We Are Mindful (2025)

09/08/2020

Happy Sunday people ☀️ Somehow we jumped from May to August 🧐 and the days seem to be flying by!⁣
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Thank you to all 3000+ who have been here so far. I appreciate all of you and the love doesn’t go unnoticed 🤗 All the positive messages/ love just gives me that extra buzz 🐝 to keep going!!.
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Between moving house and relaxing before starting my Doctorate in clinical psychology (still doesn’t feel real yet 😱) I’m taking a little bit of a break from creating content. It’s time to recharge and unplug whilst enjoying the rest of the Summer. ⁣
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I’ll be back to share more psychology , mindfulness and my doctorate journey with you quicker than you can give a person coughing in public a glare (2020’s biggest crime).⁣
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Wishing everyone a summer full of good food, good tans and good vibes 😷 ✌🏽

05/08/2020

Identity development is complex and is influenced by so many factors, including family and friends, our environment, and our individual life experiences. While this development starts early, it is also continuously changing as we go through new and different circumstances (Erikson, 1968).⁣
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and I wanted to take a moment to talk about ethnic identity development - particularly among first generation children of immigrants. ⁣
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As a first generation immigrant, I can definitely say that I experienced a a bit of an identity crisis in my teens. Growing up in a North African household meant authority, obedience and collectivism were central to the parental and cultural values, which felt in contrast to the individualistic and liberal views that I observed around me. ⁣
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This meant that friendly discussions around tough discipline (through physical punishment) , appropriate clothing and behaviour etc , often brought feeelings of confusion and conflict. ⁣
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Berry’s Model of Acculturation explains the four stages individuals may go through in the process of assimilating to the dominant culture. While the journey looks different for each person, this model allows us to consider how someone’s ethnic identity is molded or influenced by the dominant culture they function in.

30/07/2020

🧠 Our plastic brain is recycling their outfit and back to talk about the prefrontal cortex (see “plastic brain “ highlight for more). The prefrontal cortex does way more than I can fit into this post and makes up 10% of our brains! (Mcbride, 1999). So I’ll focus on the bits relevant to mindfulness research. ⁣
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People with prefrontal cortex damage usually perform poorly on tasks that require inhibiting their impulses and long term tasks. They also often display short-term memory deficits, and have difficulties planning(Petrides and Pandya, 2012). ⁣
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Not only is it involved in emotional 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴, but also has connections with other parts of the brain that are responsible for controlling dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. All important neurotransmitters when it comes to mood regulation. ⁣
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It does a lot and its a part of our brain which we want keep stronger for longer if we want to function at an optimum level. So an increase in thickness and decrease in age related shrinkage, like those brought on by practising mindfulness/meditation is exactly the type of changes we want to be making in our Brain. ⁣
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✌🏽 💙

29/07/2020

We all make mistakes, and it’s usually easier making them than it is to forgive ourselves for them. ⁣
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We often talk about how important it is to show forgiveness to others, but we don’t always talk about how we can forgive ourselves when we fail to live up to our ideals. ⁣
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We can never go back in time and change what we’ve done. So spending time critising ourself for the past stops us from learning valuable lessons that can guide us and help us grow. ⁣
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Give yourself permission to not have it all together and spend time working on what you can do in the future rather than what you’ve done in the past 💙

27/07/2020

Happy 💃🏽 Today I wanted to share my favourite poem (one of the few I know 🙊 ) which I was introduced to on my first mindfulness course (MBCT).
Our thoughts and emotions really are like guests and we should treat them that way. No matter how intense a feeling is , when we learn to invite it in and sit with it , we can find a little comfort knowing that even when it overstays it’s welcome .. it will eventually leave 😉

23/07/2020

We should really treat our thoughts like the news, don’t always believe what you read, don’t blindly follow what you hear and look for evidence that challenges it. ⁣
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Happy Thursday people, I’ve been practising not listening to thoughts that I need to post regularly and instead enjoying more time in the sun and less time worrying about creating. I’ve been binning the fake news (from all parts of my life) all week 🗑 and I hope you do too 💃🏽 ⁣
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✌🏽 💙

20/07/2020

This Mindful Monday I wanted to pause and share a reminder that’s more important than a personal mindfulness exercise. Black Lives still matter, even though the media coverage has reduced, and there’s a lot of work still to be done. protests , hard work and unity is still happening and must still happen until justice is served.

