How to Refresh Your Brain in 10 Minutes
When
you go from one task to the next--all day long--your mind constantly races to
catch up. Hit the reset button with this underrated trick.
Andy
Puddicombe is a former Buddhist monk and co-founder of Headspace, an entrepreneurial venture designed to
demystify meditation and make it easily accessible to all audiences. In a
recent talk, Puddicombe promotes an idea that almost
sounds too easy to be true: refresh your mind in just 10 minutes a day and you
might be happier at work.
Puddicombe
seeks to provide “meditation for the modern world,” eliminating stereotypes of
incense and cross-legged monks. And he might just be on to something. Here are
two problems that plague modern-day workers--and how Headspace’s bite-sized
meditation plan can help.
Problem
#1: Inability to Focus
“The
average office worker changes windows [on her computer] 37 times an hour,”
Headspace’s head of research Nick Begley says.
According
to Begley, when your mind changes gears that rapidly, part of your brain is
still engaged in the previous task and you don’t have all of the attention and
resources necessary to concentrate on the current task. This slows down
productivity and reduces your ability to filter relevant information from
irrelevant information.
Problem
#2: Stress
When
people get stressed, there is a part of the brain called the amygdala that
fires up the “fight or flight” part of the nervous system that helps you make
quick, impulsive decisions.
“It
signals to our hormonal system to secrete adrenaline and cortisol and increases
our heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure, so we can escape this
immediate physical danger,” says Begley.
The
problem arises when there is no immediate physical danger--when, say, you’ve
forgotten to hit “save” on an important document and your computer crashes, or
you arrive unprepared for an important business meeting. The “fight or flight”
impulse is not actually helpful in those situations and merely puts undue
stress on the body, Begley explains.
The
Solution
Refreshing
your brain is easier than you think. Here's the first and only step: Do
nothing.
Puddicombe
recommends simply setting aside 10 minutes each day to quiet your mind.
Practice observing thoughts and anxieties without passing judgment--simply
experience them. Focus on the present moment and nothing else.
“We
can’t change every little thing that happens to us,” he acknowledges, “but we
can change how we experience it.”
Francesca Fenzi |http://www.inc.com/francesca-fenzi/refresh-your-brain-10-minutes.html?cid=em01014week04b
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