Mindfulness in adolescence, or the search for water in the desert

As adolescence is lived in our times, Mindfulness takes on a special value.

Being a teenager in the year 2021 is difficult, very difficult. Almost a continuous act of resistance, I would say. I want to begin these lines with this idea, since I believe that it is not superfluous to break a small or large lance in favor of all those who in this year are going through this vital stage that already in itself, and without global pandemics in the middle, is defined with the word "crisis".

We could see it as a sort of matrioshka of overlapping crises that wrap around each other. that wrap around each other. A world crisis, a national crisis, an educational system in crisis, families in crisis and adolescents in vital crisis due to the very stage they have to live through and also coexisting at the bottom of this onion doll that has become the year 2020 and the beginning of 2021.

The lack of support and referents in adolescence.

From the first moment we decided to write about the psychology of development or the vital evolution of the human being, adolescence has been the stage of change par excellence, adolescence has been the stage of change par excellence.. A time of transition, it has been said, in which the child transits towards adulthood, and which is marked by a series of palpable physical and psychological changes.

Until a few years ago, this moment of life was accompanied by a kind of generational guide. The adolescent's predecessors and immediate environment understood that the infant was being left behind and that a small adult was beginning to emerge in this member of the family, who had to be accompanied by the family. a small adult who had to be accompanied towards maturity..

Implicit rituals were common that marked this change and gave the adolescent or teenager signals that the time to grow up was approaching. They could consist of an everyday act such as being able to play cards with your father and his friends, learning to use a razor or sitting at family gatherings in the area of the table where the adults ate. All of these were communal symbols that indicated to the adolescent that as his body changed, so did his environment, placing him in a different social place.

As the years have gone by and life has accelerated exponentially, these community "rites" have fallen into decadence and the orienting attitude provided by the that orienting attitude provided by the immediate environment has been diluted in a sea of haste, exigency and lack of conscience.. In recent times, young adults have lost valuable guidance in the chaotic and uncertain hormonal sea that comprises the moment in which they live.

It is precisely the speed with which we adults live, our minds occupied in constant rumination and the emotional disconnection that prevents us from seeing the other, that leaves our adolescents sold to the hyperstimulation of a technologically voracious and extremely labyrinthine world. a world that is technologically voracious and extremely labyrinthine in the when it comes to directing attention towards growth and well-being.

With their prefrontal cortex immersed in the neuronal pruning typical of this evolutionary stage, boys and girls have less capacity to manage their impulses; in addition, their critical thinking is in hatching but still immature, which generates that they become cannon fodder for a system that will try to disconnect them and accelerate them by seeking to follow the prevailing inertia.

The importance of Mindfulness at this stage of life

It is in the face of this current drama, where the millenary essence of activities such as meditation are presented as more than appropriate tools to accompany young adults who live at this time sheltered and isolated behind the protection of digital pantalleo. to accompany young adults who live at this time sheltered and isolated behind the protection of the digital screen.

From Vitalizawe make a proposal before this challenge in the therapeutic work with these girls and boys, wanting to combine individual processes with a group space in which, accompanied by a professional, can generate a safe place for them to overcome this defense of isolation and emotional disconnection and promote in the company of other boys and girls who are in the same situation, the rediscovery of the body itself as a drum where all the experiences resonate and vital guide the way they should go to start a conscious, regulated and meaningful adult life.

Author: Arturo Lecumberri, psychologist at Vitaliza.