The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

by J. Mark G. Williams

• Focus attention on your daily activities—such as brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, washing up, or putting on your shoes. Bring mindfulness to each activity. • Before you go to sleep at night, take a few minutes and bring yo...

For David, operating in doing mode meant that he was comparing the state in which he found himself at work with the mindful, clear, peaceful state that he longed for, creating further unhappiness in the process. It came to him that what he was experiencing was “craving”—a longing for things to be other than they are. Over and over again, he became aware of just how unhappy this was making him. Eventually, he knew deep in his bones, not just in his head, that he was creating this suffering himself. And, with that insight came a compassionate response: why not do yourself a favor and let go?

It is not that difficult situations, worries, memories, people, are somehow neutralized by our practice of mindfulness, or that we become indifferent to them. Rather, that the space we make for them when we bring present-moment awareness to them is bigger; big enough for them to become only part of our experience. We may find ourselves starting to make more room in the present moment for realizing and embodying the full spectrum of who we already are, wherever we are.

And let’s refrain as best we can from turning the meditation practice into one more “thing” we now have to do. For it is not a doing, it is simply being, and being yourself.

Last, it is important to remember that you don’t have to find the practice enjoyable. In fact, you don’t have to like it at all. The challenge is just to take it on for eight weeks, following the instructions in as wholehearted a way as you can manage, suspending judgment along the way. As best you can, let go of all agendas, even to get better, and see what happens, moment by moment, day by day, and week by week. Keep to the practices day by day with the intention that this discipline, this radical act of being with yourself, of taking time for yourself, will become an intimate part of your life, part of your daily routine, but without ever becoming routine.

1. It would also be a good idea to try to be aware of one pleasant event per day in your life as it is happening. Keep a calendar for the week, jotting down what the experience was, whether you were actually aware of it at the time it was happening (that’s the assignment, but it doesn’t always work out that way), how your body felt at the time, what thoughts and feelings were present, and what thoughts pass through your mind at the time you are writing it down. A sample calendar is provided on pages 235–236.

If you become aware of any experiences that are particularly intense or unpleasant, or of any strong feelings of aversion or disliking while you are practicing, you might try using these as opportunities to experiment with responding more skillfully and gently to what is difficult and unwanted as opposed to merely reacting.

Online Audio Files of Guided Meditation Practices GUIDED MEDITATION PRACTICES FOR THE MINDFUL WAY THROUGH DEPRESSION Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal, and Jon Kabat-Zinn NARRATED BY JON KABAT-ZINN The paperback edition of this book includes an audio CD inside the back cover. This e-book edition offers the same audio files in MP3 format for you to stream or download from the Web. To access the files, click on or navigate to www.guilford.com/mindfulwayaudio. If you are reading this on a device that is not Web-enabled, you can access the files from your computer using the link above.