Reflections on mindfulness

Coffee is a Nordic establishment. It is also an acquired taste. I’ve learned to appreciate the bitterness of it by taking a sip and mindfully concentrating on the flavor, discovering slight variations, and focusing on each one. Flavors like chocolate, citrus, or caramel are almost impossible for me to distinguish just yet. But I’m working on it.

Taking a mindful approach to life has become a global movement. The group mindful.org defines mindfulness as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.”

It turns out that mindfulness is really good for us. Those who practice it regularly get a lot of benefits. The American Psychological Association reports, “Among its theorized benefits are self-control, objectivity, affect tolerance, enhanced [mental] flexibility, equanimity, improved concentration and mental clarity, emotional intelligence and the ability to relate to others and one’s self with kindness, acceptance and compassion.”
According to Psych Central, “Researchers found that increases in gray matter concentration occurred in […] the regions involved in memory and learning processes, regulation of emotion, self-referential processing and taking perspective.” And one study listed in Psychology Today has even shown that intense meditation can increase telomerase, which could actually make you live longer.

I noticed in the Nordic Noir book that I posted on last month, Roseanna, that the main character, who was Swedish, was shown to practice mindfulness at various points in the story. On page 11, he realized he was feeling sorry for himself and immediately corrected his thoughts. This was an interesting insight into Nordic thought processes.

Nordics seem to constantly practice mindfulness, whether they mean to or not. They focus on the moment when getting hygge, while having fika, in nature and in the sauna.

These mindful pauses could explain why depression, even though it is high, is not as high as one would expect in the far north. Or how fika breaks taken by citizens across the Nordic region could contribute to the higher efficiencies found in the work environment there. Mindfulness also reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol severely damages the human body when produced in high quantities. Reducing this hormone improves quality of life in almost every area.

Sam Harris believes that mindfulness and self-transcendence both “represent a clearer understanding of the way things are;” a more “rational approach to spirituality.” I’m not sure if this is how the Nordics view the practice, but it seems to fit with the elements of fika, kos or hygge, and the scientific and innovative progress these nations enjoy.

So the next time you drink your coffee, remember to be mindful. And if you want to know more, learn from some top mindfulness experts here.

What did I learn from this?

Mindfulness is hygge. It also makes you smarter.