Faktor-faktor yang Mempengaruhi Depresi

Faktor-faktor yang Mempengaruhi Depresi

Depresi dapat dijelaskan oleh berbagai pendekatan, yang dapat digunakan untuk menjelaskan kemunculannya.

a. Dimensi Biologis

Pendekatan biologis menemukan bahwa faktor genetis, sistem endokrin, dan neurotransmitter berperan dalam kemunculan depresi (Halgin & Whitbourne, 1997). Kemunculan depresi dalam prespektif biologi dapat dipahami bahwa kehidupan yang penuh stres mengaktifkan hormon stres, berefek luas pada sistem neurotransmitter khususnya serotonin, norepinephirne, dan circadian rhythms function/CRF. Pengaktifan hormon stres dalam jangka waktu lama akan mempengaruhi gen, menghasilkan perubahan jangka panjang pada struktur dan kimia di otak (Durand & Barlow, 2003).

b. Dimensi Psikologis

1). Pendekatan Psikodinamika

Pendekatan ini menekankan penyebab depresi sebagai rasa kehilangan dari suatu objek atau status (Dacey & Kenny, 1997). Proses hubungan antara orangtua dan anaknya merupakan sumber kehilangan, seperti perceraian orangtua, kurangnya kasih sayang orangtua, kurangnya penghargaan tanpa syarat kepada anak, perpisahan orangtua dengan anak, dan kehilangan orangtua dapat menyebabkan depresi.

2). Pendekatan Behavioral

Pendekatan ini memandang bahwa kurangnya reinforcement positif, seperti ketertarikan dan perhatian orangtua terhadap anaknya, dan dampak perubahan hidup mempengaruhi timbulnya depresi. Faktor yang penting lain dalam memahami depresi salah satunya adalah perasaan tidak berdaya (learned helplessness), muncul ketika dihadapkan pada situasi yang tidak menyenangkan, seperti stres atau rasa sakit yang berkepanjangan, dan individu merasa tidak memiliki kendali atasnya (Santrock, 2003b). Pengalaman perasaan tidak berharga seperti ini mengarahkan individu pada perasaan putus asa dan keyakinan bahwa tidak ada yang bisa dilakukan untuk memperbaikinya. Depresi yang dialami remaja putri muncul dikarenakan meningkatnya perasaan tidak berdaya (learned helplessness) yang disebabkan karena meningkatnya penekanan terhadap diri sendiri, kemandirian, dan individualime serta menurunnya hubungan dengan orang lain, keluarga, dan agama (Seligman dalam Santrock, 2003a). Perasaan tidak berharga terjadi ketika remaja putri dihadapkan pada situasi yang tidak menyenangkan atau rasa sakit yang berlangsung lama, sementara remaja putri merasa tidak memiliki kendali untuk mengubahnya, sehingga memupuk perasaan putus asa dan keyakinan bahwa tidak ada yang bisa dilakukan lagi. Remaja putri yang mengalami depresi akan bersikap apatis karena merasa tidak menerima penghargaan dari orang lain (Santrock, 2003a).

3). Pendekatan Humanistik-Eksistensial

Teori ini memfokuskan atas kehilangan harga diri sebagai penyebab depresi yang utama, kehilangan objek ini dapat nyata atau simbolik, misalnya prestasi belajar menurun, status sosial ekonomi. Perbedaan antara ideal self seseorang dengan persepsinya terhadap keadaan yang senyatanya menjadi sumber depresi. Keadaan ini terkait dengan ketidakmampuan individu untuk mengalami kontinyuitas perasaan secara langsung yang erat kaitanya dengan hilangnya kesadaran diri dengan tubuh sebagai suatu kesatuan diri (May dalam Koeswara, 1988). Terkadang orang tidak menyadari seutuhnya apa yang dialaminya, seperti seseorang memikirkan tentang situasi emosinya melalui keluhan fisik tanpa mengerti atau merasakan kaitan perasaannya yang ditekan dengan keluhan fisik yang dilontarkan. Tanpa adanya kesadaran diri di sini dan saat ini tentang apa yang dialaminya dan konflik yang sedang dihadapinya, ia tidak akan merasa bahagia dan akan terjebak dalam permasalahan yang dirasakan. Sikap individu yang memisahkan dan mengobjekkan tubuh tanpa dirinya hanya sebagai tubuh tanpa subjek, hal ini tidak hanya terlihat dalam hubungan individu dengan dirinya, tetapi juga dalam hubungan individu dengan orang lain.

4). Pendekatan Kognitif

Penderita depresi menunjukkan pandangan negatif terhadap pengalaman, diri dan masa depan mereka. Penderita depresi juga menunjukkan distorsi kognitif, yaitu kesalahan dalam berpikir yang dibuat penderita depresi dalam menarik kesimpulan terhadap apa yang dialaminya (Beck, 1985). Beck berpendapat bahwa penderita depresi mempunyai skema negatif. Skema adalah sebagai suatu bentuk struktur kognitif yang merupakan konseptualisasi pada respon terhadap keadaan lingkungan berdasarkan pengalamannya. Struktur kognitif atau skema mulai terbentuk sejak awal, yaitu sejak individu mengembangkan berbagai konsep dan sikap mengenai dirinya dan dunianya. Konsep individu tersebut tersusun dari pengalaman, dari penilaian orang lain, dan dari identifikasi terhadap figur kunci seperti orangtua, saudara, atau teman. Respon afektif ditentukan oleh bagaimana cara individu memandang pengalamannya, bila konsep individu terhadap suatu situasi tidak menyenangkan, maka individu tersebut akan mengalami respon afektif yang tidak menyenangkan sesuai dengan pemikirannya. Pandangan kognitif menekankan bahwa remaja yang mengalami depresi pada masa anak-anaknya akan membentuk skema kognitif dengan karakteristik rendahnya penilaian terhadap diri sendiri dan tidak memiliki keyakinan akan masa depannya (Beck dalam Santrock, 2003a). Kebiasaan pemikiran negatif dari masa anak-anak akan meningkatkan pengalaman negatif yang dimiliki remaja putri dan akan berujung depresi.

Berdasarkan pendekatan kognitif mindfulness dapat dipandang sebagai kualitas kesadaran diri. Afeksi atau emosi dan kognitif memerankan peran penting pada kemunculan depresi dalam arus kesadaran. Keadaan afektif atau emosi negatif bagi seseorang yang mengalami depresi akan disertai adanya pemikiran yang menjelaskan munculnya keadaan tersebut (Greenberger & Padesky, 2004). Beck (1985) dan Burns (1988) mengungkapkan bahwa respon afektif atau emosi ditentukan bagaimana seseorang memandang pengalamannya sebagai hasil interaksinya dengan lingkungan. Seorang individu mengalami situasi atau keadaan yang tidak menyenangkan, maka akan mengalami respon afektif atau emosi yang tidak menyenangkan sesuai dengan pemikirannya mengenai keadaanya tersebut (kognitif). Berpikir terlalu mendalam (rumination) sebagai pemikiran negatif akan situasi yang dihadapi meningkatkan afeksi atau emosi negatif, begitu pula sebaliknya (Bishop dkk, 2004). Ketika seseorang mengalami tekanan kehidupan begitu kuat sehingga muncul suasana hati yang tidak menyenangkan dan disertai pemikiran negatif mengenai keadaan dirinya akan berujung depresi. Depresi merupakan keadaan seseorang ketika merasakan suasana hati yang tidak menyenangkan akan situasi yang dihadapi yang disertai pemikiran negatif atasnya (Ma & Teasdale, 2004). Pemikiran ataupun emosi yang dirasakan muncul dalam arus kesadaran sebagai akibat interaksinya dengan lingkungan (Damasio, 2000; Thompson & Varela, 2001; Capra, 2003).

