Mind Over Multitasking
Mind Over Multitasking
Mindfulness or being mindful is being aware of your present moment. You are not judging, reflecting or thinking. You are simply observing the moment in which you find yourself.
How much time do you spend not being mindful?
See if you recognize any of these statements from a questionnaire developed at the University of Rochester:
1. I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening in the present.
2. I snack without paying much attention to what I’m doing.
3. It seems I’m “running on automatic” without much awareness of what I’m doing.
4. I tend to walk quickly to get where I’m going without paying attention to what I experience along the way.
5. I find myself listening to someone with one ear and doing something else at the same time.
6. I tend not to notice physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention.
7. I rush through activities without being really attentive to them.
If some of these sound familiar, there’s plenty of room for increasing mindfulness in your daily life. Learning to focus the mind can be a healthful antidote to the stresses and strains of our on-the-go lives. Being mindful means focusing attention on what you’re experiencing from moment to moment.
It’s quite a challenge to be mindful in our hectic world.
Mindfulness-based approaches have been integrated into the treatment of anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and other behavioral and emotional disorders including binge eating, obsessive- compulsive disorder, and depression relapse.
Studies at University of Wisconsin showed that after mindfulness training, brain wave recordings showed a pattern of activity greater in the left prefrontal cortex that is associated with happiness and optimism. Mindfulness also influenced the immune system of those in the study. The mindfulness students produced more antibodies than the controls.
Source: Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society
What can you do to increase your mindfulness?
* The Mind/Body Medical Institute suggest that you slow down as you go about everyday activities, doing one thing at a time and bringing your full awareness to both the activity and your experience of it.
* Notice the times when your thoughts are creating stress or distracting you from the present moment.
* If you are in a stressful moment (perhaps you’re about to speak in public or undergo a medical test), observe your thoughts and emotions and how they affect your body.
* Make something that occurs several times during your day, such as answering the phone or buckling your seat belt, a reminder to return to the present and think about what you’re doing and observe yourself doing it.
* Being mindful doesn’t mean you’ll never “multitask”, but you can make multitasking a conscious choice.
* It doesn’t mean that you’ll never be in a hurry, but at least you will be aware that you are rushing.
* Although upsetting thoughts or emotions won’t disappear, you will have more insight into them and become aware of your choices in responding to them. Resource: Harvard Medical School Health Watch, Mind/Body Medical Institute.
Hopefully, hearing some of this research and learning some ways to increase your mindfulness will move you in the direction of being more mindful as you go through each day. It’s worth giving it a try.
Exuberant Productivity Coach, Suzanne Holman, MAEd, works with financial service professionals, realtors, and self-employed professionals determined to make every hour they work truly productive so they have quality time and abundant energy for fun and family! For a FREE Exuberance Assessment and tips for increasing your productivity and having a more satisfying life, visit Exuberant Productivity.com
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Do You Feel Inspired
Do you feel like most people do now days? Do you feel uninspired? Do you feel as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and that you have simply died inside and are waiting for your turn in the coffin?
Many people have lost their drive, their passion, their inspiration. In fact, even the most successful of people have moments in their lives that they too feel that they are as low as they can go and that they have nothing more to give. This is a natural part of our human experience.
The problem for most people is that they have had more than enough influence and people in their lives telling them why they don’t deserve to be more, to do more, to have more. We have magazines, music, teachers, mentors, parents, friends, and a million other sources telling us who and what we should be. For a society where the individual is cherished, we sure have enough people saying who that individual should and should not be.
We need to reclaim our right to be an individual as we choose to be. Not allowing ourselves to be influenced by others opinions and choices unless we choose to do so. The right, and the ability to find our own inspiration and motivation and passion in life. The right to choose, without allowing the judgment of others to influence our decisions, who and what we want to do, have, and be.
If you feel uninspired, or as though you have lost your passion, it’s time for you to find it again. To find that place within yourself, within your life where you have your passion, your inspiration. You must take the time to find those things that inspire you and drive you.
If you feel uninspired, it means that you haven’t taken the time to find things that inspire you. You haven’t taken the time to find those things that allow you to feel passionate. It’s different for every single person. One person may feel inspired and passionate about changing lives and building a non-profit organization to do so.
Other people may find inspiration and passion in developing themselves and growing. The bible, religion, or philosophy may be enough for them. Still others may find inspiration and passion by sailing on the open sea. There is no deeper and darker a feeling than not having inspiration and passion.
When waking up is just something you do because you have to, then you have either not found your inspiration or passion, or you have lost it some where along your journey. Inspiration and passion keeps you up late at night because you can’t get the ideas out fast enough. It wakes you early in the morning because you can’t wait to get started again.
Inspiration and passion can be found in the most simple of places at times, and it must be searched for as diligently as a piece of gold or a diamond. It hides inside of our hearts, deep inside our gut, and it waits to be released. Once it is released, it touches us in ways that cause us to never return to the way our lives were before it touched us.
You must take the time to find your passion, your inspiration. You must learn to listen to your own inner voice and find your own way. Guided by nothing but what brings into your life those things that allow you to feel passion, happiness, inspiration, joy. Be, do, and have anything, and everything you desire, and deserve, and choose for yourself what those things will be.
Dwayne Gilbert is the founder of http://www.wealthylifesecrets.com and the Wealthy Life Secrets Program. He has been helping people to Unleash Their Potential for over 10 years. He has helped people from all walks of life to get on a better path and to create the life of their dreams.
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How To Achieve Success In 30 Days
?Thoughts lead on to purposes;
purposes go forth in action;
actions form habits;
habits decide character;
and character fixes our destiny.?
–Tryon Edwards, American theologian
Psychologists say it takes just 30 days to develop a habit whether it is a good habit or bad. Habits are things that we do automatically and are learned by repetition. If you spend just thirty days making a conscious decision to fasten your seatbelt every time you get into the car, you can almost bet that you?ll end up wearing your seatbelt for the rest of your life. In fact, should you ever try to drive without wearing your seatbelt, you?ll actually feel mentally uncomfortable as your subconscious fights with you to buckle up.
Because it is as easy to form a good habit as it is a bad one, we are in the perfect position to enhance our lives and increase our chances of being successful by making a conscious decision to form success habits.
In his book entitled The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey discusses seven principles that, if turned into habits, form the basic foundation that is shared among the world?s most successful people.
According to Covey, these principles are:
?Be Proactive. Make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen.
?Begin with the End in Mind. Set long term goals and take the time to consider how you want anything you do to end before you even take the first step towards starting.
?Put First Things First. Prioritize your work and delegate tasks to others when possible.
?Think Win/Win. Make decisions and reach conclusions that benefit all parties involved.
?Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. Listen to others and be sure to truly understand what they are saying before you offer advice or guidance.
?Synergize. Encourage teamwork and help each team member work to their maximum potential.
?Sharpen the saw. Take time to mentally and physically recharge yourself by taking vacations and participating in non-work activities.
While these basic principles are valuable habits to form, your 30 day success plan requires you to also develop habits that are specific to your own life and career goals.
What does it take to be successful in the areas that you want to excel in? Here?s how to find out:
Associate with or observe people who are successful at whatever it is you want to do. Watch how they behave; understand their work habits and then do what they do and do it for 30 days. Before you know it you will automatically be doing those same successful things every day of your life and doing them will become easy because you have formed a habit.
The next 30 days are going to pass whether you do anything to change your life and form success habits or not. Don?t waste one of those days. Start your 30 day success plan now. Your life will change when you make success a habit.
Terence Young - For more weight loss and personal growth articles visit: http://www.personalgrowthunlimited.com
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