Mindfulness For The Unemployed: Fighting Discouragement
We have been living with very high unemployment rates for almost a decade, which has generated multiple damages for the people who suffer from it and who find themselves in vulnerable situations.
Mindfulness for the unemployed, among other things, is an effective treatment to combat the discouragement that settles in their life, a situation that makes it even more difficult for them to come out of their embarrassment. Some of the problems that mindfulness in the unemployed tries to alleviate are:
- Personal insecurity
- Dissatisfaction with basic needs
- Frustration with life expectations
- Attitude with which they face this difficult situation
Thus, as a consequence of all these setbacks, the unemployed can consider various options to be implemented, in order to be able to acquire an adequate quality of life, despite these handicaps.
Mindfulness for the unemployed: a door ajar where there used to be only bricks
One of the first and most difficult alternatives for people who cannot find a job is to leave their region or country to find work and thereby increase their well-being, their economic and social security and their personal development.
However, the process of transition from leaving home and leaving the social environment away from family, friends and neighbors is a long road, the outcome of which can be distant and uncertain. People who migrate in search of employment may achieve economic stability, but may find their emotional stability threatened.
Lack of support and affection, as well as possible problems with integration and adaptation, open the door to the need to train the mind to ensure adequate emotional balance.
Unemployed people who, for various reasons, cannot afford to migrate in search of a better life live in a precarious situation. This group has a minimum income and a limited lifestyle, which serves as the basis for entering a spiral of despair, demotivation and frustration, circumstances which can easily lead to mental imbalance. Therefore, these people need training in strategies that foster new horizons and allow them to break out of an interpersonal approach.
Work is one of the tools with which people define and project themselves, in addition to being the vehicle for meeting their subsistence needs. It is a sign of identity, since it includes us in a social status, and promotes the feeling of usefulness, because it satisfies our basic needs and facilitates the participation of the community in society.
On the contrary, unemployment often leads to social isolation and to a feeling of insecurity and devaluation. These emotions undermine and destroy self-esteem and can lead to such dangerous disorders as depression or anxiety. If this happens, it will undoubtedly negatively affect personality and family relationships, creating situations of tension.
Why use mindfulness for the unemployed?
For all these reasons, it is strongly recommended to use mindfulness techniques for the unemployed, in order to achieve and maintain good mental health and emotional balance in a population that suffers so much at these levels.
This requires three distinct strategies, distinguishing between psychotherapy, medication and lifestyle modification.
- As for medication, it is of little use if it is not accompanied by psychotherapy. It is inappropriate to give medication to someone who is not doing anything to change their situation. In this case, the drugs serve as an anesthetic, and that is not what the drug is intended to do, quite the contrary. Medicines should serve as a motivation for new behaviors by allowing people, with their efforts, to come out of the emotional situation in which they find themselves.
- When it comes to psychotherapy, note that mindfulness-based acceptance therapy can be as effective as medication in helping shape mental health issues. Mindfulness-based acceptance therapy was developed as an alternative to confrontation to help people recognize, accept, and respond constructively to inappropriate thoughts and feelings. Therefore, it is a technique particularly suitable for the unemployed, because it does not fight against the outside, which is beyond their control, but against the inside.
- When it comes to lifestyle modification, it should be emphasized that the person himself must be aware and consistent, since this point is intentional. To achieve the desired success, the person must acquire a high level of self-awareness, provided by meditation and reflection. Mindfulness of the unemployed should not be understood as therapy, but as a way of life.
Finally, we leave you with a little tale that will certainly make you think.
The rock on the road
In a distant kingdom, a king placed a large boulder in the middle of the kingdom’s main entrance road, obstructing passage. Then he hid to see if anyone would try to remove it.
The richest merchants in the kingdom and a few passing courtiers simply surrounded the rock. Many of them stood in front of the boulder for awhile complaining and chastised the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything to remove the obstacle.
Then came a peasant carrying a cargo of vegetables. He left it on the ground and studied the rock on the road looking at it. He tried to move the boulder by pushing it and lifting it with a wooden branch he found on the side of the road, after pushing a lot and getting tired he finally managed to push the boulder back. Picking up his cargo, he found a bag right where the rock was. The bag contained a fair amount of gold coins and a king’s note, indicating that this was the reward for those who cleared the path.
The farmer has learned what others have never learned:
Each obstacle overcome is an opportunity to improve one’s condition.
Our thoughts The sentences of mindfulness come mainly from Buddhism, since this concept comes directly from this philosophical doctrine …