To put into context just how unjust these murders on Black lives are, I remember reading a story a while back about a man in Ohio who shot a police dog. He got 45 YEARS in prison for killing a K9 officer. But police officers are out there killing innocent people like Breonna Taylor, and not even getting a single charge. That’s how little concern there is for Black lives within the police system. It makes me sick and it should make you feel sick too. For me, being mindful is also about truly noticing what’s happening around us beyond our breath, bringing our attention to it and making sure we respond in the most approbative way.. happy Monday and I hope we can all keep fighting together for what’s right !

✌🏽 💙

19/07/2020

We’ve made it through another week of 2020 and that’s definitely worth celebrating 💃🏽 Dont Forget to check in on yourself this Sunday ✌🏽 💙

16/07/2020

Some gentle reminders for your Thursday (I have to remind myself of all of these all too often 😅) ✌🏽 💙

15/07/2020

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🤗 Self compassion can feel uneasy, awkward and in some cases may even lead to dissociation (Germer & Siegel 2012). You might not feel anything at all or feel every emotion under the sun when you first practise self compassion. ⁣
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It’s not self compassion itself that’s the difficulty, it’s usually the fact that when we open up our heart to it, we also open up our heart to the pain that might be inside. Reigniting any hurt relating to unmet longings for compassion in our past. ⁣
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In my culture, there is a huge tough love mentality and you often hear people say that they “don’t have time” to practise self compassion as they could be doing something more ‘productive’. Well these ideas are usually just things we tell ourselves because we are not used to showing ourselves kindness, so it feels too alien. Or because we’ve been told that its lazy and indulgent growing up. ⁣
This leads to feelings of shame or guilt when we want to take care of ourselves that make us lose touch with our compassionate side until it becomes distant and unfamiliar. ⁣
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There’s a lot of research out there (Gilbert, 2010 is a great start) showing how self-compassionate people are better able to cope with tough situations like divorce, trauma, or chronic pain.⁣
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We all make mistakes and compassion helps us to make up for it, not only be apologising and showing compassion towards others but also by forgiving ourselves for making those mistakes. ✌🏽 💙

14/07/2020

I have teamed up with to share a little reminder that sometimes the injuries we can’t see could also use a little band aid to patch them up.⁣
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When we cut ourselves we would treat it straight away without even thinking about it. This is because we know we need to clean and cover it to avoid infection. This is essentially an act of self kindness. ⁣
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But we often don’t think to reach for the plaster when it’s not a physical injury that we face. Whether it’s when we’re tired after a long day, struggling to meet our goals or having relationship difficulties. ⁣
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Being kind to ourselves is not always easy and it definitely takes some practise but research has shown that self compassion and kindness can have huge benefits for our wellbeing (Kristen Neff has done some great work in this area). We often just don’t think to show ourselves this warmth. ⁣
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There are lots of ways that we can be kinder such as choosing to do something just for joy, eating well, practising positive affirmations or even unplugging from social media (one of my personal favourites)!⁣
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What ways do you show self compassion when you need it ? 👇🏼 🤗

13/07/2020

🧘🏽‍♀️ Happy Monday I’ve been enjoying a social media break and much needed human contact this weekend. ⁣⁣
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Here’s a lovely practise shared with me by my friend and mindful self compassion teacher .⁣
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This works particularly well when youre struggling to get on with someone, and with lockdown and too much time spent at home with our loved ones I think we are all feeling a little more strain than usual! 😆 ⁣⁣
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🤔 It’s also a nice one to practise to show compassion following those uncomfortable discussions , Which I hope we are all still having ! ⁣⁣
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✌🏽 💙

09/07/2020

It’s been a tough year and it’s still only July 🤯! This is definitely an antidote I’ve needed and tried to use. Either towards myself when I struggle with all the demands of being a new mum. Or towards others during and following uncomfortable conversations. Sending everyone a cheeky dose of compassion (we need it) this Thursday ✌🏽 💙

