school students with age, when the time perspective expands due to the fixation of life plans in new life areas. Another distinctive feature of the time perspective of students in grades 9, 10, 11 is that it approaches with age. If 9th grade students have life plans fairly evenly distributed throughout their lives, and the largest number of plans are noted in the long term (35.2% of all events), then 10th grade students have the most complete life plans in the first two five years of their future life (33.4% and 34.5%, respectively), and among eleventh-graders, the largest number of life plans are for the first five years (42%), and more than half (22.3%) of these plans relate to the immediate time horizon of one year.

How to work on awareness? Effective and Simple Mindfulness Exercises

Mindfulness training does not require special conditions or tools - you can practice almost anywhere. Let's look at the most popular methods and exercises.

Many practitioners suggest paying attention to your breathing more often, and it actually works!

Be aware of routine

Try to concentrate and experience those trivial everyday activities that you usually do on autopilot . For example, focus on washing dishes. Feel how warm the water pleasantly warms your hands, how easily the sponge glides across the plate, how comfortable your feet are in soft, indoor slippers. Listen to the sounds around you: the ticking of a clock, the singing of birds outside the window, or the sound of rain.

Try not to be distracted by TV, music or smartphone. At first, everything around you will seem boring, but soon you will get used to it and you won’t notice how what was a burden for you has become an interesting meditative activity with many nuances.

Allow yourself to “go inside” sometimes

How to live consciously if you don’t want to be aware of what’s happening around you? For example, you are standing in line at a supermarket. In front of you, an elderly woman is grumbling, demanding to open a second cash register or call the administrator, a little further you can see a child sobbing angrily and rolling on the floor, for whom they did not buy sweets. Just let it happen . Accept that the situation would not have changed if it were not you, but someone else standing here. Acknowledge your feelings , even if they are destructive, and try to take a break from them: focus on your own breathing, taking deep and meaningful breaths and slow exhalations. This will allow you to be more loyal in any situation.

Do some spring cleaning in your head

At first it is very difficult to control the course of consciousness - random memories, images, reflections pop into your head. Imagine that there is a whole huge library in your skull, and your irrepressible thoughts are books that need to be arranged on shelves, depending on their topic. Anxious thoughts and shameful memories can be represented as old waste paper that you sort into large garbage bags and throw away.

Bring yourself back to Earth

Sometimes it can be very difficult to do the same routine work for a long time, especially if the soul requires creativity and variety. Notice what thoughts distract you - perhaps you are recreating failed dialogues in your head, trying to find a wittier and more cutting line? Or do you fantasize about relaxing on a wild beach? Next, you need to catch yourself at the moment when the mind moves from the real to the fantasy world and say: “This is not real. I am here and now to make my life better” and return to your activities with a sense of the importance of what is happening.

Name your emotions

How to develop awareness if you are a very emotional and unstable person? Give your emotions names! If you feel how your thoughts are gradually taking on a negative, irritating connotation and you feel uneasy (your hands are shaking, your palms are sweating), mentally say: “Hello anxiety, it’s you again, I recognize you.” It is the awareness and acceptance of the entire palette of feelings, even negative ones, that contributes to calm . Suppressing emotions only contributes to their growth.

Wear an Amulet of Mindfulness

If you are constantly distracted, carry a small object with you that will remind you to get ready . This could be an elastic band on your wrist, or a pocket mirror.

Try using a timer

How to become aware if you are constantly stressed because you don’t have time to do anything? Try setting yourself time limits! For example, if you need to complete routine but simple paperwork, turn on the timer on your phone for 20 minutes and spend all this time focused and without distractions, get on with your work. Knowing that you will spend just one small period of time on this is very motivating and inspiring.

Understanding and Awareness

As a person begins to understand the causes and nature of his psychological problems, he is bound to encounter a sobering discovery: understanding the problem is not the solution to the problem.

On an intellectual level, it is quite easy to understand how, for example, resentment or irritation arises, but the feelings themselves do not disappear anywhere - some important element is missing that would really lead to the transformation of experiences.

In psychology, in this regard, it is customary to distinguish between understanding

from
awareness
.
Understanding is always abstract, awareness is concrete. The difference between one and the other is about the same as if we compared the belief that the Earth is round with the direct perception of the round Earth in our personal experience. And here you need to understand that very few people really know that the Earth is round, everyone else just believes
.

That is, literally: only a few people have their own direct experience of the round Earth, but even this experience can be questioned if we take into account the peculiarities of the functioning of our perception. What then can we say about those who did not fly into space and did not travel around the world? However, every educated person is sincerely convinced of the solidity of his knowledge on this issue, since he has long been accustomed to equate abstract knowledge with direct experience.

