Mindfulness and Self-Empowerment

How and Why Mindful Awareness can

add to SMART Self-Management
By Bill Abbott
Assisted by Suzy Whalen
HERE
The Talk a series of Stories

• My Story
• The Buddha Story
• The SMART Story
• The Mindfulness Story
• The Science Story
• The Practice & Experience Story
My Story
• Amazing transition-”transformative”
• My Recovery & SMART
• MBSR
• I am not a Buddhist ..or any ic or ist
• Today
The School of Athens– Plato v Aristotle
The School of Athens– Plato v Aristotle
The Buddha Story

* With Apology to Buddhists *

• Kind of a Buddhism - lite

• Will be simplified.. corners cut

• Will have important omissions ..so incomplete

• Will spin it for relevance to Smart Recovery

The Buddha Story
~500 bce
A Man, Siddhartha Gautama; NOT a god
Not a religion
Philosophy and Psychology
4 Truths
8 step path
to enlightenment
and freedom
The Buddha Story
Concepts- Pali or Sanskrit
• dukkha…suffering, unsatisfactoriness, stress

• karma ….actions-consequences

• bodhi….enlightenment

• nirvana …..liberation

• dharma….truth
The Buddha Story

Dukkha

• Difficult word to understand

• Suffering comes closest

• Unsatisfactoriness

• Stress ..in broad context

The Buddha Story

Karma or Kamma
• This is not fate

• Cause and effect

• “What goes around comes around”

• We are responsible for our lives via actions

• We have choices and need to make wise ones

The Buddha Story

Four Noble Truths:

1. Life has suffering and is often unsatisfactory (dukkha)

2. The cause of suffering (dukkha) is craving

3. The relief of suffering is possible

4. By following an 8 step path

The Buddha Story

The Causes of “Suffering-Craving” **

The 3 Poisons:
1. Attachment (clinging) or greed

2. Aversion or hatred

3. Delusion or ignorance

**Dukkha
The Buddha Story

The Causes of “Suffering-Craving” **

The 3 Marks of Existence –Realities

failure to accept :
1. Impermanence—every thing changes
2. The truth of Suffering
3. Material Egoic Self

**Dukkha
The Buddha Story
Marks of Existence

• Impermanence- ………………..anicca

• Suffering –……………………………dukkha

• Impermanent Egoic Self ……….anatta

The Buddha Story

Enlightenment … Bodhi-citta
• Awareness of the reality of our existence

• Buddha << Bodhi << awake and aware

• Allows wisdom and clarity in making choices

• Not all or none in western Buddhism

The Buddha Story

Nirvana or Nibbana:
• The achievement of total awareness state

• Brings liberation and freedom from suffering

(dukkha)

• Not all or none in western Buddhism

 The Buddha Story

The 8 Fold Path – The Middle Way

1. Right* understanding
Wisdom
2. Right* intention
3. Right* speech
Behavior 4. Right* behavior
5. Right* living
6. Right* effort
Concen-
tration
7. Right* mindfulness
8. Right* concentration

* Right = Skillful or correct or appropriate

The Buddha Story

The “Second Arrow” of the Buddha

First Arrow --------------- Pain

Second Arrow --------- Suffering

Pain is Inevitable
Suffering is Optional
The Mindfulness Story

Mindfulness = Mindful Awareness

Mindfulness is the opposite of Mindlessness

70 – 80 % of time not here

Lost in story of past, future, fantasy

The Mindfulness Story
Mindfulness brought to the US by some disaffected youth in the
1960’s

Names include Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Sharon

Salzburg et. al.

Applied to “physical problems and stress” by Jon Kabat-Zinn

(70s)

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Mindfulness- just what is it
1. Paying attention is a special way* to the present
experience without judgment

2. Allowing things to be as they are

3. Accepting things as they are

4. Letting go – not clinging

* With bare attention= Receptive-not reactive
* Not Doing- Being
The Mindfulness Story
Mindful Awareness Practices can:
• add a new dimension to Self-Management
• add a new dimension to Self-Empowerment
• be a direct approach to emotional management
• augment and add to cognitive approaches
THE SMART STORY

Sid Gautama Al Ellis

The SMART Story

• In SMART Recovery we focus on mainly cognitive concepts

and tools from the work of Albert Ellis

• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

• There is an element of emotional management already there,

a mindfulness strategy will augment that

• Mindful awareness ideas can strengthen the SMART

approach
TWO APPROACHES

COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE
Thoughts Emotions/feelings
TWO APPROACHES OVERLAP

COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE
Where Buddhism and SMART Agree
Buddhism SMART
• Self-Management • Self-Management

• Self-Empowerment • Self-Empowerment

• Choice • Choice

• Freedom • Recovery

• Skillful Action • Tools

Where Buddhism and SMART Agree
Buddhism SMART
• Craving • Demandingness

• Acceptances • Acceptances

• Equanimity • Frustration Tolerance

• Clarity/Wisdom • Understanding addiction

• Sangha • Community
The Smart Story
7 factors of Buddist Enlightenment ..Smart Style
1. Mindfulness  Awareness of issues
2. Investigation  Understanding problems
3. Energy  Motivation to change
4. Joy  Happiness with recovery
5. Tranquility  Freedom from addiction
6. Concentration  Peacefulness, calm mind
7. Equanimity  Balance
SMART Tools :

