Day Twenty Six - Recovery

Written By duncan young

Mindfulness is a way to keep our brains healthy, to support self-regulation and to protect ourselves from toxic stress.

Today’s challenge is to be more mindful. 

Mindfulness is simply paying attention to being in the present moment with openness, curiosity, and without judgment, according to mental health charity Smiling Mind. It's as easy as pausing to take in the beauty of nature, the smell of the sea, or as involved as a formal meditation group practice.

In our hyper-connected and distracted world, being mindful can help us understand what important right now. Research studies show that those who practice mindfulness improve neuroplasticity of their brain in two key areas: firstly, the anterior cingulate cortex associated with self-regulation, meaning the ability to purposefully direct attention and behavior, suppress inappropriate knee-jerk responses, and switch strategies flexibly1 and secondly, the hippocampus which is part of the limbic system associated with emotion and memory. 

You’ll agree these are both important brain areas to develop and below are some tips to enhance your mindful journey right now:

  1. Start of something new. Start a new task with 2 minutes of silence, breathing focus, or by taking a few mindful breaths the meeting starts, arriving home or eating your next meal.

  2. Mid process. Listen to your breath or to the physical sensations arising while on the dog walk, travelling on the bus to work or hand washing.

  3. In between times. There are times between activities which provide opportunities to bring ourselves to the present in between the things in our daily schedule, such as, waiting for a lift, a friend to arrive, or our morning latte.

The ultimate goal of mindfulness is to give your full attention to whatever you are doing, and like any habit, it gets easier the more you do it.

So when you’ve finished reading this sentence, look away from your device, take a deep breath and be present right now, even its only for a moment.

Being focused allows us to master complicated things quickly, and in a constantly changing work environment, the ability to learn quickly is important.

Creating and maintaining focus is hard, but like any muscle, it becomes easier with practice. So what might you try today to master focus?

Reference

  1. Mindfulness Can Literally Change Your Brain. HBR.  Congleton, Hölzel, and Lazar.  2015

Further reading

duncan young https://www.duncanyoung.com
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Day Twenty Seven - Wildcard