It is not surprising that such a person has psychological problems, and then problems in solving psychological problems. It is here—in the realm of psychology—that the difference between understanding and awareness becomes apparent, separating real healing from endless and pointless intellectual tinkering.

Imagine that as a child you read a lot of books about pirates and sea voyages. Your imagination was captivated by the beauty of the huge sailing ships and their brave captains. And once again you saw a three-masted frigate during your holiday at sea with your parents - far away, in the haze on the horizon. And we’ve seen big ships many times in movies, in film adaptations of your favorite books. In short, you really love large sailboats, but your ideas about them are purely “artistic”. And so, having no factual knowledge, much less skills, you suddenly decided to build a ship with your own hands and sail on it beyond the horizon in search of adventure...

Okay, we, of course, understand that this kind of unrealistic “solutions” are characteristic only of a child’s consciousness, not burdened with an understanding of the structure and hardships of real life. The presence of such fantasies and zeal in a child is commendable, but for an adult it is obvious that building a ship is a task of such complexity that you will have to spend years studying the problem, acquiring the necessary skills, designing and, ultimately, building the ship. The child picks up a hammer and is ready to start building a ship right here and now, so that he can go on a journey tomorrow.

Obviously, a child in this situation has no chance of success. An adult has them: precisely because of a more realistic perception of the existing task, awareness of its scale and honest recognition of his initial incompetence in this matter.

But even if we are not talking about ships, but about preparing ordinary borscht, here, too, it is necessary to have certain knowledge and skills so that the result is borscht, and not a vegetable brew of uncertain consistency. A reasonable person understands this and therefore humbly learns to cook borscht

. He has no illusions about himself and understands perfectly well that it is impossible to cook borscht, knowing about it only from works of fiction, where the main characters ate it with great appetite. To cook borscht, you need to learn how to cook borscht - elementary, Watson.

The absurdity of any attempts to solve a problem with many unknowns without any preliminary preparation is obvious. Therefore, we study a lot and, as a result, we cope quite well with our practical tasks in this life. However, in the sphere of psychological problems, everything is as if a ten-year-old child imagines himself to be a brave captain, standing on a kitchen stool, waving a ladle over his head instead of a sword and demanding that his parents immediately fire all guns.

But even this child is aware that the stool is not the captain’s bridge, and the kitchen is not the pilothouse of a frigate. At some point, the game ends, and he quietly goes to his room to do his homework or read the next chapter about the adventures of Captain Blood. Adults are particularly persistent in their illusions. Waving a ladle from a stool, they become so accustomed to the role that in all seriousness they begin to demand the captain's salary.

Let's take the example of a love relationship. What do we know about them and how do we know this? Fragmentary information, beautiful words and loud slogans that we gleaned from courtyard gossip, the relationships of our parents, fiction books and films... and we also once seemed to see true love somewhere in a ghostly haze on the very horizon... Simply put, at that age , when we, basically, are forming new cells of society, we know absolutely NOTHING about relationships.

And yet, we boldly begin building a ship, because we consider our fantasies and unsteady ideas about relationships to be sufficient grounds for setting off on a trip around the world today. Without realizing our own complete incompetence, we create families, give birth to children, and then naively wonder why our love boat could not withstand the first excitement and “broke into everyday life.”

Having a lot of beautiful, but at the same time completely unrealistic, ideas about what a relationship should be like, we blindly believe that we will be able to make a fairy tale come true. And when we fail to do this over and over again, we blame it on anyone and anything, but we will never question our false, but so beautiful and beloved ideas.

A woman owes a man this, a man owes a woman this, relationships should be like this... But where did we get the idea that everything should be exactly like this? If you answer this question honestly, in the end you will have to admit that all these “debts” are just made up and have no basis, except that it was written so in romance novels and that everyone around shares these illusions. The king is naked, but since it is written that his outfit is beautiful, and all his retinue agrees with this, then we should also recognize his attire as magnificent.

Absurd? But that's exactly how it is. Half of all problems in relationships come from this kind of absurdity. Two people, having two different sets of false ideas about relationships, are trying to get each other to fulfill the role assigned to their partner. And when this cannot be achieved, the main reproach becomes that the other person refuses to live and breathe in accordance with the “rules of relationships.” Moreover, everyone considers their own rules to be the most correct and on this basis demands obedience.

And even when both partners have very similar ideas about the relationship, problems cannot be avoided, because reading a fiction book about ships is not enough to learn how to prepare, build and operate them. And when it turns out that a person in his essence is not structured exactly as it was written about in novels, relationships collapse, because we are not ready to deal with reality - we only want fairy tales.

For example, there is such a popular idea that for the sake of love a person is capable and must change. If you love, you will change. If you can't change, it means you don't love him - fuck off. And many people firmly believe in the validity of this idea, although in practice it never works. A person is able to change his behavior with an effort of will, but in his essence he does not change, which means he will have to keep himself in check all the time so that God forbid he gives the wrong reaction. And who will then be billed for this constant tension?

