Mindfulness and Depression: How They Connect in Senior Life

Mindfulness and depression go hand in hand when it comes to dealing with negativity, no matter its origin. Our seniors are a perfect example of how powerful mindfulness is for a range of issues, and how quickly its effects take hold for the better. The practice is catching on, and no wonder!

Located near the Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center, Addington Place of Burlington is the choice for many local seniors who value their well-being and seek to maintain the high standard of living they've become accustomed to.

Read on to find out how our residents are using mindfulness to help them do exactly that.

Managing Depression in Aging

The process of aging brings about a lot of change, but not all of it is welcome. The passage of time is rough in many respects, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. Many aspects of getting older are welcome, especially when we're able to shed the anxieties of youth.

Unfortunately, aging isn't all about settling into ourselves and understanding our place in the world. While aging affords us an undeniable sense of grounding and achievement when we look back at our lives, our minds and bodies tend to fray in interesting and unexpected ways on the journey. At a certain point, there's no telling what kind of new aches or pains we'll wake up with, mental and physical both.

The gallows humor of it all doesn't escape the majority of us. No matter what we do in this life, how far we go in matters of personal or community development, the conclusion is the same. However, despite the curious nature of our existence, there's a lot of joy and contentment to be had, and that's what's worth focusing on.

In short:

• Aging brings both welcome changes, like shedding youthful anxieties, and some challenges, such as physical and mental decline.

• It offers a sense of achievement, but also some unpredictability.

• Death is a part of life, and dwelling on it overlong isn't helpful.

Mindfulness and Depression

In terms of the mental health tools we have at our disposal, mindfulness is among the most potent. Achieving senior emotional health doesn't tend to just happen by accident, it's a conscious decision made by each of us in an attempt to guide our lives in a fulfilling direction. To this end, using mindfulness is a surprisingly easy and effective method for significantly improving our quality of life.

Depression comes in many forms, but is most often borne from a repetitive narrative we play in our minds without even noticing it. For the most part of our waking lives, this chattering dialogue continues on unabated without us giving much thought to the influence it may have over us. The first step to noticing it tends to be when someone else brings our attention to it.

Until then, we're more or less at the mercy of a stream of comments and judgments being made automatically. A moment's thought is all it takes to understand what a disaster this might be for our mental health, especially when we consider what the general theme tends to be. The first step towards leveraging mindfulness to our benefit is to watch ourselves and listen, so we might better understand what we're working with, and what needs to change.

Mindfulness and Internal Dialogue

The automatic stream of words that we so often allow to flow unabated in our minds becomes a filter through which we see the world. The theme of the conversation, whether we're paying conscious attention or not, has a direct effect on our state of mind. Until we learn to pause and listen, we're completely at its mercy and living life on a kind of autopilot.

Learning to use mindfulness offers us a simple yet powerful approach to silencing the chatter:

• It's complete free!

• It's more effective than many popularly prescribed medications.

• It addresses the root cause directly.

• It's accessible at any moment, no appointments necessary.

• Observing one's internal landscape calms mental turmoil immediately.

All it takes is to remember the strategy exists, and to look inward. The act of consulting our internal landscape and observing what's going on is often enough to calm the tumult in and of itself, and has to be experienced to be believed.

Aging and Mindfulness

Seniors are more adept at getting the reins on mindfulness than younger people due to the breadth of their life experience. As we go through life, we live through many shifts in perception that we would never have imagined before they occur. One of these astonishing realizations is that our minds are somehow fractal.

Learning to take a step back to observe ourselves and the processes of our mind is the key to mindfulness and the simple act of observation is enough to slow the dialogue to a crawl. Once we've successfully taken one step back though, we find we can keep going. This is where mindfulness becomes particularly interesting.

As we play with the concept of mindfulness and the doors it's capable of opening and closing, we gain a certain amount of control that was impossible beforehand. The ability to consciously shift our perception to navigate around concepts is priceless. Rather than becoming mired in the negativity surrounding a particular point, it becomes the work of a moment to shift our perspective elsewhere.

What was once the most important thing in our minds can easily become less important, or even completely insubstantial. When wielded against intrusive cyclical thoughts, mindfulness serves us better than anything in the search for peace and contentment.

Mindfulness at Addington Place of Burlington

When it comes to ensuring wellness in assisted living and the mental health of residents, we're second to none. We understand the importance of emotional wellness and strive to support our seniors in maintaining it.

We offer a wide range of activities at Addington Place of Burlington, and teaching our seniors about the benefits of mindfulness is only a small part of our efforts. If you're looking for a senior living community to learn and grow in, you've found it.

If you'd like to learn more about our methods, philosophy, or mindfulness and depression, don't hesitate to reach out! We'd love to hear from you.