Mindfulness dimulai dengan membawa keadaan sadar terjaga pada pengalaman di sini-saat ini, dengan meningkatkan fokus perhatian pada perubahan yang terjadi atas pikiran, perasaan, dan sensasi diamati dari waktu ke waktu. Peningkatan fokus perhatian menghasilkan kesadaran non-elaboratif dan tanpa penilaian akan pikiran, perasaan, dan sensasi yang muncul sehingga mindfulness merupakan pengalaman langsung akan realitas. Keadaan penerimaan dalam mindfulness muncul sebagai pengalaman terbuka akan realitas yang terjadi di sini-saat ini (Roemer & Orsillo dalam Bishop, 2004). Pengalaman terbuka dan penerimaan memungkinkan perspektif yang lebih luas akan pikiran dan perasaannya sehingga resiko depresi dapat dikurangi bersama dengan meningkatnya kesadaran akan pikiran negatif sebagai peristiwa mental yang muncul dalam arus kesadaran (Lau & McMain, 2005; Finucane & Mercer, 2006).

c. Dimensi Sosial-lingkungan (Pendekatan Hubungan Interpersonal)

Memahami depresi yang terjadi pada remaja memerlukan informasi mengenai pengalamannya pada masa remaja dan anak-anak. Ikatan antara ibu dan anak yang tidak memberikan rasa aman, tanpa rasa cinta dan kasih sayang dalam pengasuhan anak, atau kehilangan salah satu orangtua pada masa anak-anak akan menciptakan set kognitif yang negatif (Bowlby dalam Santrock, 2003a). Skema kognitif yang negatif tersebut akan dibawa terus hingga mempengaruhi pengalamannya pada masa kehidupan selanjutnya. Pengalaman-pengalaman baru remaja putri yang berkaitan dengan kehilangan akan memicu munculnya depresi.

Hubungan dengan keluarga atau teman sebaya berpengaruh pada munculnya depresi pada remaja. Orangtua yang mengalami depresi atau orang yang tidak hadir secara emosional, terlibat dalam konflik perkawinan, dan memiliki masalah ekonomi memunculkan depresi pada anak remaja mereka (Downey & Goyne; Galambos & Sears; Lee & Gotlieb; Lempers & Clark-Lempers dalam Santrock, 2003a). Ketiadaan hubungan yang dekat dengan sahabat, sedikitnya teman, dan penolakan dari teman sebaya dapat meningkatkan munculnya depresi pada remaja (Vernberg dalam Santrock, 2003a).

Berdasarkan uraian di atas tampak bahwa masing-masing pendekatan mempunyai tinjauan dan pandangan yang berbeda dalam menerangkan terjadinya depresi. Keadaan mindfulness berperan dalam muncul atau tidaknya depresi. Berpikir terlalu mendalam sebagai pemikiran negatif akan situasi yang dihadapi meningkatkan afeksi atau emosi negatif. Depresi muncul ketika seseorang merasakan suasana hati yang tidak menyenangkan akan situasi yang dihadapi yang disertai pemikiran negatif atasnya. Mindfulness adalah pengalaman di sini-saat ini akan keberadaannya yang merupakan kesadaran non-elaboratif dan tanpa penilaian akan pikiran, perasaan, dan sensasi yang muncul sebagai pengalaman langsung akan realitas. Mindfulness memungkinkan perspektif yang lebih luas akan pikiran dan perasaannya sehingga resiko depresi dapat dikurangi bersama dengan meningkatnya kesadaran akan pikiran negatif sebagai peristiwa mental yang muncul dalam arus kesadaran.

Depresi pada Remaja Putri

Depresi pada Remaja Putri

Depresi merupakan gangguan psikologis yang banyak dialami pada masa remaja (Steinberg, 2002). Depresi akan terlihat sebagai suatu periode perasaan kesedihan atau suasana hati yang tertekan, yang dialami remaja dapat berlangsung singkat atau selama jangka waktu tertentu (Santrock, 2003a). Simtom depresi pada remaja akan terlihat seperti kurang berminat pada kegiatan yang menyenangkan, menjauhi teman, pesimis tanpa harapan, rasa tidak peduli–kebosanan berlebihan, kurang motivasi dan energi, gangguan tidur, cenderung berpakaian gelap, menulis bertema kesedihan, atau mendengarkan musik bertema suasana hati kacau. Depresi pada remaja menjadi patologis atau gangguan muncul ketika durasinya terlalu lama atau intensitasnya besar (Dacey & Kenny, 1997).

Depresi pada remaja dibedakan dalam tiga keadaan, yaitu suasana hati tertekan (depressed mood), sindroma depresif (depressive syndromes), dan depresi klinis (depressive disorder) (Santrock, 2003a; Compas & Gotlieb, 2002; Steinberg, 2002). Suasana hati tertekan merupakan suatu periode kesedihan atau suasana hati tidak bahagia yang dialami remaja dapat berlangsung singkat atau selama jangka waktu relatif lama (Santrock, 2003a). Suasana hati tertekan pada remaja akan muncul sebagai simtom tunggal seperti kesedihan, perasaan tidak bahagia dalam waktu tertentu (Compas & Gotlieb, 2002). Kesedihan atau perasaan tidak bahagia merupakan hal umum terjadi pada remaja sebagai respon terhadap pengalaman sehari-hari, seperti kehilangan hubungan yang berarti atau kegagalan melakukan tugas penting. Sindroma depresif muncul pada remaja sebagai suatu kesatuan tingkah laku dan emosi meliputi kecemasan dan suasana hati tertekan dengan gejala seperti perasaan kesepian, menangis, takut melakukan hal yang buruk, perasaan ingin sempurna, perasaan tidak dicintai, perasaan tidak berharga, gugup, merasa bersalah, sedih dan rasa cemas (Santrock, 2003a). Depresi klinis muncul bila remaja didiagnosis mengalami gangguan depresif mayor atau gangguan distimia.

Suasana hati tertekan, dan sindroma depresif menjadi keadaan yang banyak dialami pada masa remaja. Depresi yang dialami remaja terkait dengan meningkatnya kehidupan penuh stress (tekanan) dan perubahan keadaan kognitif yang cenderung kurang introspektif dan berpikir terlalu mendalam yang disertai pula suasana hati yang tidak menyenangkan akan segala sesuatu (Steinberg, 2002).

Masa remaja merupakan masa transisi dari masa anak-anak menuju masa dewasa. Depresi meningkat pada masa transisi perkembangan antara remaja awal-tengah sampai remaja akhir (Dacey & Kenny, 1997). Peningkatan depresi pada remaja ini terjadi sebagai akibat dari perubahan yang berlangsung cepat dalam kehidupannya. Perubahan yang terjadi diantaranya adalah meningkatnya peristiwa kehidupan yang penuh stres, seperti perubahan sekolah, teman baru, ataupun tugas sosial lingkungan yang baru. Perubahan secara kognitif pada remaja mencakup kemampuan untuk memahami, mengekspresikan emosi yang merupakan refleksi diri terkadang mengalami hambatan terlebih lagi tentang bagaimana memahami masa depannya nanti (Petersen dalam Dacey & Kenny, 1997).

