Is mindfulness all it’s cracked up to be?

Mindfulness is about awareness and hence is a great tool for helping people improve their wellbeing.  I mean, how can you solve a problem unless you know what it is?  Therapy is helpful because it helps people increase their awareness so mindfulness can only serve to assist this process...or can it?  Well, in short, yes.  But one thing people don’t often talk about with mindfulness is that an increase in awareness can be unsettling and anxiety provoking which can turn people off mindfulness.  Simply put, if you are feeling anxious and you don’t realise how anxious you are feeling until you engage in a mindfulness-based exercise, then why would you continue to practice it or better still, why would you think it could be helpful?  Well, the idea is that ultimately it is better to know what you are dealing with than to continue to ignore it.  I often use the car analogy.  If you are going on a long trip, is it better to know what condition your car is in or just hop in and hope for the best?  Sure, hoping for the best may work and work more times than not, but the person who knows the condition of their car is less likely to end up in trouble.  So, if you’ve tried mindfulness and found it didn’t work, maybe you should try it again?  Or maybe not, it’s your life and your choice after all.