The mindfulness experiment

This is the story of a year-long experiment in mindfulness meditation and mental health. I’d like to say that it started because I decided to tackle a big problem: the global mental health crisis. That would have been a worthy motive for any unshrinking journalist because, after all, the leading medical science journal, The Lancet, has declared that every country in the world is facing – and failing to tackle – a host of mental health problems. But the truth is, the inspiration for this whole endeavour was also very personal.

For me, the wounds of mental illness run deep. As a child, I witnessed the devastating effects of depression, addiction and bipolar disorder. At age 24, during a lonely period when I was living far away from family and friends, I was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease called Sjögren’s syndrome, which is associated with chronic pain, arthritic inflammation and constant worry.

But when I began my mindfulness experiment, my insomnia was even more troubling. One or two nights a week, I was plagued with rumination and unable to sleep. So, it’s true that I wanted tofuture I was thinking about – I wanted to be able to teach my kids how to prepare for the world they’ll inherit. As they face a future of increasing uncertainty, how could they nurture and protect their minds?