Meningkatnya simtom-simtom depresi pada remaja itu sendiri dipengaruhi oleh perubahan kondisi hormonal, seperti mulai aktifnya hormon testosteron dan estrogen yang berdampak secara fisik sekaligus psikologis. Perubahan hormonal mempengaruhi kesiapan alat reproduksi dan berdampak pada kematangan seksual, seperti perasaan menyukai lawan jenis pada remaja putri, dan bila mengalami kegagalan dalam menjalin hubungan dapat menjadi faktor penyebab depresi. Berbagai faktor penyebab meningkatnya simtom-simtom depresi sebagaimana diuraikan di atas dapat terjadi dalam waktu yang bersamaan, sehingga meningkatkan resiko depresi, khususnya pada remaja putri (Dacey & Kenny, 1997).

putri memiliki kecenderungan depresi yang lebih tinggi, hal ini terjadi karena beberapa alasan. Gambaran diri remaja putri terutama mengenai tubuh mereka seringkali lebih negatif dibandingkan gambaran diri remaja laki-laki, dan masyarakat sering bersikap berat sebelah dan tidak memihak remaja putri (Nolen-Hoeksema & Seligman dalam Santrock, 2005). Nolen dan Hoeksema (Davidson & Neale, 1996) menyatakan bahwa perbedaan tingkat depresi antara remaja laki-laki dan remaja putri disebabkan perbedaan cara dalam coping terhadap stres. Remaja laki-laki akan terlibat aktivitas (olah raga; misalnya sepak bola, basket) sehingga mereka tidak memperlihatkan suasana hati mereka. Remaja putri terlihat kurang aktif, cenderung merenungkan situasi yang mereka hadapi dan menyalahkan diri sendiri. Santrock (2005) mengungkapkan bahwa remaja putri lebih tinggi tingkat depresinya dibanding remaja laki-laki karena : a) remaja putri cenderung berpikir terlalu mendalam (rumination) mengenai keadaan suasana hatinya yang tertekan; b) gambaran diri remaja putri mengenai tubuhnya lebih negatif dari pada remaja laki-laki; c) remaja putri lebih mengalami diskriminasi dari pada laki-laki; d) perubahan hormonal yang dialami khususnya remaja putri.

Berdasarkan uraian di atas dapat disimpulkan bahwa depresi pada remaja putri merupakan keadaan suasana hati yang tidak menyenangkan, disebabkan oleh perubahan-perubahan yang terjadi pada dirinya, seperti perubahan fisik, emosi, kognisi, serta keadaan lingkungan. Depresi muncul pada remaja putri yang ditandai dengan perubahan suasana hati yang tidak menyenangkan, kognitif, motivasional, dan fisik. Hal ini bila dibiarkan dapat menghambat pertumbuhan dan perkembangan pada diri remaja putri.

Meditation In Everyday Life

Meditation In Everyday Life

Every musician plays scales. When you begin to study the piano, that's the first thing you learn, and you never stop playing scales. The finest concert pianists in the world still play scales. It's a basic skill that can't be allowed to get rusty.

Every baseball player practices batting. It's the first thing you learn in Little League, and you never stop practicing. Every World Series game begins with batting practice. Basic skills must always remain sharp.

Seated meditation is the arena in which the meditator practices his own fundamental skills. The game the meditator is playing is the experience of his own life, and the instrument upon which he plays is his own sensory apparatus. Even the most seasoned meditator continues to practice seated meditation, because it tunes and sharpens the basic mental skills he needs for his particular game. We must never forget, however, that seated meditation itself is not the game. It's the practice. The game in which those basic skills are to be applied is the rest of one's experiential existence. Meditation that is not applied to daily living is sterile and limited.

The purpose of Vipassana meditation is nothing less than the radical and permanent transformation of your entire sensory and cognitive experience. It is meant to revolutionize the whole of your life experience. Those periods of seated practice are times set aside for instilling new mental habits. You learn new ways to receive and understand sensation. You develop new methods of dealing with conscious thought, and new modes of attending to the incessant rush of your own emotions. These new mental behaviors must be made to carry over into the rest of your life. Otherwise, meditation remains dry and fruitless, a theoretical segment of your existence that is unconnected to all the rest. Some effort to connect these two segments is essential. A certain amount of carry-over will take place spontaneously, but the process will be slow and unreliable. You are very likely to be left with the feeling that you are getting nowhere and to drop the process as unrewarding.

One of the most memorable events in your meditation career is the moment when you first realize that you are meditation in the midst of some perfectly ordinary activity. You are driving down the freeway or carrying out the trash and it just turns on by itself. This unplanned outpouring of the skills you have been so carefully fostering is a genuine joy. It gives you a tiny window on the future. You catch a spontaneous glimpse of what the practice really means. The possibility strikes you that this transformation of consciousness could actually become a permanent feature of your experience. You realize that you could actually spend the rest of your days standing aside from the debilitating clamoring of your own obsessions, no longer frantically hounded by your own needs and greed. You get a tiny taste of what it is like to just stand aside and watch it all flow past. It's a magic moment.

That vision is liable to remain unfulfilled, however, unless you actively seek to promote the carry-over process. The most important moment in meditation is the instant you leave the cushion. When your practice session is over, you can jump up and drop the whole thing, or you can bring those skills with you into the rest of your activities.

It is crucial for you to understand what meditation is. It is not some special posture, and it's not just a set of mental exercises. Meditation is a cultivation of mindfulness and the application of that mindfulness once cultivated. You do not have to sit to meditate. You can meditate while washing the dishes. You can meditate in the shower, or roller skating, or typing letters. Meditation is awareness, and it must be applied to each and every activity of one's life. This isn't easy.

We specifically cultivate awareness through the seated posture in a quiet place because that's the easiest situation in which to do so. Meditation in motion is harder. Meditation in the midst of fast-paced noisy activity is harder still. And meditation in the midst of intensely egoistic activities like romance or arguments is the ultimate challenge. The beginner will have his hands full with less stressful activities.

Yet the ultimate goal of practice remains: to build one's concentration and awareness to a level of strength that will remain unwavering even in the midst of the pressures of life in contemporary society. Life offers many challenges and the serious meditator is very seldom bored.

Carrying your meditation into the events of your daily life is not a simple process. Try it and you will see. That transition point between the end of your meditation session and the beginning of 'real life' is a long jump. It's too long for most of us. We find our calm and concentration evaporating within minutes, leaving us apparently no better off than before. In order to bridge this gulf, Buddhists over the centuries have devised an array of exercises aimed at smoothing the transition. They take that jump and break it down into little steps. Each step can be practiced by itself.

1. Walking Meditation

Our everyday existence is full of motion and activity. Sitting utterly motionless for hours on end is nearly the opposite of normal experience. Those states of clarity and tranquility we foster in the midst of absolute stillness tend to dissolve as soon as we move. We need some transitional exercise that will teach us the skill of remaining calm and aware in the midst of motion. Walking meditation helps us make that transition from static repose to everyday life. It's meditation in motion, and it is often used as an alternative to sitting. Walking is especially good for those times when you are extremely restless. An hour of walking meditation will often get you through that restless energy and still yield considerable quantities of clarity. You can then go on to the seated meditation with greater profit.

