Think. Thought. Wander. Lost. A gateway to Mindfulness.

Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash

Begin. Start. Commence. Initiate.

Apart from the fact that I am trying to capture your attention, these starting four words also indicate “synonyms”.

Long ago, a very smart human being forgot an important word to complete his argument. They itched their head for days and finally came up with a similar word with a similar meaning, but completely different spelling, so even on forgetting, he or she can deliver the essence of their thought.

But over the years, I have seen people using synonyms incorrectly. And would like to fix one of those word combinations today. When someone says they are addicted to music, they mean they are passionate about music. When someone says, I am obsessed with music, again they mean they are passionate about music.

Passion, addiction, and obsession are not interchangeable.

• Passionate about something is more of a conscious effort, it gives you joy, and that’s what your heart wants.
• Addicted to something is spiraling downwards, your heart does not want it, your brain does. You feel guilty, yet end up doing it.
• And obsession is, you end up doing something without any logic. You cannot explain why you do it, but you still do. Unlike addiction, there is no pleasure involved.

You must be wondering why I am spending time explaining the difference between passion, addiction, and obsessions. Because our brain is a junkie. It’s an addict.

It’s an addict for information. Recent studies have shown that obtaining new information is similar to eating junk, drinking alcohol, or smoking — it generates a good amount of dopamine (Chemical responsible for creating happiness and pleasure) . That’s the reason we are unable to resist checking new messages, surfing the internet, or clearing out all our phone notifications. To the brain, information is its own reward, even if it’s completely useless. It’s like those empty calories from junk food. Anticipation that the information will come with something good makes it even more curious and likewise, makes the information appear more valuable than it really is.

Our sensory organs keep on taking in information. This dates back to the stone age, where cavemen had to always be alert, looking for sounds, clues, always curious, as there were dangers or traps ever-present — big carnivores, weather, or even an enemy clan. But after millions of years, this is not the case, right? But the brain still behaves in the same way.

It’s a well-known fact that data is the new oil. Like oil, it’s dirty and needs to be processed. But instead of waiting for millions of years for regeneration, data is generated every second.

But your brain is not really responsible for processing this data into meaningful logic, do not try to comprehend meaning from useless data, which will yield useless results. Unstructured, useless data is for AI Models, not you.

This addiction to information from all sides, has a huge negative impact on our wellbeing. It’s the driver for our junkie, it’s the pilot to our brain. Over the last few years, where information digitalization has taken a huge leap. There is this famous saying, “tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are, or what you will become”. Even though attention, focus, or concentration is so powerful, it’s equally fragile and vulnerable.

A study suggests that the human brain wanders 50% of the time, during a particular task. Digital overload may be the defining problem of today’s workplace.

All day and night, on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, we’re bombarded with so many messages and alerts that even when we want to focus, it’s nearly impossible. And when we’re tempted to procrastinate, diversions are only a click away.

This culture of constant connection takes a toll both professionally and personally. We waste time, attention, and energy on relatively unimportant information and interactions, staying busy but producing little value.

If you think you can multitask while actually doing something important, like browsing through Facebook, in a meeting, then you are making your attention even more fragile. At the end of the day, attention is a muscle, the more you train it to focus and be resistant to distraction, the stronger it gets.

There are many more points I would like to throw light upon, but I am not someone who looks at the glass half empty. And hence, It’s time for some mitigation, some light at the end of the tunnel type stuff. This is the part where we address what can be done to get the focus back. This is the part where the superhero swoops in and saves YOUR ATTENTION.

Feed your brain mindfulness; not ‘junk food’.

There are four things I would like you all to try out. The first one is simple, and the last one the hardest.

1. Let us start with the simple one then. Remember this phrase, ‘FOMO is unavoidable’. What I am trying to say is replying the very next second, reading the notification just as it beeps, is not sustainable. That is ok. Understanding this will help you differentiate between what’s important information and what is not.
2. The second tactic. Try looking at all messaging and social networking apps, news channels, and your 1000 other tabs, during a specific time slot. If you decide from 2–2:30 you are going to feed yourself with these sources, then by all means, go ahead. But after that, switch it off. Done. That’s it. Then again at the next time slot, you open them. Having time tracking apps on your phone, browsers, and tabs also helps. This will let your brain know, when to actually get hungry for information, and not always ask for more.
3. Now, this is an interesting one, detox. It’s like a fasting, but instead of your stomach, it’s for the brain. One day a week, perhaps Saturday or Sunday, you switch off all gadgets. ALL OF THEM. This teaches your brain that boredom is natural, it’s not necessary to always seek out information for pleasure. Instead, do some meditation, play some music, sing, read, write. But nothing digital. Having tried this personally, it’s an amazing experience. You might explore some really deep questions as to who you are. But I don’t recommend it. Just do basic stuff. I am kidding, by all means, ask yourself questions but don’t expect answers. The whole process will help neutralize and naturally produce dopamine, instead of being triggered only when you are consuming junk — like browsing your phone.
4. Now, the hardest solution. When our mind wanders, we make mistakes, we either think about the past that’s already happened and try to relive it, or we think about the future, yet we are trying to live the same. We need to learn that the opposite of a stressed, attention-deficient, and wandering mind is a mindful one. The only solution you need, again, is mindfulness. It’s the art of paying attention to our present moment, without any emotional reactivity of what’s happening. It’s a practice. Maintaining moment by moment attention of our thoughts, without judging them. Without declaring if it’s wrong or right. Just observing. And it’s simple to practice, but hard to gain expertise.

In practice, if you are washing the utensils, you are just washing the utensils. You concentrate on every aspect, from the running water, with the scrub in your hand, with the soap getting soaked in it, and gently moving your hands on the fork, making sure it’s shining, and washing it to remove all soap and food. You give attention to the whole process; you enjoy the process.

These little practices help the brain to understand the difference between structured and unstructured data. It helps develop the attention muscle to its very best, sharpens focus and concentration, and the most important outcome — helps you to live a happy, mindful, and powerful life. The one where you enjoy every second with meaning. It will actively help you develop compassion, better relationships, empathy, eagle-eye focus, resilience, and in general self-esteem.

Stay safe, stay happy, and the most important ingredient for any of this to work, keep smiling.