We, the people spend 46.9 percent of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we are doing, and the mind-wandering into the past or ruminating over the future is making us unhappy. Robust research, by psychologists Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert of Harvard University developed an iPhone Web app that gathered 250,000 data points on 2,250 subjects’ thoughts, feelings, and actions as they went about their daily lives and found that multi-tasking is great to check off the daily to-do list but our attention deficit and constant distraction is making us feel short fused, unfocused and unhealthy. We know the feeling all too well, don’t we? wake up and hit the work day or homemaking activates with a clear path, so we think, then all of a sudden find ourselves not present at our desks or even when eating a meal, before we are wondering how many useless emails and texts we glazed through or how much food we shoveled down our throats and next thing you know its bed time and even then we forgot to prepare for a restful night’s sleep before we look up and realize we are either glaring at our cell phones or the T.V. for another arousing news cycle. In short, how many of us operate, dangerously on Autopilot?
What can be done? there is a new term coming to surface in our lexicon at work; “attention economy” it’s the ability to maintain focus and concentration and know cognitively that its every bit as important as technical or high-level management skills. Ask Google, they even offer mindfulness at work and emotional intelligence training for their people. Leaders and homemakers alike process a flood of information daily and need to make good decisions, not mistakes due to in-attention to the details of life. Mind-Fitness Meditation instructor Gina Jackson, Founder of Mindstream Company reads through class surveys and sees peoples hunger for better thoughts, feelings and emotions that are healthier for our bodies and our brain. The great news is that we can systematically train our brains for better focus, sleep, and overall wellbeing by incorporating mindful awareness techniques into our daily life, both informal and formal practices of mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) can make a measurable difference at work, home and play. Research shows that over 250 organizations, including hospitals, the military and tech companies offer Mindful Meditation programs as part of their best practice. So, how can we in our community of Healdsburg get started. Here are few ways that research and brain-imaging suggests works. We are living longer, we may just live to a 100, let’s put our best brain forward. Practice daily your ABC’s and see for yourself.
A: Put the brakes on and with intention be aware of your surroundings, look up and around
B: Just Breath and with awareness of where oxygen is entering your body, take note
C: Choose, the next best moment in time. Own your response after deploying A+B
For more information on Mindful Awareness courses and how you can be involved in Sonoma Counties Health Action Goals Please go to www.Mindstream.me Article Author Gina Jackson, Founder Mindstream Company.