Standard Buddhist practice advocates frequent retreats to complement your daily sitting practice. A retreat is a relatively long period of time devoted exclusively to meditation. One or two day retreats are common for lay people. Seasoned meditators in a monastic situation may spend months at a time doing nothing else. Such practice is rigorous, and it makes sizable demands on both mind and body. Unless you have been at it for several years, there is a limit to how long you can sit and profit. Ten solid hours of the seated posture will produce in most beginners a state of agony that far exceeds their concentration powers. A profitable retreat must therefore be conducted with some change of posture and some movement. The usual pattern is to intersperse blocks of sitting with blocks of walking meditation. An hour of each with short breaks between is common.

To do the walking meditation, you need a private place with enough space for at least five to ten paces in a straight line. You are going to be walking back and forth very slowly, and to the eyes of most Westerners, you'll look curious and disconnected from everyday life. This is not the sort of exercise you want to perform on the front lawn where you'll attract unnecessary attention. Choose a private place.

The physical directions are simple. Select an unobstructed area and start at one end. Stand for a minute in an attentive position. Your arms can be held in any way that is comfortable, in front, in back, or at your sides. Then while breathing in, lift the heel of one foot. While breathing out, rest that foot on its toes. Again while breathing in, lift that foot, carry it forward and while breathing out, bring the foot down and touch the floor. Repeat this for the other foot. Walk very slowly to the opposite end, stand for one minute, then turn around very slowly, and stand there for another minute before you walk back. Then repeat the process. Keep you head up and you neck relaxed. Keep your eyes open to maintain balance, but don't look at anything in particular. Walk naturally. Maintain the slowest pace that is comfortable, and pay not attention to your surroundings. Watch out for tensions building up in the body, and release them as soon as you spot them. Don't make any particular attempt to be graceful. Don't try to look pretty. This is not an athletic exercise, or a dance. It is an exercise in awareness. Your objective is to attain total alertness, heightened sensitivity and a full, unblocked experience of the motion of walking. Put all of your attention on the sensations coming from the feet and legs. Try to register as much information as possible about each foot as it moves. Dive into the pure sensation of walking, and notice every subtle nuance of the movement. Feel each individual muscle as it moves. Experience every tiny change in tactile sensation as the feet press against the floor and then lift again.

Notice the way these apparently smooth motions are composed of complex series of tiny jerks. Try to miss nothing. In order to heighten your sensitivity, you can break the movement down into distinct components. Each foot goes through a lift, a swing; and then a down tread. Each of these components has a beginning, middle, and end. In order to tune yourself in to this series of motions, you can start by making explicit mental notes of each stage. Make a mental note of "lifting, swinging, coming down, touching floor, pressing" and so on. This is a training procedure to familiarize you with the sequence of motions and to make sure that you don't miss any. As you become more aware of the myriad subtle events going on, you won't have time for words. You will find yourself immersed in a fluid, unbroken awareness of motion. The feet will become your whole universe. If your mind wanders, note the distraction in the usual way, then return your attention to walking. Don't look at your feet while you are doing all of this, and don't walk back and forth watching a mental picture of your feet and legs. Don't think, just feel. You don't need the concept of feet and you don't need pictures. Just register the sensations as they flow. In the beginning, you will probably have some difficulties with balance. You are using the leg muscles in a new way, and a learning period is natural. If frustration arises, just note that and let it go.

The Vipassana walking technique is designed to flood your consciousness with simple sensations, and to do it so thoroughly that all else is pushed aside. There is no room for thought and no room for emotion. There is no time for grasping, and none for freezing the activity into a series of concepts. There is no need for a sense of self. There is only the sweep of tactile and kinesthetic sensation, an endless and ever-changing flood of raw experience. We are learning here to escape into reality, rather than from it. Whatever insights we gain are directly applicable to the rest of our notion-filled lives.

2. Postures

The goal of our practice is to become fully aware of all facets of our experience in an unbroken, moment-to-moment flow. Much of what we do and experience is completely unconscious in the sense that we do it with little or no attention. Our minds are on something else entirely. We spend most of our time running on automatic pilot, lost in the fog of day-dreams and preoccupations.

One of the most frequently ignored aspects of our existence is our body. The technicolor cartoon show inside our head is so alluring that we tend to remove all of our attention from the kinesthetic and tactile senses. That information is pouring up the nerves and into the brain every second, but we have largely sealed it off from consciousness. It pours into the lower levels of the mind and it gets no further. Buddhists have developed an exercise to open the floodgates and let this material through to consciousness. It's another way of making the unconscious conscious.

Your body goes through all kinds of contortions in the course of a single day. You sit and you stand. You walk and lie down. You bend, run, crawl, and sprawl. Meditation teachers urge you to become aware of this constantly ongoing dance. As you go through your day, spend a few seconds every few minutes to check your posture. Don't do it in a judgmental way. This is not an exercise to correct your posture, or to improve you appearance. Sweep your attention down through the body and feel how you are holding it. Make a silent mental note of 'Walking' or 'Sitting' or 'Lying down' or 'Standing'. It all sounds absurdly simple, but don't slight this procedure. This is a powerful exercise. If you do it thoroughly, if you really instil this mental habit deeply, it can revolutionize your experience. It taps you into a whole new dimension of sensation, and you feel like a blind man whose sight has been restored.

3. Slow-Motion Activity

Every action you perform is made up of separate components. The simple action of tying your shoelaces is made up of a complex series of subtle motions. Most of these details go unobserved. In order to promote the overall habit of mindfulness, you can perform simple activities at very low speed - making an effort to pay full attention to every nuance of the act.

Sitting at a table and drinking a cup of tea is one example. There is much here to be experienced. View your posture as you are sitting and feel the handle of the cup between your fingers. Smell the aroma of the tea, notice the placement of the cup, the tea, your arm, and the table. Watch the intention to raise the arm arise within your mind, feel the arm as it raises, feel the cup against your lips and the liquid pouring into your mouth. Taste the tea, then watch the arising of the intention to lower your arm. The entire process is fascinating and beautiful, if you attend to it fully, paying detached attention to every sensation and to the flow of thought and emotion.

This same tactic can be applied to many of your daily activities. Intentionally slowing down your thoughts, words and movements allows you to penetrate far more deeply into them than you otherwise could. What you find there is utterly astonishing. In the beginning, it is very difficult to keep this deliberately slow pace during most regular activities, but skill grows with time. Profound realizations occur during sitting meditation, but even more profound revelations can take place when we really examine our own inner workings in the midst of day-to-day activities. This is the laboratory where we really start to see the mechanisms of our own emotions and the operations of our passions. Here is where we can truly gauge the reliability of our reasoning, and glimpse the difference between our true motives and the armor of pretense that we wear to fool ourselves and others.

We will find a great deal of this information surprising, much of it disturbing, but all of it useful. Bare attention brings order into the clutter that collects in those untidy little hidden corners of the mind. As you achieve clear comprehension in the midst of life's ordinary activities, you gain the ability to remain rational and peaceful while you throw the penetrating light of mindfulness into those irrational mental nooks and crannies. You start to see the extent to which you are responsible for your own mental suffering. You see your own miseries, fears, and tensions as self-generated. You see the way you cause your own suffering, weakness, and limitations. And the more deeply you understand these mental processes, the less hold they have on you.

4. Breath Coordination

In seated meditation, our primary focus is the breath. Total concentration on the ever-changing breath brings us squarely into the present moment. The same principle can be used in the midst of movement. You can coordinate the activity in which you are involved with your breathing. This lends a flowing rhythm to your movement, and it smooths out many of the abrupt transitions. Activity becomes easier to focus on, and mindfulness is increased. Your awareness thus stays more easily in the present. Ideally, meditation should be a 24 hour-a-day practice. This is a highly practical suggestion.

