IS YOUR MIND WORKING FOR YOU?

Or are you trying to keep up?

If you google how many thoughts we have per day, you will find some saying we have 60-70,000 thoughts per day (which is pretty close to impossible) and newer studies (which are more accurate since they are studies) saying around 6,000, which is still a lot to keep track of.

So what are you doing with your thoughts?
Are you getting stuck in the spiral of stressful thinking?
Are you stuck on the problem, thinking about all the reasons it's not going to work?
Are you thinking about how exhausted you are because you're trying your best, and nothing seems to work out?
If only... thoughts?

The good news is that if you even realize that you have these thoughts (we all do), then you are being mindful at that moment. You are aware that you are stuck in a thought pattern that's not helping you.

AWARENESS MATTERS

Catching our thoughts is progress!
The more aware we are, the more we can change.
The more willing we are, the more adaptable we become.
The more adaptable we are, the more agile we become.

So the faster you catch your thoughts on their way down the rabbit hole, the faster you can get your mind back to working better for you. That's mindfulness. What you do with your thoughts is self-care.

Being able to let the worry and the not-good-enough thoughts be and come back to the question: What do I need so that I can...? is how you use mindfulness to work better for you. That said, just giving your mind some space and grace to breathe and let be can also be just the relief from worry you need.

TO PAUSE IS TO RECLAIM YOUR POWER OF CHOICE

Sometimes we just need a pause, sometimes, we need Power-Pausing.

Power-Pausing is mindfulness in action. It's that moment, that gap in time, where we pause to listen to our thoughts and become aware of how they are taking over our attention and our time. That awareness is essential to inform us and redirect our attention to what we need so we can solve the problem. It's an active pause where you use the way you ask questions to direct your attention, reset your focus and reclaim agency so you can move forward, solving the real problem you are trying to solve. What's the real problem? The one that matters to the people you serve, to the people you work with, and to you. At the end of the day, progress isn’t about getting more done, progress is about changing something for the better, and it starts with being mindful of what's not working and using that for creative and innovative ways to create growth, which essentially is life.

TRAIN YOUR MIND TO WORK BETTER FOR YOU

Many people ask me how to train this mindfulness in action because it’s so easy to get pulled into the speed of life and work the moment we wake up. This is where meditation comes in. Start out with just a minute between tasks and meetings to bring your attention to the breath, and inhale for 4 counts and exhale slowly for 8. That alone will help you calm your nervous system and redirect your thoughts so you can reset your mind to what you need to pay attention to. 

When you being your day, try to do this for 5 minutes:
Take a seat that feels comfortable, upright but not too tight. Don’t lean back as if you are going to relax, this is about training your mind to stay focused. We call it one-pointed focus. Your focus is on your breath. 

Just let the breath be your natural breath and let your attention follow the breath in and out. You can count if you like; the mind likes to have something to do. When your thoughts come in to nag you, simply say thoughts in your mind, and go back to paying attention to the breath. 

At night before bed, do that same thing for 5 minutes. 

You may start doing it for longer as you get the hang of it. Remember, the point is to catch your thoughts before they take off with your mind and come back to the breath. This is not about an “empty mind”; it’s about being able to master your attention and focus. It’s not relaxing, it’s work, and that’s exactly how you train your mind to work better for you so that you reclaim the power of choice of what you pay attention to. 

YOUR HEART MATTERS TOO

Next week I will speak more about emotional awareness and creativity; since we are not just thought machines, we are whole humans, and it's our humanity that cultivates teams and cultures that work better together.