Introduction
The concept of mindfulness describes a state of actively having open attention on the present and being able to live in the moment. An individual can observe their thoughts and feelings from a distance without judgement. Intrapersonal communication, on the other hand, describes the communication an individual has with themselves. Scholars have agreed that intrapersonal communication comprises of two aspects; self-talk and inner speech. Distorted thinking can result in faulty cognition especially when an individual constantly relies on the distorted thoughts. This paper aims to show the relationship between concept mindfulness and intrapersonal communication and highlight some aspects of distorted thinking and the consequences in our daily lives.
The concept of mindfulness: Being mindful involves consistently engaging our cognitions to assess the emotions we exhibit at any given time. Emotions are accompanied by a significant physical arousal and are not always easy to control since they can be spontaneous and automatic. When someone gets me angry, I want to hit them or break something, usually depending on the level of anger awoken in me. From practice, however, I have learnt to talk myself down in these situations, and I will often find myself taking deep breaths and instructing myself to calm down and think happy thoughts. This is an example of self-talk which supports the findings by Dance & Larson (1976) that self-talk serves specific functions for the individual such as regulation of the behavior of self and others.
Distorted thinking: The lecture on distorted thinking is enlightening on my thought process and that of my friends and people around me. I recognize that I often suffer from the catastrophizer thought process where I will mostly catch myself asking after all the things that could go wrong with a situation. This will cost me experiences in my life that I would have engaged in but usually will let pass because I am afraid of what I will find if I embark on them. This has also cost me some relationships when I cannot convince myself of the right motives other people have when they seek to befriend me. It, however, helps to know that, being a thought process, it can be rectified (Dance & Larson 1976).
Conclusion
Emotions are inevitably a part of our everyday lives. Being aware of how they work is important in learning how to control and deal with them in most circumstances. Learning on distorted thought processes also can help us be in touch with the world and being able to maintain healthy relationships with those around us, since we can tell apart that which can be damaging and that which cannot.
References
Dance, F. E., & Larson, C. E. (1976). The functions of human communication: A theoretical Approach. University of Michigan.