A state of mindfulness is a state of mental readiness. The mind is not burdened with preoccupations or bound in worries. Whatever comes up can be dealt with instantly. When you are truly mindful, your nervous system has a freshness and resiliency which fosters insight. A problem arises and you simply deal with it, quickly, efficiently, and with a minimum of fuss. You don't stand there in a dither, and you don't run off to a quiet corner so you can sit down and meditate about it. You simply deal with it. And in those rare circumstances when no solution seems possible, you don't worry about that. You just go on to the next thing that needs your attention. Your intuition becomes a very practical faculty.

5. Stolen Moments

The concept of wasted time does not exist for a serious meditator. Little dead spaces during your day can be turned to profit. Every spare moment can be used for meditation. Sitting anxiously in the dentist's office, meditate on your anxiety. Feeling irritated while standing in a line at the bank, meditate on irritation. Bored, twiddling you thumbs at the bus stop, meditate on boredom. Try to stay alert and aware throughout the day. Be mindful of exactly what is taking place right now, even if it is tedious drudgery. Take advantage of moments when you are alone. Take advantage of activities that are largely mechanical. Use every spare second to be mindful. Use all the moments you can.

6. Concentration On All Activities

You should try to maintain mindfulness of every activity and perception through the day, starting with the first perception when you awake, and ending with the last thought before you fall asleep. This is an incredibly tall goal to shoot for. Don't expect to be able to achieve this work soon. Just take it slowly and let you abilities grow over time. The most feasible way to go about the task is to divide your day up into chunks. Dedicate a certain interval to mindfulness of posture, then extend this mindfulness to other simple activities: eating, washing, dressing, and so forth. Some time during the day, you can set aside 15 minutes or so to practice the observation of specific types of mental states: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings, for instance; or the hindrances, or thoughts. The specific routine is up to you. The idea is to get practice at spotting the various items, and to preserve your state of mindfulness as fully as you can throughout the day.

Try to achieve a daily routine in which there is as little difference as possible between seated meditation and the rest of your experience. Let the one slide naturally into the other. Your body is almost never still. There is always motion to observe. At the very least, there is breathing. Your mind never stops chattering, except in the very deepest states of concentration. There is always something coming up to observe. If you seriously apply your meditation, you will never be at a loss for something worthy of your attention.

Your practice must be made to apply to your everyday living situation. That is your laboratory. It provides the trials and challenges you need to make your practice deep and genuine. It's the fire that purifies your practice of deception and error, the acid test that shows you when you are getting somewhere and when you are fooling yourself. If your meditation isn't helping you to cope with everyday conflicts and struggles, then it is shallow. If your day-to-day emotional reactions are not becoming clearer and easier to manage, then you are wasting your time. And you never know how you are doing until you actually make that test.

The practice of mindfulness is supposed to be a universal practice. You don't do it sometimes and drop it the rest of the time. You do it all the time. Meditation that is successful only when you are withdrawn in some soundproof ivory tower is still undeveloped. Insight meditation is the practice of moment-to-moment mindfulness. The meditator learns to pay bare attention to the birth, growth, and decay of all the phenomena of the mind. He turns from none of it, and he lets none of it escape. Thoughts and emotions, activities and desires, the whole show. He watches it all and he watches it continuously. It matters not whether it is lovely or horrid, beautiful or shameful. He sees the way it is and the way it changes. No aspect of experience is excluded or avoided. It is a very thoroughgoing procedure.

If you are moving through your daily activities and you find yourself in a state of boredom, then meditate on your boredom. Find out how it feels, how it works, and what it is composed of. If you are angry, meditate on the anger. Explore the mechanics of anger. Don't run from it. If you find yourself sitting in the grip of a dark depression, meditate on the depression. Investigate depression in a detached and inquiring way. Don't flee from it blindly. Explore the maze and chart its pathways. That way you will be better able to cope with the next depression that comes along.

Meditating your way through the ups and downs of daily life is the whole point of Vipassana. This kind of practice is extremely rigorous and demanding, but it engenders a state of mental flexibility that is beyond comparison. A meditator keeps his mind open every second. He is constantly investigating life, inspecting his own experience, viewing existence in a detached and inquisitive way. Thus he is constantly open to truth in any form, from any source, and at any time. This is the state of mind you need for Liberation.

It is said that one may attain enlightenment at any moment if the mind is kept in a state of meditative readiness. The tiniest, most ordinary perception can be the stimulus: a view of the moon, the cry of a bird, the sound of the wind in the trees. it's not so important what is perceived as the way in which you attend to that perception. The state of open readiness is essential. It could happen to you right now if you are ready. The tactile sensation of this book in your fingers could be the cue. the sound of these words in your head might be enough. You could attain enlightenment right now, if you are ready.

Mindfulness Versus Concentration

Mindfulness Versus Concentration

Vipassana meditation is something of a mental balancing act. You are going to be cultivating two separate qualities of the mind - mindfulness and concentration. Ideally these two work together as a team. They pull in tandem, so to speak. Therefore it is important to cultivate them side-by-side and in a balanced manner. If one of the factors is strengthened at the expense of the other, the balance of the mind is lost and meditation impossible.

Concentration and mindfulness are distinctly different functions. They each have their role to play in meditation, and the relationship between them is definite and delicate. Concentration is often called one-pointedness of mind. it consists of forcing the mind to remain on one static point. Please note the word FORCE. Concentration is pretty much a forced type of activity. It can be developed by force, by sheer unremitting willpower. And once developed, it retains some of that forced flavor. Mindfulness, on the other hand, is a delicate function leading to refined sensibilities. These two are partners in the job of meditation. Mindfulness is the sensitive one. He notices things. Concentration provides the power. He keeps the attention pinned down to one item. Ideally, mindfulness is in this relationship. Mindfulness picks the objects of attention, and notices when the attention has gone astray. Concentration does the actual work of holding the attention steady on that chosen object. If either of these partners is weak, your meditation goes astray.

Concentration could be defined as that faculty of the mind which focuses single mindedly on one object without interruption. It must be emphasized that true concentration is a wholesome one-pointedness of mind. That is, the state is free from greed, hatred and delusion. Unwholesome one-pointedness is also possible, but it will not lead to liberation. You can be very single-minded in a state of lust. But that gets you nowhere. Uninterrupted focus on something that you hate does not help yo at all. In fact, such unwholesome concentration is fairly short-lived even when it is achieved - especially when it is used to harm others. True concentration itself is free from such contaminants. It is a state in which the mind is gathered together and thus gains power and intensity. We might use the analogy of a lens. Parallel waves of sunlight falling on a piece of paper will do no more than warm the surface. But the same amount of light, when focused through a lens, falls on a single point and the paper bursts into flames. Concentration is the lens. It produces the burning intensity necessary to see into the deeper reaches of the mind. Mindfulness selects the object that the lens will focus on and looks through the lens to see what is there.

Concentration should be regarded as a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for good or for ill. A sharp knife can be used to create a beautiful carving or to harm someone. it is all up to the one who uses the knife. Concentration is similar. Properly used, it can assist you towards liberation. But it can also be used in the service of the ego. It can operate in the framework of achievement and competition. You can use concentration to dominate others. You can use it to be selfish. The real problem is that concentration alone will not give you a perspective on yourself. It won't throw light on the basic problems of selfishness and the nature of suffering. It can be used to dig down into deep psychological states. But even then, the forces of egotism won't be understood. Only mindfulness can do that. If mindfulness is not there to look into the lens and see what has been uncovered, then it is all for nothing. Only mindfulness understands. Only mindfulness brings wisdom. Concentration has other limitations, too.

