Can Mindfulness Transform a Politician’s Experience?

Our journey towards combating stress and anxiety begins by dealing with a wandering mind. Our attention and focus have never been harder to control, with a seemingly inexorable rise in digital distractions and social media competing for our time and energy.

As a politician, you can factor this reality by a million, or to be more precise, by the number of citizens you represent who are at your side digitally every second, of every day. Compound this by all the categories of people you represent through your portfolio, and you are reaching astronomical heights of cognitive distraction.

How can you, then, work to improve your resilience to stress and anxiety, whilst boosting your focus and attention? The Silent MP chatted to mindfulness expert Jamie Bristow to find out.

‘Our attention is increasingly fractured, and not really under our own control’, Jamie begins, Director of the Mindfulness Initiative in the UK. The Mindfulness Initiative pushes for an awareness of mindfulness in public policymaking, as well as mindfulness training for politicians.

One of the first things politicians learn on a mindfulness course, Jamie tells the Silent MP, is how to regulate attention and emotions. This can prevent psychological stress, as well as improve pain management.

Within the sphere of politics, this is particularly important; ‘I can’t quite believe those I worked with managed to maintain the lives that they do’, says Jamie when citing the rate of information overload amongst politicians.

Tailoring mindfulness training specifically for politicians often leads to a focus on the certain commonalities of governance. Jamie gives the example of former UK Minister Tracey Crouch, who, when speaking in the chamber, takes off her shoes. This allows her to bring awareness and mindfulness to develop a sense of feeling grounded within her body.

Taking advantage of the poise and steadiness of certain parts of our body can be tremendously helpful when performing nerve-inducing tasks like addressing people on TV, the chamber, or in public life. Our feet are rarely nervous!

In this sense, mindfulness is about attention, and the particular qualities of it. Paying attention to what is happening in and around ourselves with openness, curiosity and care can allow us to step out of repetitive thought patterns and become aware of our thoughts simply as thoughts.

Viewing our thoughts and ideas as just that, rather than a symbol of some deeper truth of a situation, stops us from becoming identified with them. This mindfulness technique is known as meta cognitive awareness, Jamie explains. Carefully monitoring of our thoughts, rather than letting them embody us, allows us to take a moment to decide whether or not we want to believe them.

Taking control of our thoughts and emotions through mindfulness techniques is therefore likely to improve our resilience, boost our focus, and add to our quality of life. Mindfulness training encourages us to show empathy and compassion not only to others, but, crucially, to ourselves.

Above all, it is indiscriminate in its benefits. This means that even those on the political frontline can benefit from it.