How to Make Mindfulness Your New Year’s Resolution

If you set a New Year’s resolution for 2024, there’s an almost 50-50 chance it won’t last through the end of this month. But it’s not for lack of trying or low willpower. 

Typically, when most people make a resolution, they create goals that are too big, too vague, or too overwhelming. Losing weight, saving money, and having better mental health are three examples. They’re great goals, but all involve multiple steps and can in theory be achieved in a number of different ways. It’s hard to arrive at a destination if you don’t know the landmarks along the way, and have no sense of direction on how to get there.

With all of this in mind, it may seem counterintuitive to offer an alternative resolution, but here goes: If improving your mental health is on your list for this year – a New Year’s resolution for nearly 40% of Americans – try mindfulness. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, only around 14% of Americans practice it, despite the plethora of benefits.

Why practice mindfulness?

Mindfulness meditation is one of the best forms of self-regulation out there. Research is very clear that it cuts stress levels, boosts memory, and makes people less emotionally reactive to life’s situations.

Life’s demands can make it very easy to become overwhelmed. People frequently carry this stress in their bodies. This sometimes manifests itself through the fight or flight response, making people jittery or nervous in certain situations, or the freeze response, which looks like shutting down and being unable to engage with anything. These can be done subconsciously, without realizing it in the moment. 

Mindfulness brings you back to the present moment, which, when you think about it, is all anyone has. Every time we breathe and blink, moments come and go. The past and future exist only as concepts. It’s possible to know what has happened before and have a sense of what could happen next, but until they happen, they don’t belong to you. 

Mindfulness tips: 

Start small

If you’re looking for a quick way to get started, mini-meditations are plentiful online, and don’t take up much of your time. Check out this one minute meditation offered by Calm, which is over before you know it. The narrator doesn’t even tell you when to open your eyes again! 

Headspace is another one-minute option. 

This guided meditation is a little longer, but it takes a more comprehensive look at the body’s sensations and guides listeners to non-judgmentally sit with them. 

Practice mindfulness with others

Watch our social media and other pages for information on how to sign up for Mindful Ministries Collective programs here in Baltimore. Take a look at the programming we did last year, and be sure to listen to some of the testimonials in this video!

NAMI Maryland has a number of resources, from Calm’s Take a Deep Breath blog to virtual museum tours and live feeds! Also, Baltimore and Beyond Mindfulness Community has compiled a number of written mindfulness reflections benefitting people of color.

Reach out for support

You may also want to get support from a specialist in mindfulness if you’re having trouble but want to try it out. Within our network, we’d highly recommend Chima Dimgba at Halcyon Clinical Services. A simple discussion may give you a new and helpful perspective on practicing mindfulness. 

Remember what mindfulness isn’t

To be clear, there’s a big difference between being more mindful and throwing caution to the wind. No one responsible would suggest not planning for the future, learning from past mistakes, or disengaging from life for long stretches of time.

The bottom line: With mindfulness, you’re not trying to quiet your mind – which isn’t even possible because of how the human brain works. Mindfulness is instead about being more absorbed in the present moment. This helps people worry less, make better decisions, and find greater contentment even when life isn’t exactly the way they want it to be. 

It also shouldn’t be a goal to keep your mind from wandering while you practice mindfulness. The point, instead, is to notice when it does. Research is pretty clear that the practice of noticing your mind wandering is the true point of mindfulness, because this ability indicates a body and mind more in tune with themselves.

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Written by James Benjamin, Communications and Social Media Associate at The Mental Health Emergency Fund, Inc.

Check out his work at www.james-benjamin.com