Really deep concentration can only take place under certain specific conditions. Buddhists go to a lot of trouble to build meditation halls and monasteries. Their main purpose is to create a physical environment free of distractions in which to learn this skill. No noise, no interruptions. Just as important, however, is the creation of a distraction-free emotional environment. The development of concentration will be blocked by the presence of certain mental states which we call the five hindrances. They are greed for sensual pleasure, hatred, mental lethargy, restlessness, and mental vacillation. We have examined these mental states more fully in Chapter 12.

A monastery is a controlled environment where this sort of emotional noise is kept to a minimum. No members of the opposite sex are allowed to live together there. Therefore, there is less opportunity for lust. No possessions are allowed. Therefore, no ownership squabbles and less chance for greed and coveting. Another hurdle for concentration should also be mentioned. In really deep concentration, you get so absorbed in the object of concentration that you forget all about trifles. Like your body, for instance, and your identity and everything around you. Here again the monastery is a useful convenience. It is nice to know that there is somebody to take care of you by watching over all the mundane matters of food and physical security. Without such assurance, one hesitates to go as deeply into concentration as one might.

Mindfulness, on the other hand, is free from all these drawbacks. Mindfulness is not dependent on any such particular circumstance, physical or otherwise. it is a pure noticing factor. Thus it is free to notice whatever comes up - lust, hatred, or noise. Mindfulness is not limited by any condition. It exists to some extent in every moment, in every circumstance that arises. Also, mindfulness has no fixed object of focus. It observes change. Thus it has an unlimited number of objects of attention. It just looks at whatever is passing through the mind and it does not categorize. Distractions and interruptions are noticed with the same amount of attention as the formal objects of meditation. In a state of pure mindfulness your attention just flows along with whatever changes are taking place in the mind. "Shift, shift, shift. Now this, now this, and now this."

You can't develop mindfulness by force. Active teeth gritting willpower won't do you any good at all. As a matter of fact, it will hinder progress. Mindfulness cannot be cultivated by struggle. It grows by realizing, by letting go, by just settling down in the moment and letting yourself get comfortable with whatever you are experiencing. This does not mean that mindfulness happens all by itself. Far from it. Energy is required. Effort is required. But this effort is different from force. Mindfulness is cultivated by a gentle effort, by effortless effort. The meditator cultivates mindfulness by constantly reminding himself in a gently way to maintain his awareness of whatever i happening right not. Persistence and alight touch are the secrets. Mindfulness is cultivated by constantly pulling oneself back to a state of awareness, gently, gently, gently.

Mindfulness can't be used in any selfish way, either. it is nonegoistic alertness. There is no 'me' in a state of pure mindfulness. So there is no self to be selfish. On the contrary, it is mindfulness which gives you the real perspective on yourself. it allows you to take that crucial mental step backward from your own desires and aversions so that you can then look and say, "Ah ha, so that's how I really am."

In a state of mindfulness, you see yourself exactly as you are. You see your own selfish behavior. You see your own suffering. And you see how you create that suffering. You see how you hurt others. You pierce right through the layer of lies that you normally tell yourself and you see what is really there. Mindfulness leads to wisdom.

Mindfulness is not trying to achieve anything. It is just looking. Therefore, desire and aversion are not involved. Competition and struggle for achievement have not place in the process. Mindfulness does not aim at anything. It just sees whatever is already there.

Mindfulness is a broader and larger function that concentration. it is an all-encompassing function. Concentration is exclusive. It settles down on one item and ignores everything else. Mindfulness is inclusive. It stands back from the focus of attention and watches with a broad focus, quick to notice any change that occurs. If you have focused the mind on a stone, concentration will see only the stone. Mindfulness stands back from this process, aware of the stone, aware of the concentration focusing on the stone, aware of the intensity of that focus and instantly aware of the shift of attention when concentration is distracted. It is mindfulness which notices the distraction which has occurred, and it is mindfulness which redirects the attention to the stone. Mindfulness is more difficult to cultivate than concentration because it is a deeper-reaching function. Concentration is merely focusing of the mind, rather like a laser beam. It has the power to burn its way deep into the mind and illuminate what is there. But it does not understand what it sees. Mindfulness can examine the mechanics of selfishness and understand what it sees. Mindfulness can pierce the mystery of suffering and the mechanism of discomfort. Mindfulness can make you free.

There is, however, another Catch-22. Mindfulness does not react to what it sees. It just sees and understands. Mindfulness is the essence of patience. Therefore, whatever you see must be simply accepted, acknowledged and dispassionately observed. This is not easy, but it is utterly necessary. We are ignorant. We are selfish and greedy and boastful. We lust and we lie. These are facts. Mindfulness means seeing these facts and being patient with ourselves, accepting ourselves as we are. That goes against the grain. We don't want to accept. We want to deny it. Or change it, or justify it. But acceptance is the essence of mindfulness. If we want to grow in mindfulness we must accept what mindfulness finds. It may be boredom, irritation, or fear. It may be weakness, inadequacy, or faults. Whatever it is, that is the way we are. That is what is real.

Mindfulness simply accepts whatever is there. If you want to grow in mindfulness, patient acceptance is the only route. Mindfulness grows only one way: by continuous practice of mindfulness, by simply trying to be mindful, and that means being patient. The process cannot be forced and it cannot be rushed. It proceeds at its own pace.

Concentration and mindfulness go hand-in-hand in the job of meditation. Mindfulness directs the power of concentration. Mindfulness is the manager of the operation. Concentration furnishes the power by which mindfulness can penetrate into the deepest level of the mind. Their cooperation results in insight and understanding. These must be cultivated together in a balanced ratio. Just a bit more emphasis is given to mindfulness because mindfulness is the center of meditation. The deepest levels of concentration are not really needed to do the job of liberation. Still, a balance is essential. Too much awareness without calm to balance it will result in a wildly over sensitized state similar to abusing LSD. Too much concentration without a balancing ratio of awareness will result in the 'Stone Buddha' syndrome. The meditator gets so tranquilized that he sits there like a rock. Both of these are to be avoided.

The initial stages of mental cultivation are especially delicate. Too much emphasis on mindfulness at this point will actually retard the development of concentration. When getting started in meditation, one of the first things you will notice is how incredibly active the mind really is. The Theravada tradition calls this phenomenon 'monkey mind'. The Tibetan tradition likens it to a waterfall of thought. If you emphasize the awareness function at this point, there will be so much to be aware of that concentration will be impossible. Don't get discouraged. This happens to everybody. And there is a simple solution. Put most of your effort into one-pointedness at the beginning. Just keep calling the attention from wandering over and over again. Tough it out. Full instructions on how to do this are in Chapters 7 and 8. A couple of months down the track and you will have developed concentration power. Then you can start pumping you energy into mindfulness. Do not, however, go so far with concentration that you find yourself going into a stupor.

Mindfulness still is the more important of the two components. It should be built as soon as you comfortably can do so. Mindfulness provides the needed foundation for the subsequent development of deeper concentration. Most blunders in this area of balance will correct themselves in time. Right concentration develops naturally in the wake of strong mindfulness. The more you develop the noticing factor, the quicker you will notice the distraction and the quicker you will pull out of it and return to the formal object of attention. The natural result is increased concentration. And as concentration develops, it assists the development of mindfulness. The more concentration power you have, the less chance there is of launching off on a long chain of analysis about the distraction. You simply note the distraction and return your attention to where it is supposed to be.