This is why husbands often run away from their wives - at first they agree to change for the sake of their beloved in some minor details, and when the internal tension that has arisen as a result of the constant need to control themselves reaches the boiling point, everything ends in infidelity and divorce. You can change your behavior, but only at the cost of a corresponding tension in the emotional strings, which ultimately leads to the fact that a relationship that seemed like paradise turns into hell, from which you really want to escape.

But relationships are a simple example... like cooking borscht compared to the problems of shipbuilding. There is a much more complex task, the implementation of which we approach with the same childish spontaneity and incompetence, and in the end we have much more tragic consequences.

What do we even know about this Life? For what? For what? Where?

At the end of the day, we all just want to be happy - that's obvious, but what are our beliefs about that? What do we know about happiness and where exactly we should look for it? Sadly, the average person's answer to this question likens him to a cow, calmly and peacefully walking where everyone else is... even if everyone is going straight to the slaughterhouse.

Knowing nothing about life, we just go where everyone else is, and believe that happiness is there - in this dark building ahead, where everyone goes in and no one comes out. We are so accustomed to believing in our usual ideas and generally accepted stereotypes that we have completely lost the taste of real life. We live our lives based on faith, and we become very disappointed in life when it fails to live up to our expectations. We are even ready to die for our beliefs, because it is more important for us to be right than to be well-fed.

And yet we do not stop trying to bend life in the direction of our ideas, and when this does not work out for us, we feel weak and inferior or consider life to be evil and unfair. And all this suffering is only because, being foolish, naive children, we were stupid to believe that we know something about this life, and that we only have to show due persistence in achieving our goal. Money, fame, family - go where everyone else is, don’t ask stupid questions, and happiness is in your pocket...

But in fact, no one knows where to go...

Then where are we all heading so cheerfully?

How to become aware of yourself through meditation?

Another sure and quick way to become more mindful is to learn to meditate. The essence of meditation is turning inward by concentrating on your own breathing. .

There is an opinion that during meditation you should try hard not to think about anything, however, this is the path to nowhere. You don't have to fight your own thoughts; you just have to separate them from yourself and allow them to come and go naturally.

In the process, you must understand that feelings, thoughts and emotions are only temporary phenomena. They will leave your mind at the same speed as they entered it if you do not try to forcibly hold them back.

Visualization will also help here. Imagine your mind is a bus station. Large buses of thoughts arrive there every minute as well as leave. You just sit on the bench and watch it. You cannot influence the schedule, and even more so, you are not a bus driver - you are a separate person from this process. In this way, you will develop a conscious choice to react or not to react to emotions, allowing them to simply leave your mind .

Inner Meditation Experience

Meditation, due to its specificity, has become overgrown with many myths. Let's try to debunk them.

Is meditation a religious movement? – No, meditation is just a method of training the mind. Many people, regardless of their religion or lack thereof, practice meditation in their daily lives.
Do you need to sit in the lotus position to meditate? – This is not at all necessary. The main thing is to take a comfortable position in which your body is completely relaxed. You can lie on your back, sit on a chair, or even stand with your back against the wall.
Does meditation take a lot of time? – Experts recommend starting meditation with 15 minutes a day, gradually increasing the duration to an hour. A smooth transition will help you gradually get used to such an unusual process.
Is meditation yoga? – These are often related concepts, since yoga is largely a meditative process aimed at self-awareness. A short meditation can complete a set of asanas, thereby relaxing the muscles and relieving nervous tension.

As a result of research, it has been proven that meditation, with a regular approach, helps fight neurosis and attention deficit disorder.

How to learn to meditate? 5 steps for a beginner

The right attitude and preparation are the key to successful meditation. And meditation is the key to mindfulness. Therefore, the following 5 steps are required:

Find yourself a place to meditate . It is best if it is quiet and calm, away from everyday and city noise. You should feel calm and relaxed.
Find support points . The feet should be crossed in the lotus position, firmly on the floor or resting on the arm of the sofa. You can stretch your arms along your body, fold them on your chest or knees.
Sit up straight. So as not to feel pressure and back pain. Don't try to act like you did at school - this will cause unnecessary stress.
Lower your chin down. This way, your neck will be completely relaxed. You don't have to close your eyes, but if you feel it will help you relax, do it.
Feel the muscle relaxation. Scan your body from your heels to the top of your head, feeling tension release from your muscles, your body touching the seat, and your chest rising and falling as you breathe. Do not try to adjust your breathing in the right way - practice only conscious contemplation.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in this process. If you feel awkward during meditation and feel like you're wasting your time, don't judge yourself for it. Give your mind and body time to adjust.

