Mindfulness in Busy Times
A colleague noted, in response to my annual newsletter, that while mindfulness is a good thing, it can be hard to do when we are caught up in the daily grind.
I shared the idea of mindfulness as a respite from a world increasingly mired in AI-fueled cheap talk narratives. Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer’s method of noticing new things is a simple, accessible approach to mindfulness. But when swamped with plans, appointments, chores and commitments, our attention slips into the mindless automata of habits, heuristics and instincts.
It is the nature of our minds to jump from one thought or feeling to another, then another. In yoga metaphor, the mind is a vortex (citta vritti) that is constantly whirling, twisting, stretching.…..sucking us into its never-ending flow. Impose externalities such as events, things, other people, and the vritti becomes more turbulent, clouding our perceptions and intentions. Throw in a flurry of checklists and deadlines, and our awareness succumbs to the eddies of reflex and impulse.
So, what can we do when busyness overwhelms our ability to be mindful?
We breathe.
Breathing is a funny thing. It is vital, yet we pay little or no attention – until it stalls. We fail to notice that our breaths give away so much of our mind and body. When we are in pain, our breaths are labored. When agitated or angry, our breaths come in quick, shallow bursts. When stressed and anxious, we tighten up and stop breathing. Our breaths are the first victims of our mindlessness.
Paying attention to our breaths is a step towards noticing other aspects of our lives. The idea is to start small, familiarizing ourselves with the idiosyncrasies of our minds through the breath, before learning to channel our awareness into the present. Like body conditioning exercises, we gradually improve strength, flexibility and stamina through incremental increases in loading, duration and complexity. We build the ability to anchor our attention, one breath at a time, so that we can sustain meaningful engagement and focus in every moment, even as life knocks the wind out of our sails.
Finding Your Breath
The Breathing App (not sponsored – also on Android) is a free, simple-to-use tool that provides visual and sound cues to guide our breathing. To start:
Set a duration of 3-5 minutes (more is not necessarily better)
Select a pace or inhale-exhale ratio
To reset: Equal breathing – same length inhale and exhale
To calm down: 4:6 breathing – 4 counts of inhale and 6 counts of exhale
