So I'm sure you have all heard of the terrible tragedy that happened in Toronto this week. Alek Minassian ran over and killed 10 people and injured 15 others. The families and friends and people who witnessed this incident are forever changed by it. It's tragic. However, the person I would like to focus on for the purposes of this blog is Constable Ken Lam.
Here is the video of Constable Lam arresting Alek.
https://youtu.be/8v1aKGXSWc8 ( Note - There are no visuals of the people that have been hit that day and no shots are fired, however, if you are highly sensitive you may not want to watch this anyway.)
He is calm and he is thinking. He is watching and noticing Alek's movements and thoughts. Here's the thing.......he's calm so he CAN think! This is the essence of mindfulness. Staying calm so you can actually access your frontal cortex. (There is the other side of the coin where people can stay so calm that they are actually disconnected from their feelings, however, that is a blog post for another day.)
The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that controls important cognitive skills in humans, such as emotional expression, problem solving, memory, language, judgment, and sexual behaviors. It is, in essence, the “control panel” of our personality and our ability to communicate.
Lots of people think that mindfulness is about meditation or taking more time to notice your sensory experience when you are eating your food. However, meditation is the practice that makes you better at mindfulness. It's equivalent would be doing drills when you are getting ready to play football or hockey. It is not the practice of mindfulness in real life. Mindfulness is taking the time to notice and make conscious choices whatever you are doing. The more you practice mindfulness in your everyday life then the more capable you are of doing it under pressure.
Now, for most people, even cops, you are unlikely to have to deal with something as volatile as facing down a murderer who wants to commit suicide by police. Thankfully, these calls are still rare. However, you may need to hold your tongue when arguing with your spouse. Or stay calm as you deal with someone who is drunk and disorderly. Or breathe and think clearly when you are driving and someone swerves in front of you. Mindfulness is the process of learning to choose consciously and not be reactive in your choices. And it's a difficult skill when that is not what is modeled in our society on TV or on social media.
Mindfulness is quite literally: 1) show up; 2) on purpose; 3) WITHOUT JUDGEMENT! (that's the hard one for everyone); think and choose. REPEAT! For everything. Parenting. Conflict. Job performance. Eating. Exercise. Sleep routines. Positive attitudes.
If you are wanting to be more resilient then this is one of the best skills that can be learned and Constable Ken Lam did a brilliant job of demonstrating it for us!
Thank you Constable Ken Lam. You make me feel proud to be Canadian.
Here is the video of Constable Lam arresting Alek.
https://youtu.be/8v1aKGXSWc8 ( Note - There are no visuals of the people that have been hit that day and no shots are fired, however, if you are highly sensitive you may not want to watch this anyway.)
He is calm and he is thinking. He is watching and noticing Alek's movements and thoughts. Here's the thing.......he's calm so he CAN think! This is the essence of mindfulness. Staying calm so you can actually access your frontal cortex. (There is the other side of the coin where people can stay so calm that they are actually disconnected from their feelings, however, that is a blog post for another day.)
The frontal lobe is the part of the brain that controls important cognitive skills in humans, such as emotional expression, problem solving, memory, language, judgment, and sexual behaviors. It is, in essence, the “control panel” of our personality and our ability to communicate.
Lots of people think that mindfulness is about meditation or taking more time to notice your sensory experience when you are eating your food. However, meditation is the practice that makes you better at mindfulness. It's equivalent would be doing drills when you are getting ready to play football or hockey. It is not the practice of mindfulness in real life. Mindfulness is taking the time to notice and make conscious choices whatever you are doing. The more you practice mindfulness in your everyday life then the more capable you are of doing it under pressure.
Now, for most people, even cops, you are unlikely to have to deal with something as volatile as facing down a murderer who wants to commit suicide by police. Thankfully, these calls are still rare. However, you may need to hold your tongue when arguing with your spouse. Or stay calm as you deal with someone who is drunk and disorderly. Or breathe and think clearly when you are driving and someone swerves in front of you. Mindfulness is the process of learning to choose consciously and not be reactive in your choices. And it's a difficult skill when that is not what is modeled in our society on TV or on social media.
Mindfulness is quite literally: 1) show up; 2) on purpose; 3) WITHOUT JUDGEMENT! (that's the hard one for everyone); think and choose. REPEAT! For everything. Parenting. Conflict. Job performance. Eating. Exercise. Sleep routines. Positive attitudes.
If you are wanting to be more resilient then this is one of the best skills that can be learned and Constable Ken Lam did a brilliant job of demonstrating it for us!
Thank you Constable Ken Lam. You make me feel proud to be Canadian.
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