Thanks for Listening to the Podcast Interview
Asking ourselves how can slowing down and paying attention in a certain way throughout the day help me really 'optimize', really be productive, really succeed, really discover happiness?
Some Summaries, Science, Snapshots
Bottom line Benefits of Practicing:
"Relief from the tension I feel in constant distraction, I can now feel Resourced"
Science:
"A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind" Killingsworth, 2010
essentially we are not where we are 47% of the time, (that's half our lives we miss), and all this wandering is not making us very happy.
Further study in FMRI, allowing minds to wander, we discover there seems to be a 'default' brain network we go when wandering. Many parts of the DMN (default mode network) - many parts of the brain linked together doing many things, but in summary we could say this area is involved in 'self-referential' thinking - all caught up in ourselves, future, past, wandering, wondering, worrying - I call it the 'ditch' we fall into that leaves us depleted.
Mindfulness Meditation has shown to decrease activation in the DMN and increase activation in other areas of brain that link us to Attentional resources that lead to connection to our internal states, to empathetic concern for others, to creative and innovative work, and to a resilience that allows us to return to baseline more quickly when stressed, and much more.
Reminder: Neuro-bio Plasticity is the continual change in brain biology in both function and structure according to repeated focal attention.
for better or worse!
Always ask then:
What's got my attention?
What am I focusing on?
The Brain wants us to keep an eye on threat, what's wrong, the negative. This is basic in our evolutionary biology.
With Awareness Practice we can determine to shape resilience and well-being instead
Brain 101:
negativity biased
likes to save energy
history making machine
likes what's familiar
avoids unpleasant
It is not the least bit interested in creating anything new
runs counter to resilience and a resourced life in riding the tide, going with the flow of CHANGE.
If you find any of this of interest
Join or Bring to you - the Next Mbsr Mindulness-based Stress Reduction Class (the original template for the scientific research showing positive outcomes in emotion regulation, cognitive functioning, and self referential areas of the brain, along with cellular repair, telomerase production, and more.)
Explore More:
Organizational Seminars -
teaching teams practical applications of Neurobiology of Attention for Employee Wellness and Productivity
or
Contact to Design to need
Video Learning:
1. Amishi Jha, top cognitive neuroscientist working with the military and first responders to develop resilience in attentional training.
2. Richie Davidson the top researcher in the field of Mindfulness
3. Neurofeedback from Dr Judson Brewer Lab measuring the DMN during focused attention and stressed attention
4. Elisa Epel colleague of Elizabeth Blackburn nobel prize winner for "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase."