What does mindfulness practice do? Top 7 reasons to start training now

How to train mindfulness, and most importantly, why if you don’t see any prospects in it? Here are seven reasons why you should start working on yourself :

Success. A person who does his job with full dedication and meaningfulness cannot do it badly. This was confirmed by clinical studies at Harvard Medical School.
Vivid sensations . The dish tastes much better if you eat it in the kitchen rather than in front of the TV. Sex is more enjoyable if you think about sensations and your partner during the process, rather than about repairs. People are more welcoming if you listen to them rather than look at your phone. The main thing is to turn on at the right time.
Improved learning ability . Just two weeks of regular practice is enough to “increase” your memory capacity and speed up the memorization of material. Members of the UK Parliament actively use mindfulness training to improve their performance.
Normal blood pressure and healthy heart . Respect for one's own body and health motivates people to avoid stressful and unhealthy factors. Realizing the unity of your body and mind is the first big step towards giving up addictions.
Long life of sound mind . For most people leading a standard lifestyle, speech slows down with age, reactions and perception of reality worsen. It has been scientifically proven that meditation almost halves the rate of cellular aging. Therefore, if you want to feel the same at 60 as you did at 30, practice mindfulness.
Healthy love and social relationships . Mindfulness will allow you not only to process your own feelings, but also to read the emotions of other people. You will experience empathy, even if it was not characteristic of you before. In addition, you will stop comparing your partner with predecessors and idealizing his image, building unrealistic expectations regarding his person. You will understand and accept it with all its advantages and disadvantages.
Liberation from fears and phobias. Regular practice of self-awareness helps reduce activity in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, which are responsible for unreasonable fears. So you will learn to distinguish your suspiciousness from situations where there is a real threat to life.

Working on self-awareness is a good tool for managing your own psyche. People who are fully aware of their own actions are much less likely to suffer from panic attacks, neuroses and depressive disorders.

How to train mindfulness correctly? Short recommendations

You cannot become more aware in just one day or even in a week - this is a long process of rebirth, which requires giving up some habits and changing life priorities, therefore:

Stop being distracted . A person of low awareness is characterized by the inability to be unoccupied. He constantly needs to fill his free time with understandable entertainment - surfing the Internet while traveling on public transport, eating while watching his favorite TV series, drinking alcohol to make it easier to “find a common language”, virtual communication instead of real communication, etc. These are little things, but, as you know, all life consists of little things. Refusing or reducing the above-mentioned entertainment will allow you to significantly increase your awareness, and with it your quality of life.
Look for your equipment. If meditation is not suitable for you, listen to mantras, practice self-awareness exercises or breathing exercises. If you can’t do this at home, try working on yourself while sitting in line at the clinic, standing at the checkout, or while driving in a traffic jam.
Do not give up . If it seems to you that the exercises are not bringing results, give yourself a little more time. The human psyche is not a computer. It cannot be rebuilt with just a few actions. Be methodical and persistent.
Ask for help . If you understand that your emotions are getting the better of you and you cannot reach a new level of self-awareness on your own, ask for help. You can make an appointment with a psychotherapist or ask for advice from a yoga instructor or life coach.
Don't judge yourself. Purposeful people tend to attribute to themselves shortcomings that they do not have. Get rid of judgment and blame. Treat yourself patiently and carefully, like a child who needs to be taught something.

Try to get rid of judgment and blaming yourself

The Principle of Mindfulness in Coaching

The concept of mindfulness in professional coaching is closely related to the responsibility that a person takes on for his actions or inactions.
Developed awareness helps the client make the best choices when making decisions in different situations and different areas of life, in contrast to how he is used to doing it usually or under the influence of external circumstances, for example, someone said or advised.
Awareness helps a person understand how much he is moving towards his goals, whether he has enough energy and resources to achieve his goals. What skills, abilities and qualities does he lack for this? What should he change in his strategy for achieving the goal?
By making a conscious choice, a person takes 100% responsibility for the “authorship” of his plans, action or inaction and, accordingly, for the results obtained. This means that he does not blame circumstances, others, or himself for what he gets in life.
When a person is the author of his choices and decisions, which he makes consciously, he receives joy and pleasure from both the process itself and the result obtained. If these principles interest you, you too can become a coach from scratch.

Key Feature

Awareness is a state that involves action. Thinking is not awareness. It can rather be called reflection, which involves judgment, evaluation, thinking, searching for answers, motives, determining why something happens this way and not otherwise. In this case, the person makes a choice.

With awareness, the situation is somewhat different. No choice is made, since the only correct decision for the individual immediately appears. If there is awareness of the activity, for example, then the questions “how to do?”, “what to do?” do not arise.

If a person does not have the necessary experience of awareness, its content cannot be explained in simple words. Realization comes like a flash. A person has the ability to deeply see what is happening to him.