Thus the two factors tend to balance and support each other's growth quite naturally. Just about the only rule you need to follow at this point is to put your effort on concentration at the beginning, until the monkey mind phenomenon has cooled down a bit. After that, emphasize mindfulness. If you find yourself getting frantic, emphasize concentration. If you find yourself going into a stupor, emphasize mindfulness. Overall, mindfulness is the on to emphasize.

Mindfulness guides your development in meditation because mindfulness has the ability to be aware of itself. it is mindfulness which will give you a perspective on your practice. Mindfulness will let you know how you are doing. But don't worry too much about that. This is not a race. You are not in competition with anybody, and there is no schedule.

One of the most difficult things to learn is that mindfulness is not dependent on any emotional or mental state. We have certain images of meditation. Meditation is something done in quiet caves by tranquil people who move slowly. Those are training conditions. They are set up to foster concentration and to learn the skill of mindfulness. Once you have learned that skill, however, you can dispense with the training restrictions, and you should. You don't need to move at a snail's pace to be mindful. You don't even need to be calm. You can be mindful while solving problems in intensive calculus. You can be mindful in the middle of a football scrimmage. You can even be mindful in the midst of a raging fury. Mental and physical activities are no bar to mindfulness. If you find your mind extremely active, then simply observe the nature and degree of that activity. It is just a part of the passing show within.

Mindfulness (Sati)

Mindfulness (Sati)

Mindfulness is the English translation of the Pali word Sati. Sati is an activity. What exactly is that? There can be no precise answer, at least not in words. Words are devised by the symbolic levels of the mind and they describe those realities with which symbolic thinking deals. Mindfulness is pre-symbolic.

It is not shackled to logic. Nevertheless, Mindfulness can be experienced - rather easily - and it can be described, as long as you keep in mind that the words are only fingers pointing at the moon. They are not the thing itself. The actual experience lies beyond the words and above the symbols. Mindfulness could be describes in completely different terms than will be used here and each description could still be correct.

Mindfulness is a subtle process that you are using at this very moment. the fact that this process lies above and beyond words does not make it unreal - quite the reverse. Mindfulness is the reality which gives rise to words - the words that follow are simply pale shadows of reality. So, it is important to understand that everything that follows here is analogy. It is not going to make perfect sense. It will always remain beyond verbal logic. But you can experience it. The medita

Fully developed Mindfulness is a state of total non-attachment and utter absence of clinging to anything in the world. If we can maintain this state, no other means or device is needed to keep ourselves free of obstructions, to achieve liberation from our human weaknesses. Mindfulness is non-superficial awareness. It sees things deeply, down below the level of concepts and opinions. This sort of deep observation leads to total certainty, and complete absence of confusion. It manifests itself primarily as a constant and unwavering attention which never flags and never turns away.

This pure and unstained investigative awareness not only holds mental hindrances at bay, it lays bare their very mechanism and destroys them. Mindfulness neutralizes defilements in the mind. The result is a mind which remains unstained and invulnerable, completely unaffected by the ups and downs of life.

Proses Mindfulness dalam Kesadaran Diri_part 1

a. Proses Terbentuknya Kesadaran Diri

Mindfulness sebagai kualitas kesadaran diri terkait erat dengan dinamika pikiran, tubuh dan otak; yakni hubungan timbal balik Homeostatis – Emosi – Kognitif (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Thompson & Varela, 2001; Beuregard dalam Watt, 2004). Hillman (Strongman, 1996) mengungkapkan bahwa emosi merupakan proses perubahan bentuk kesadaran sebagai respon terhadap realitas yang dihadapinya yang terwujud dengan perubahan keadaan fisik, misal ekspresi wajah. Keadaan tubuh dan emosi seseorang sesungguhnya merupakan bentuk ekspresi dari respon terhadap stimulus yang diterimanya setiap saat. Darwin (2003) mengungkapkan bahwa ekspresi emosi merupakan respon adaptif organisme terhadap lingkungan yang mengkomunikasikan mengenai keadaannya. Damasio (2000) menyatakan bahwa emosi merupakan hubungan rumit perubahan hormonal (kimia tubuh) dan sistem neural yang terkait peran pengaturan keadaan organisme untuk memelihara dan mempertahankan hidupnya

Damasio (2000) menyatakan emosi adalah bagian sistem regulasi biologis yang sangat mendasar untuk beradaptasi. Emosi mempunyai dua fungsi biologis. Pertama berfungsi untuk menghasilkan suatu reaksi ketika berhadapan dengan situasi tertentu; seperti melarikan diri atau melawan ketika menghadapi ancaman, terlebih lagi bagi manusia akan terlihat temperamen takut, marah, bahagia, ataupun bijaksana. Kedua berfungsi sebagai pengaturan keadaan internal tubuh yang diperlukan untuk suatu reaksi; seperti meningkatnya aliran darah pada arteri di kaki sehingga otot menerima ekstra energi dan oksigen, atau pada keadaan marah atau bahagia terlihat dari ritme detak jantung dan pernafasan. Beuregard (Watt, 2004) lebih lanjut mengungkapkan emosi sebagai perangkat beradaptasi merupakan bagian dari sistem homeostatis yang berperan menjaga dalam menciptakan keadaan keseimbangan internal tubuh. Cannon (Damasio, 2000) menyatakan homeostatis merupakan koordinasi otomatis reaksi fisiologis yang dibutuhkan untuk menjaga keseimbangan internal pada organisme hidup, seperti pengaturan otomatis suhu tubuh, konsentrasi oksigen, atau pH dalam tubuh.

Keadaan homeostatis memerlukan emosi ketika berhadapan dengan lingkungan yang kompleks. Damasio (2000) mengungkapkan emosi penting bagi organisme karena setiap objek atau situasi mendapatkan sentuhan emosi yang bernilai bagi keadaan homeostatis sebagai hadiah-hukuman, kebahagiaan-kesakitan, ataupun baik (bertahan hidup) – buruk (kematian). Sakit merupakan persepsi mengenai rusaknya jaringan disertai meningkatnya emosi dirasakan sebagai rasa sakit. Sakit berhubungan erat dengan emosi negatif, seperti ketakutan dan kesedihan. Keadaan bahagia behubungan dengan keseimbangan keadaan internal, seperti lapar-haus (kurang tercukupinya kadar gula dalam darah ataupun mineral) bagi organisme sebagai dorongan atau motivasi untuk melangsungkan kehidupannya. Homeostatis dan emosi memiliki hubungan timbal balik untuk menjaga keseimbangan hidup organisme, seperti pengaturan metabolisme tubuh, refleks sederhana, motivasi, biologi sakit-bahagia, dan terutama emosi merupakan dasar pemahaman tingkat tinggi (kesadaran-kognitif) (Damasio, 2000). Hubungan timbal balik homeostatis dan emosi terjadi karena organisme didesain untuk memperhatikan adanya ketidakseimbangan yang terjadi dengan reaksi emosi berprioritas/spesifik (Bernhardt, 2001).