08/07/2020

We’ve all self sabotaged in our lives, whether its through a lack of commitment, or using unhelpful strategies to mask our emotions. When we do it, we stop ourselves from completing our goals in life and reaching our potential. Our brains are wired for the safe and familiar and this can sometimes lead us to self sabotage whenever we’re forced to step out of our comfort zone. This can leave us stuck or on a downward spiral.⁣
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We are usually unaware that we are doing it as it is linked to our self-esteem or unhelpful core beliefs. But some times even when we are aware, we feel like that’s all we are worth so there isn’t any point trying to change it. This is just another little lie that our mini MEan tells us to hold us back. ⁣
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Becoming more aware of the things we are doing that are holding us back, is usually the first step in making a meaningful change. Swipe for some reflective questions you can ask yourself when you notice these behaviours 👉🏽👉🏽⁣
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💙 ✌🏽 ⁣

06/07/2020

🧠 The plastic brain is back to celebrate Mindful Monday with a quick outfit change and a focus on the hippocampus. ⁣
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💫 Quick fact: Our hippocampus is actually shaped like a seahorse so I have no idea who named it and I’m open to answers on this one 😂 ! It’s part of the limbic system (involved in our emotion regulation and memory). And it’s the thing that allows us to remember where our house is or a person that we’ve met before. ⁣
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Even though less volume in this area is consistently linked with stress-related psychopathology, its also well known to remodel synapses and generate new neurons! This is thought to be one of the ways that anti-depressants work- by encouraging neurogenesis in the hippocampus (Santarelli et al, 2003). ⁣
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So allow yourself to take a seat, take a breath and you could be influencing more than just the present moment ✌️ 💙

05/07/2020

Today is Algerian Independence Day 🇩🇿 🎉. On the 5th of July 1962, following a civil uprising and war (1954-1962) Algerians were given their freedom after over 130 years of French.⁣
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The transgenerational impact of colonisation and war in my community is huge so I wanted to share some evidence based examples of intergenerational trauma, using examples from my community. ⁣
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Trauma impacts the way we think and act, influencing how we engage with the world. It usually involves a loss of safety whether that’s financial, physical or psychological, and a number of things including war, enslavement and colonialism can lead to long term physiological and psychological changes.⁣
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The detrimental impact of trauma can be passed on through parenting practises, entering cycles of unhealthy relationships, substance abuse and violence. ⁣
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This snowball effect passes down through the generations and research has shown that even indirect trauma such as hearing about traumatic events in the community can have profound impact on us. ⁣
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The challenge with Algerian culture is the “taboo” of talking about substance misuse, abuse, and the impact of trauma openly which means people are often stuck in unhelpful cycles without any awareness of the detrimental impact of these events. Through my own experiences I’ve noticed that people are often functioning from a place of survival rather than thriving. This is one of the reasons why I think the increase in trauma focussed approaches to Psychology, is so powerful. May we all move towards healing our trauma and breaking some of those intergenerational cycles ✌🏽💙

02/07/2020

Perfectionism. (Part 3/3). Perfectionism isn’t all bad and there are pros (e.g. getting praised /rewarded for your hard work) and cons (e.g. giving up on something too easily as you can’t do it “perfectly”).⁣
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The first step when making a change is deciding if you actually want to do it. We live in a society that promotes perfectionism so it might not even be something you want to change. But if like me it can lead to more negative consequences than positives, it might be useful to try a few things to challenge it. You might just have to step out of your comfort zone and be willing to do things a different way ⁣
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So once we draw out some of the ways we can reduce our super high standards we can think about the goal we are working towards. Remember that change is NOT easy, just because I’m writing about it doesn’t mean I’ve aced this myself and we’re all a work in progress. Give yourself permission to make mistakes and permission to enjoy a treat when you’re a little closer to achieving your goal ✌🏽 💙 ⁣

01/07/2020

Perfectionism (part2/3). In my last post on this I gave some examples of the things you might notice if you experience a lot of perfectionism 🙋🏽‍♀️ . But how does it develop? ⁣
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According cognitive behavioural psychologists (e.g. (Shafran et al, 2002), perfectionism usually develops through a mix of our early experiences, our interpretation of life events, and our temperament. All of these together may cause us to develop unhelpful thinking habits, which eventually lead to unrelenting high standards. ⁣
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Society tends to encourage having high standards (e.g. achieving the best grades, living in the best house and leaving the house with flawless make up). And these standards can be great, and have positive consequences e.g. receiving a form of praise, or providing us with structure and a sense of control. But rigid and unrealistic high standards may do more harm than good, as they trigger self critical thoughts when we are unable to meet them, or decide that they’re not good enough and continue on the persuit for more.⁣
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These beliefs, along with the thoughts and behaviours that I mentioned in Part 1 make it easy to get caught in a cycle of perfectionism, which can be tricky to move away from. ⁣
In part 3, I will highlight some of the ways psychologists have found to be helpful in tackling perfectionism. ⁣
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✌🏽 💙

