3 signs of toxic mindfulness that do more harm than protection

Toxic mindfulness
3 signs of toxic mindfulness that do more harm than protection

Perceiving the moment and reflecting on your own mistakes, reducing stress or being more empathetic towards our fellow human beings. These are possible outcomes that mindfulness practices promise and, to a healthy extent, can be good not only for us but also for those around us. However, too much mindfulness can even harm us – namely when it becomes “toxic mindfulness”, translated: “toxic mindfulness”. We explain to you what you should pay attention to in order not to fall into this trap.

1. Too much reflection can lead to stress

Reviewing your goals, achievements, and mishaps can be helpful. For example, because it allows us to understand ourselves better and possibly eliminate mistakes next time. However, this pattern result is not necessarily always the case. Because the brain is generally excellent at remembering negative things better than positive ones.

So if you already have a very negative mindset, fears or maybe depression, a mindfulness exercise that involves reflecting on your own life can strengthen negative thoughts. “Today I behaved silly towards my best friend” can turn into a thought spiral that ends in self-doubt or fear of losing the loved one. Then the mindfulness ritual quickly turns against the person doing it and can be very distressing.

So: If you notice during a mindfulness exercise that negative thoughts predominate and pull you down, it’s better to stop. Instead, it’s better to tackle the actual problem and figure out how to solve it: In this case, for example, by apologizing to said best friend. And that brings us to the next point:

2. Mindfulness itself does not solve problems

Breathing exercises, breaks and meditation can be nice little rituals in our everyday life. But they cannot eliminate all problems. It helps to take time for yourself. But that doesn’t make us more relaxed than expected and dissolves all our irritated nerves into thin air. Mindfulness is also not a cure for burnout symptoms or other heavy burdens. Then professional help can be the right choice if we can no longer or should not handle things on our own. At other times, we may be very annoyed because a person is driving us to the brink of insanity. Thinking about it can ultimately quicken the pulse even further. Talking to people about their annoying attitudes might lower them.

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3. Mindfulness exercises are not for self-improvement

The motivation to try mindfulness practices often stems from people wanting to improve. They read or hear that it helps them relieve stress, focus better, or understand themselves. But if that doesn’t happen after a few practices, they feel like they’re failing and become stressed. Pressure to perform has no place in the topic of mindfulness.

So remember: strengthening your mindfulness shouldn’t be an obligation and on your way it doesn’t matter how long it takes. Excessive expectations only go to our heads. For starters, just breathing and focusing is enough. Do you get worried or restless? Then don’t force yourself to keep going.

How to start instead

Mindfulness can have positive effects if it does not become a problem due to pressure to perform or negative thoughts. The key is to start small and not try to meditate for an hour only to find yourself sitting on the floor in frustration. Instead, you can try the following:

Source used: zdf heute, Brigitte.de

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Bridget