Mindfulness For The Unemployed: Combating Discouragement

For almost a decade, we have been living with extremely high levels of unemployment, which has generated multiple losses for people in this situation, in a situation of vulnerability. Mindfulness for the unemployed, among other things, is an effective treatment to combat the discouragement that settles in these people’s lives, and which makes any attempt to get out of this situation even more difficult.

Some of the issues focused by mindfulness for the unemployed are:

• Personal insecurity;
• The dissatisfaction of basic needs;
• Frustration in life expectancies;
• And, definitely, the attitude with which people face this difficult situation.

Thus, as a consequence of all these problems, there are several options to be carried out that can help the unemployed to acquire a better quality of life, despite the problems.

Mindfulness for the unemployed: an ajar door where once there were only bricks

One of the first, and most difficult, alternatives that people who cannot find a job have is to leave their cities or countries in order to find a new job or increase their well-being, economic and social security, and their personal fulfillment.

However, this process involves a huge transition, as the person leaves his home and his social environment, family, friends, neighbors… it is a truly arduous process until he settles down again. People who migrate looking for a new job may achieve economic stability, but they put their emotional stability at risk.

The lack of support and affection, as well as possible problems with integration and adaptation, open doors to the need to train the mind to ensure an adequate emotional balance.

Unemployed people who, for various reasons, cannot afford to immigrate in search of a better life, live in a precarious situation. This collective has very little money and a limited lifestyle, which serves as a basis for entering a cycle of despair, demotivation and frustration, circumstances that can easily lead to a mental imbalance.

Therefore, this collective demands and needs training in strategies that favor new horizons and solutions based on a personal focus. 

Work is one of the tools with which people define and project themselves, in addition to being the vehicle to satisfy survival needs. It has a touch of identity, as it encompasses us in a social status and favors the feeling of usefulness, by having basic needs met and facilitating community participation within society.

Unemployment often causes social isolation and feelings of insecurity and devaluation. These emotions undermine and destroy self-esteem, and can lead to disorders as dangerous as depression or anxiety. If this happens, it will undoubtedly negatively affect the personality and family relationships, creating stressful situations.

Why use mindfulness for the unemployed?

For all that was exposed in the previous paragraph, it is highly recommended to use mindfulness techniques for the unemployed in order to achieve and maintain good mental health and an adequate emotional balance in such a battered population.

For this, it is necessary to employ three defined strategies, differentiating psychotherapy, medication and lifestyle modification.

• In relation to medication, it must be said that this is of little use if it is not accompanied by psychotherapy. You should not medicate a person who does nothing to change their situation. In this case, the medications serve as an anesthesia, and that is not the purpose of the medication, but the opposite. Medications should act as a motivator for new behaviors, allowing people, along with their effort, to get out of the emotional situation in which they find themselves.
• Regarding psychotherapy, it is worth noting that acceptance therapy based on mindfulness, or mindfulness, can be as effective as medication in helping to treat mental health problems. Mindfulness-based acceptance therapy was developed as an alternative to confrontation to help people recognize, accept, and respond constructively to inappropriate thoughts and feelings. In this way, mindfulness for the unemployed is having a lot of success because it doesn’t fight against the external, that which is out of our control, but against the internal.       

• As for the change in lifestyle, it indicates that the person himself needs to be conscious and consistent, since this point of view has an intentional character. To reach the desired goal, a person must acquire a high knowledge of himself, provided through meditation and reflection. Mindfulness for the unemployed should not be understood as a therapy, but as a lifestyle.

Finally, we leave here a story for reflection.

the rock on the way

In a distant kingdom, a king placed a large rock in the middle of the main entrance path to the region, making passage difficult. Then he hid to see if anyone would remove the stone.

The richest merchants in the kingdom and a few passing courtiers simply circled the rock. Many of them spent hours complaining about the rock and blaming the king for not keeping the paths neat, but none of them did anything to remove the obstacle.

Then a peasant arrived carrying a load of vegetables. He left the load on the ground and studied the rock on the way, watching it. He tried to move it by pushing and making a plank with a piece of wood he found on the way, after pushing and tiring a lot, he finally managed to move the rock. While collecting his load, he found a bag exactly where the rock was. The bag contained a good amount of gold coins and a letter from the king, indicating that this was the reward for the one who cleared the way. 

The peasant learned what others never learned:  every obstacle overcome is an opportunity to improve his condition.