It’s crazy how human development works; especially with the human brain and mind. Five years ago, I never would have been able to grasp the knowledge, concepts, and understanding of things I do now. Mindfulness has played a huge role in my life throughout the past year. It is essentially the basic human ability to be fully present and aware of what is happening around us. I had never known what mindfulness really was until I took the Counseling Theories and Practice course my spring semester of freshman year. One unit of the course was about the practice of Mindfulness–Based Cognitive Therapy. During this unit we were assigned to listen to a podcast episode titled “Invisibilia” which exposes real-life stories that promote Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. The episode had two parts, the second part being titled “Locked-In Man.” “Locked-In Man” tells the story of Martin, a little boy growing up in South Africa in the late ‘70s. Martin had a very average childhood until he was 12 years old when his life took an odd turn. He began to suffer from sleeping for an unusual amount of time and soon enough, he became immobilized, unable to speak, and slept unless woken up. Martin was diagnosed with Cryptococcal meningitis. He was taken care of by his family— bathed, fed, and put to bed, for years. Since Martin was in a vegetative state, he was thought to be dead with no life inside. Shockingly enough, two years into this state, Martin woke up, but could not speak or move. He was aware of everything a normal human was. Unable to do anything, an endless string of thoughts consumed Martin. He thought that he was alone forever, powerless, and would never get out. Martin recalls a particular day of being in his vegetative state. On this day, his mother told him “I hope you die” while Martin listened to this and stared at her. For a while, Martin’s dark thoughts took over him. He did not understand why his mother would say that and couldn’t imagine ever being loved by anyone at all if his own mother didn’t love him. However, Martin did not resort to avoidance of these dark thoughts like he had been doing before. Over time, he gradually learned to understand his mother’s desperation and became open-minded. Rather than believing that his mother’s wish for him to die was rooted in his own unworthiness, he started to believe that it was because she loved him so much that she could not bear to see him in that state of suffering anymore. Martin’s bond with his mother became stronger and helped ground himself during the time in his vegetative state. Whenever Martin’s dark thoughts came back, he used that control to change the way he thought, and thus, the way he felt.
This podcast was truly eye-opening as it put the effects of mindfulness into perspective for me. Being able to control your thoughts and structure them in a positive way is powerful. It took Martin years to master this ability— it is not an easy task. Mindfulness is something I have been trying to implement in my life on a day-to-day basis to deal with any stress and negativity that comes my way. I feel more at ease and am left with a sense of clarity. If you want to learn about mindfulness, start with the podcast here.