Emosi merupakan pikiran biologis bawah sadar yang secara otomatis mendorongs tidak hanya menghasilkan dorongan seksual (reproduksi) tetapi juga rasa cinta, perawatan, dan pengasuhan. organisme untuk berorientasi mempertahankan kehidupannya (Damasio, 2000; Beuregard dalam Watt, 2004; Bernhardt, 2001). Emosi berprioritas/spesifik seperti pengalaman sakit merupakan arahan bagi organisme untuk mempertahankan keberadaannya menghasilkan antisipasi sakit (ketakutan, kecemasan, ataupun kebencian). Keadaan emosi berprioritas/spesifik manusia lebih berisi dan komplek

Emosi berprioritas/spesifik menuntun pembentukan perasaan diri yang merupakan set prioritas bagaimana seseorang mendefinisikan dirinya dan bagaimana mempertahankan keberadaannya (Damasio, 2000; Beuregard dalam Watt, 2004; Bernhardt, 2001). Emosi berprioritas/spesifik merupakan arah penentu yang membawa kesadaran bagi manusia. Damasio (2000) mengungkapkan manusia merasakan keadaan emosinya ketika merasakan perasaan dirinya tercipta di pikirannya yang merupakan kesadaran akan dirinya. Kesadaran diri menyebabkan perasaan diri diketahui, mempengaruhi emosi secara internal dan mengantarkannya bersama arus proses pikiran sebagai pemilik perasaan diri. Kesadaran diri membuat suatu objek diketahui (objek emosi atau objek lain), meningkatkan kemampuan manusia merespon lebih adaptif, dan memungkinkan manusia memiliki kesadaran penuh akan kebutuhannya ketika berhadapan dengan lingkungan yang kompleks. Gambaran tingkat pengaturan kehidupan manusia dapat dilihat pada Gambar 1 berikut ini :

High Reason	Respon komplek, fleksibel, dan terencana; tersusun dalam gambaran sadar dan kemungkinan muncul sebagai perilaku. Consciousness
Feeling	Sensor yang menangkap sakit, senang, dan emosi menjadi gambaran mental.
Emotion	Respon emosi yang komplek dan stereotipik.
Basic Life Regulation (Homeostatis)	Respon yang stereotipik, relatif sederhana seperti regulasi metabolisme; reflek; mekanisme biologis yang mendasari sakit dan senang, dorongan, dan motivasi.

Gambar 1. Tingkat pengaturan kehidupan manusia (Damasio, 2000)

Kesadaran diri merupakan perkembangan lebih lanjut dari emosi yang secara otomatis menghasilkan perilaku berorientasi untuk bertahan hidup. Emosi sebagai perangkat untuk beradaptasi merupakan bagian yang membantu menjaga dalam menciptakan keadaan keseimbangan internal tubuh (homeostatis) dan berperan secara tidak sadar (unconscious) menghasilkan perilaku ketika berinteraksi dengan lingkungan (Watt, 2004). Kesadaran diri merupakan perluasan dan lebih efektifnya sistem tidak sadar (homeostatis-emosi) tubuh dengan munculnya pengetahuan sadar (kognitif) akan keberadaan dirinya (Damasio, 2000).

Thompson dan Varela (2001) mengungkapkan bahwa kesadaran diri manusia merupakan wujud (embodiment) dan aktifnya hubungan proses pengalaman tubuh-otak dan interaksinya dengan dunia di sekelilingnya. Hubungan antara tubuh-otak dan dunia adalah dinamika hubungan antara neural tubuh dan kesadaran situasional yang merupakan proses siklus operasi neural yang menjadikan manusia sebagai agen penentu dari setiap aksinya. Thompson dan Varela (2001) menjelaskan tiga macam siklus yang menjadikan manusia sebagai agen kehidupan, yaitu : 1) siklus organisme yang terjadi pada seluruh tubuh; 2) siklus sensori-motor yang menghubungkan antara organisme dengan lingkungan; dan 3) siklus interaksi intersubjektif, termasuk didalamnya rekognisi pemaknaan dari setiap tindakan dan komunikasi bahasa.

1) Regulasi Organisme

Otak merupakan pusat sistem otomatis saraf, sensor dan efektor dari dan menuju tubuh terhubung proses neural ke proses homeostatis dari organ internal. Emosi merupakan refleksi dari hubungan antara sistem otomatis saraf dan sistem limbik melalui hipotalamus, sehingga emosi merupakan bagian tidak terpisahkan dalam pengaturan homeodinamik. Bagian otak tepatnya pada batang otak, nuklei yang mengatur homeostatis terhubung dengan nuklei yang mengatur tidur dan keadaan sadar terjaga. Regulasi organisme karena terhubung dengan sistem emosi dasar pada otak memiliki dimensi afeksi kuat, terlihat ketika berperilaku dan memiliki perasaan akan kehidupannya. Dimensi afeksi dari regulasi organisme disebut kesadaran inti (core consciousness), merupakan perasaan hidup mengenai keberadaannya yang tidak tergantikan untuk setiap keadaan sadar. Kesadaran ini merupakan regulasi dan proses afeksi yang menjadikan organisme merasakan perasaan dirinya. Kesadaran inti lebih lanjut dibahas dalam struktur kesadaran diri.

2) Sensori – Motor menghubungkan antara organisme dan lingkungan

Aktivitas situasional merupakan bentuk dari siklus sensori-motor yang menghubungkan organisme dengan lingkungan. Apa yang organisme rasakan ketika berinteraksi dengan lingkungan melalui tubuh-otak merupakan fungsi ketika beraksi situasional, begitu pula sebaliknya. Keadaan ini didasari oleh siklus sensori-motor terhubung dengan tubuh yang diolah di neokortikal dan subkortikal otak. Siklus ini memungkinkan organisme menjadi agen penentu dari setiap aksinya.

3) Interaksi Intersubjektif

Mengetahui keadaan afeksi dan sensori-motor sebagai intepretasi keadaan psikologis seseorang melalui bahasa tubuh (ekspresi raut muka, postur tubuh, nada suara) penting dalam kognisi sosial. Struktur yang penting bagi kognisi sosial (amygdala, kortek ventromedial frontal, dan somatosensori kanan) berhubungan erat dengan emosi. Bahan dasar penting bagi kognisi sosial dan emosi untuk diketahui adalah perasaan. Perasaan merupakan hal penting dalam merasakan pengalaman afeksinya yang terhubung dengan emosi diri atau menerima keadaan emosi orang lain dengan empatinya. Rekognisi dari makna tindakan orang lain tergantung dari bagaimana memahami tindakannya sendiri dikenal sebagai sistem cermin neural (mirror-neuron system). Sistem cermin neural untuk rekognisi tubuh, merupakan dasar neural untuk perkembangan bahasa.

The Benefits of Being Present: Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Copyright 2003 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2003, Vol. 84, No. 4, 822–848

The Benefits of Being Present:
Mindfulness and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being

Kirk Warren Brown and Richard M. Ryan
University of Rochester

ABSTRAK

Mindfulness is an attribute of consciousness long believed to promote well-being. This research provides a theoretical and empirical examination of the role of mindfulness in psychological well-being. The development and psychometric properties of the dispositional Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) are described. Correlational, quasi-experimental, and laboratory studies then show that the MAAS measures a unique quality of consciousness that is related to a variety of well-being constructs, that differentiates mindfulness practitioners from others, and that is associated with enhanced selfawareness. An experience-sampling study shows that both dispositional and state mindfulness predict self-regulated behavior and positive emotional states. Finally, a clinical intervention study with cancer patients demonstrates that increases in mindfulness over time relate to declines in mood disturbance and stress.