29/06/2020

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Happy 💃🏽 this is one of my favourite practises because it’s quick, easy to remember and I can rely on it to ground me at any point in the day! There are no set right or wrong ways to practise but I find it helps if your eyes are shut and you’re sitting upright when you try it. ⁣
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Originally introduced by Segals, Williams and Teasdale (2002) you can find guided versions of this on YouTube or follow your own script. This practise gives you a chance to step out of “autopilot” mode and reconnect with what’s happening in the present moment. The goal is to become aware of how quickly the mind shifts and observe it without judgement. Simply to notice when the mind is wandering too, and use the breath to bring it back to a single focus. ⁣
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✌🏽 💙

28/06/2020

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Perfectionism (Part 1/3). Struggling with perfectionism 🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️ can be a real pain, and It’s something which I think a lot of us have experienced to some degree. Whether it’s stressing about a simple task like getting your make up/outfit just right for an event, or when working on an important project. ⁣⁣
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Perfectionism usually involves ; holding extremely high standards for yourself/ others, judging yourself or your worth when you don’t reach your expectations or even continuing to strive to a standard that you can’t meet even if it’s having a negative impact on your wellbeing. ⁣⁣
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There are of course positives e.g. helping you to be prepared, achieve your goals etc but there can also be negatives . E.g. not trusting others to do things so taking on too much , or never being able to meet your high standard and beating yourself up about it when you don’t. It can be one of those things we don’t easily recognise because we’re so used to doing it and see it as the only way to be, but it can hold us back from trying new things or reaching our potential when it becomes problematic (Shafran et al, 2002).⁣⁣
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Some people might have more perfectionist traits but there are also some rules and assumptions that may lead to someone experiencing unhelpful levels of perfectionism. I will highlight some of these in part 2.

22/06/2020

Sometimes when life feels heavy, confusing or full of business, we just need a gentle reminder to return to the breath and bring a little stillness to our day💙 Happy wishing everyone a peaceful start to the week. ✌🏽 💙

21/06/2020

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Procrastination (part 3/3) As I mentioned in part 2, when we’re faced with a task we don’t want to do some unhelpful rules and assumptions can get activated, so we try to minimise the discomfort they make us feel by procrastinating the task at hand. ⁣
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I’ve only given a couple of examples, and we all have different beliefs so you may have others (you can looks at part 2 and decide which rule or assumption you need to challenge in your own life). ⁣
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Although the steps mentioned above are really useful, sometimes we also have to learn to tolerate that discomfort especially it’s it’s a task that continuously brings up difficult feelings but we will have to do many times in our life (e.g. making an appointment) . ⁣
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Mindfulness can really help us to become aware of our experiences and what is triggering that discomfort. Learning to sit with it and ride the wave of the feeling can be a useful skill in helping us to deal with it the next time it comes up. ⁣
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Lets say you’re discomfort comes from a fear of being bored, give yourself 5 minutes of doing nothing and notice what happens. Then you can slowly start to increase this until you become more comfortable with the idea of doing ‘nothing’. You’re probably not missing out that much no matter what social media tells you 😉 ⁣
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Sending love and praying for a restful end to the week for everyone ✌🏽 💙

20/06/2020

Healing is not a linear process and I just wanted to share a gentle reminder to focus on how far you’ve come instead of thinking about how far you have left to go. Our wellbeing is always on a spectrum so its ok not to feel 100% every single day. It doesn’t mean you haven’t healed or progressed, it just means that you’re human and bound to have some days that challenge you more than others.
✌🏽 💙

19/06/2020

Procrastination (part 2/3) 𝗪𝐡𝐲 can’t I stop procrastinating?!its a question we’ve all asked ourselves, and it’s useful to understand why we do it before working through some practical solutions to stop doing it (or at least try 🤣)! ⁣
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According to cognitive behavioural psychologists, a lot of our behaviours are down to our 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 of our ourselves and the world. Whatever sense we make of these things, usually influences how we respond. Some of these rules and assumptions highlighted in the post, cause us to avoid rather than approach our tasks, leading to procrastination. ⁣
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And when it comes to procrastination, a lot of our excuses and beliefs include ‘𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥’, ‘𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵’ and ‘𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵’ statements (Knaus 1979; 2002). These are rigid statements that hold us back in so many areas and are usually linked to high anxiety and perfectionist traits. ⁣
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Humans are creatures of habit, and we usually feel good knowing that we can stick to our comfortable and familiar way of thinking. no one likes to get uncomfortable, and when these beliefs or assumptions are triggered in our mind, we’re basically using procrastination to cope with that discomfort. We believe it’s better to avoid doing a task than experience any of the short term anxiety that might come when doing it. This might work in the short term, but doesn’t usually help in the long term. ⁣
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We usually end up feeling overwhelmed by the build up of tasks or become really critical of ourselves for not managing to complete them at all. ⁣
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💃🏽 The good news it that there are ways that we can try to deal with this procrastination, once we’ve identified that it’s happening . And I’ll highlight some of these in Part 3.⁣
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✌🏽💙⁣

18/06/2020

The plastic brain is back and ready to make some changes (See “neuroplasticity” in my highlights if you have no idea what I’m on about 🤣).⁣
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Mindfulness practitioners have been preaching the benefits of it, for our brain for longer than it’s been in the Western world. And now we have the science to back it ! Research shows that mindfulness not only changes our relationship with emotionally charged thoughts but leads to structural changes in our Amygdala, which is like our “fear centre”.⁣
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The amygdala tries its best to keep us safe, by being on alert and letting our body know if we’re in any danger. However sometimes it can mistake normal every day stress, for an immediate threat. So it sends out a distress signal to our command centre (the hypothalamus ) and leads to that ‘Fight/flight/freeze’ response that we experience. ⁣
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Mindfulness practise (specifically mindfulness meditation) has been found to affect the amygdala’s structure and function. A number of studies have found that the amygdala response is smaller for emotional stimuli e.g. looking at negative self beliefs on a screen, after practising mindfulness .Some (e.g. Hölzel et al., 2011) have also found a decrease in gray matter following 8 weeks of mindfulness training. The smaller their amygdala became, the less stressed people felt , even though their external environment remained the same. ⁣
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It demonstrated that structural changes in the amygdala reflected the change in the people’s 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 to their environment, not in the environment itself. And it serves as a gentle reminder that it’s the 𝘸𝘢𝘺 we respond to things rather than what’s actually happening that can have the greatest impact on our distress.. and on our brains! 🧠 ⁣
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✌🏽 💙 ⁣

17/06/2020

Procrastination Part 1/3 🙋🏽‍♀️Most of us procrastinate every once in a while, and we all have different ways that we do it. For me it usually looks like scrolling through endless memes or creating elaborate lists that I never get to the end of. Ironically, I planned this post weeks ago but kept procrastinating and never got round to posting😅⁣
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Even though we all do it sometimes, there is a difference between 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 procrastination, and more 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 procrastination. We might put off some less pressing tasks like doing the weekly shop, and this probably won’t have a huge impact on us. But when we put off the more important tasks (like meeting a deadline, or paying a bill), it can cause us to become overwhelmed with the number of mounting tasks. In the worst case scenario, it can lead to us failing a piece of work, getting in trouble for not paying what we owe, or even losing a job.⁣
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When we engage in procrastination activities, we tend to feel a lot of shame or guilt because we realise we 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be doing the task at hand. So we try to justify our behaviour, and use excuses to make ourselves feel a little better about things. The problem is, this doesn’t serve us well in the long run.⁣
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A lot of the times we procrastinate because we live by unhelpful rules and assumptions (Burka et al, 1983). Not all rules and assumptions are unhelpful. For example a rule I have is that I try to be charitable and help others when I can. This is obviously a helpful rule, but we can also have some unhelpful ones. These are usually filled with ‘𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥’ and ‘𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵’𝘴’ e.g. I should wait until I’m in the mood or I can’t be bothered right now. ⁣
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The task we are avoiding doing, is usually one that makes us uncomfortable. So instead we decide to put it off completely and save ourselves from feeling that discomfort. It’s useful to sit back and have a think about how procrastination is showing up in your life, and what unhelpful rules or assumptions you have been living by. I will share the most common rules and assumptions in part 2.

16/06/2020

in my previous post I shared evidence for the impact of media bias , but how do they do it ? ⁣
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We all make sense of our experiences using language, so it makes sense to use it as a powerful tool to encourage people to support your cause. Great if you’re fighting for a good cause, but not so great if you’re using it to push a bias agenda. ⁣
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Sometimes the language used can have a huge impact on how you view events or how you perceive another social group. How many times do you see statements such as protesters “𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥” change or “𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘴” ?No context is given to these events, and this type of language undermines the readers ability to connect with the protesters or their reasoning. ⁣
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It’s not only 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 the media tell us but 𝘩𝘰𝘸 they tell us that influences our perspective. Everything from where an article is placed, the fonts used and the selection of sources is there for a reason. And it all ‭affects audi-‬⁣
ences’‭ ‬attitudes‭ ‬and‭ ‬behaviours towards the individual or groups featured.⁣
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Most of us take in a lot of media daily, and it would be really draining for our minds to filter out all the times bias is being used. It’s better to simply limit our exposure to the media (especially negative news stories) and approach articles or videos with awareness.⁣
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When we become more aware of the methods used we can recognise them and become less likely to form bias opinions based on them.⁣
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A lovely suggestion shared with me by was to research an opposite view on something to encourage critical thinking. So If you see a negative article about how violent the BLM protesters are , look for one that demonstrates their peace. If you read a negative article about a religious group , find something that proves otherwise. Whatever it may be for you, challenging our ideas in this way allows us to take what we need from the media and leave the things that don’t serve us.

15/06/2020

Happy 💃🏽 I wanted to share a little throwback today which I doodled a few years ago. Life is all about perspective and a lot of our suffering comes from that desire of wanting things to be different. ⁣
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When we over-identify with a difficult experience or emotion, we tend to get locked into these cycles of conditioned responses or pain avoidance. This reduces our ability to take a step back and approach things with more awareness.⁣
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When we are mindful, we allow our experiences to unfold without evaluation or criticism. This helps us to stay connected to what’s happening around us, without getting stuck thinking about how we wish things were different. ⁣
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Sometimes things are not as bad as they seem, and although things may look brighter on the other side, sometimes we just need to shift our own perspective in order to see the good in things on our side of the river. ⁣
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✌🏽 💙 ⁣

14/06/2020

🤓 The media works under a process called agenda setting, in which journalists’ focus the public’s attention to specific issues facing the country and local communities. ⁣
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Journalists have a duty to provide impartial and balanced information but this doesn’t always happen. Not because they’re 𝘣𝘢𝘥 people, but because they are human and we all have some form of 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴 (which I posted about a short while ago). ⁣
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𝐍𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 is fully impartial, and we all have our own views that we stick on our agendas. For example some newspapers framing BLM protesters as “rule breakers” for protesting, but beach goers as “crowds enjoying the heatwave” did so because it got their agenda. Whatever we see through the media, whether it’s socials or newspapers, it’s there because it’s on the author’s agenda. This is fine if the information is not damaging to a particular group in society, but in mainstream media, it often is.⁣
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⚠️ The long term impact of repeated negative news exposure, is that it becomes “common knowledge” about these groups and influences real world interactions with people from these groups.⁣
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That’s why if you see an Arab with a beard and backpack on the tube or a Black man with a hoody on the street, you might question whether you’re in danger. You may have never been threatened or hurt by these people in real life, but in your mind that imagery is so powerful that it leads to a fear response. That’s the power of repeated implicit messages that we take in from society, and for the most part through the media. ⁣
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This is damaging not only on an individual level, but for society as it keeps us separated. As long as we keep fearing each other based on the information we take in from the media, we will struggle to move towards a more compassionate and open way of engaging with other social groups. ⁣
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Read about, speak to, and learn from people who look and believe different things to you. Don’t be afraid to approach difference with curiosity, instead of making an assumption about a social group based on their representation in the media.

We Are Mindful