• Unconditional Acceptances
• USA, UOA, ULA

• Urge Surfing

• ABC-tool---scaling , Irrational,unhelpful beliefs

• DISaRM
SMART Tools : DEADS
An urge coping tool
D - delay (Pause)
E- escape
A- allow (or accept)
D- distract
S- substitute
Smart Tools: STOPP
An urge coping tool
S- stop what you are doing or Pause
T- take a breath (or 2 or more)
O- observe what's happening
P- put in proper perspective
P- put into practice (new, learned responses)
Pause Button 4
Pause Button 1
Physics

Stimulus Reaction
Pause Button 3
Biology

Stimulus Response

Power to choose
Freedom to choose
Victor Frankl
Pause Button 6
Mindful Awareness Practice

SMART Recovery Tool

The Science Story (1)
Clinical studies find benefits for:
• Depression
• Stress-Reduction
• Addiction
• Anxiety Disorders
• OCD
• PTSD
• Personality Disorders
The Science Story (2)

Affective Neuroscience**
Demonstrated in objective human brain studies:
• Positive Outlook
• Self-Awareness
• Sensitivity to Context
• Resilience

** after 7-10 hours practice

The Science Story (3)

Emotional Management Benefits

• Peacefulness
• Safety
• Focus
• Empowerment
• Clarity
THE PRACTICE STORY
3 basic practices ( MAPs)

Calming concentration Insight –Clarity

“Coming back” “Being here”
Shamatha Vipassana

Loving Kindness
Compassion
Metta
THE PRACTICE STORY

• Often but not always practiced with meditation

• Not all meditation is Mindful

• Not all mindfulness is via meditation

• Most common focus is on the breath

THE PRACTICE STORY

• Short, 11-14 min. guided meditation before wrap-up

• Unless active discussion seems more important

• Then optional – after meeting

• Mostly a Coming Back exercise; some Being Here last

part

• Often ends with brief Metta (loving kindness)

The Experience Story

• Informal survey:

• 75% found helpful, and/or beneficial,

• 50% SR was first exposure;

• 80% practice between meetings ;
• 50% as result of meetings

• Reported
• 85% reported increased calmness/peacefulness
• 76% reported decreased stress
• 59% reported more positive outlook
• 65% reported emotional stability
In summary

Mindfulness or Mindful Awareness

is a form of emotional self –

management

via Self-empowering practices

NOW
Mindful Self-Empowerment

“Come and See”

Buddha

Namaste

Annabelle Abbott
 Thank you

End Subtitle
ABCDEF
A = ACTIVATING EVENT
C = CONSEQUENCE (emotion)
B = BELIEF (about the event)
BC

D = DISPUTE
E = EFFECTIVE NEW BELIEF
F = NEW FEELING
CONCLUSIONS
• A simple story of self-management of emotions via
mindful self-empowerment
• How is does and can integrate with SMART
Recovery principles and tools
• A simple practice with observed benefits described
• For more; Attend the Practicum on Sunday @7 AM

• NAMASTE
ABCDEF
A = ACTIVATING EVENT
C = CONSEQUENCE (emotion)
B = BELIEF (about the event)
BC
MINDFUL AWARENESS
D = DISPUTE
E = EFFECTIVE NEW BELIEF
F = NEW FEELING
ABCDEF
A = ACTIVATING EVENT
C = CONSEQUENCE (emotion)
B = BELIEF (about the event)
BC
MINDFUL AWARENESS
D = DISPUTE or MAP
E = EFFECTIVE NEW BELIEF
F = NEW FEELING or OUTCOME
ABCDEF + MINDFUL AWARENESS
A = ACTIVATING EVENT
C = CONSEQUENCE (emotion)
B = BELIEF (about the event)
BC
MINDFUL AWARENESS
D = DISPUTE or MAP
E = EFFECTIVE NEW BELIEF
F = NEW FEELING or OUTCOME
Pause Button 5

Play tape backward

Pause Button 2
Biology

Stimulus Response

Fast Brain
Slow Brain Kahneman
Pause Button 5

Play tape backward Play tape forward

Laws of Physics
Seeking:
A Grand Unification Theory
Or Theory of Everything (TOE)

The Pause Button Tool is such an effort:

A unification idea meant to simplify the use of
SMART Tools
The Buddha Story
The 5 Precepts:
1. Avoid killing (harming others)
2. Avoid lying
3. Avoid stealing
4. Avoid sexual malpractices
5. Avoid intoxicating substances
The Buddha Story
Pali Sanskrit
Dukkha: Suffering Dukkha

Kamma: Action  Result Karma

Nibbana: Freedom from Suffering Nirvana:

Bodhi : Enlightenment Bodhi:

Elemental Buddha
The 3 Marks of Existence:
1. Impermanence – Anicca
2. Suffering – Dukkha
3. Non-Self – Anatta
The 3 Poisons:
1. Attachment / Greed
2. Aversion / Hatred
3. Ignorance / Delusion
The Buddha Story

Pali Sanskrit
Dukkha: Suffering Dukkha

Kamma: Action  Result Karma

Nibbana: Freedom from Suffering Nirvana: Freedom

Dhamma: Truth Dharma: Truth

The Buddha Story
The 3 Poisons:
1. Attachment / Greed
2. Aversion / Hatred
3. Ignorance / Delusion

The 3 Marks of Existence:

1. Impermanence – Anicca
2. Suffering – Dukkha
3. Non-Self – Anatta
The Buddha Story
Pali Sanskrit
Dukkha: Suffering Dukkha

Kamma: Action  Result Karma

Nibbana: Freedom from Suffering Nirvana:

Bodhi : Enlightenment Bodhi: