MINDFULNESS AS A TOOL FOR IMPROVED FOCUS

MINDFULNESS WILL HELP YOU GET IN TOUCH WITH YOURSELF

Do you ever feel empty or restless? Do your thoughts overwhelm you? Do you feel tense, and want to relax your body, but you don’t know how to? Do you ever feel a strong yearning, and you have no idea where this comes from, what this feeling means, and what you are supposed to do with it?  Do you sense that there is something great waiting for you, but it seems to be just out of your reach?

This may be a sign that you have lost touch with yourself. We all lose touch with ourselves as we travel through life. Perhaps you are going through a tough time financially. Perhaps you are in an abusive relationship, and you don’t know how you got there. Maybe you have chosen a career that does not fit in with who you really want to be.

Deep inside you there is a voice, it is the voice of your soul. Your soul is spiritual, it is a part of G-d. It knows the answers to your questions.  If you are very still, you can hear it’s message.

As life goes by and you get busier, you drown out the soul voice inside you by busying  yourself with technology and life’s past-times. 

Mindfulness has been around for a very long time.  In the last 10 years it has become more popular as the benefits of mindfulness have become better understood.

The mindfulness that I advocate for my ADHD clients is not the classic one, where you sit still and do nothing while meditating on your thoughts.  While this form of mindfulness is powerfully therapeutic, most people, myself included, don’t have the time or patience for that. Creating a mindfulness practise is surprisingly simple and easy to integrate into your daily life. I like to call them “Active mindfulness” exercises. Small chunks of mindful focus throughout your day, that will keep you grounded, centred, and open to the opportunities that are coming your way, and most importantly can actually change certain parts of your brain.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

Mindfulness is about paying attention to your thoughts and emotions as they occur in the present moment. It is about focusing on your current activity. Mindfulness is about focusing on your breathing.  Mindfulness is about coming out of your head, and being fully present inside your body. 

Due to stress and bad habits we fall back on learned practises which are often negative. Mindfulness is an active training of the mind to increase awareness and choice.  Being mindful makes it easier to be creative in the moment, to increase your moment to moment choice, and take on positive actions. By mindfully focusing on the positive, you can change the way you perceive the world, and thereby how the world responds to you. Mindfulness can open up opportunities for you that were open to you, but your mind was closed to them.

When you start a new exercise routine you train muscles that you never knew existed. Repeating those exercises strengthens those muscles. When you practise mindfulness, you strengthen different parts of the brain; parts that you never knew existed. Since behaviour is brain based, when you strengthen parts of your brain, you naturally alter your behaviour in ways you couldn’t previously access.

When you practise the mindfulness exercises you get off from operating in auto-pilot mode, being influenced by past experiences and emotions, and you can learn to live in the present. Mindfulness helps you to increase your conscious capacity to make positive choices during stress.  You can then work through life’s challenges in a clear-minded, calm, assertive way.  Mindfulness is tremendously calming for your mind and body.  It really is that simple. Mindfulness helps you cope better with stress and everyday life.

Mindfulness can help you manage your feelings of wellbeing and mental health.  With good mental health you can access your potential, cope better with life, and be a more functional, contributing member of your society.

By repeating the simple mindfulness exercises you can improve your focus and attention span.  This is because your brain can rewire itself based on any behaviour that you reinforce through repetitive action.  Focus and attention are one of the main challenges associated with ADHD.  By practising mindfulness you can really increase the length of time that you can focus on tasks.  You can increase your ability to transition easily from one task to another.

Parents with a child with ADHD are under chronic stress.  Stress undermines the brain’s ability to choose appropriate reactions to stress.  Unfortunately it is easy to fall back on old habits and be reactive to the situation. Mindfulness helps parents choose appropriate action, diffuse the moment and cope better day to day.

No matter where you are in life, active mindfulness can transform your life.

WHY DOES MINFDULNESS WORK?

Just like brain activity, breathing is involved in everything you do.  The purpose of breathing is to get oxygen to your brain for optimal efficiency.  Breathing brings oxygen from the air into your body and blows off waste products like carbon dioxide.  Every cell in your body needs oxygen in order to function properly.  Brain cells are particularly sensitive to oxygen levels.  Brain cells start to die within 4 minutes of being deprived of oxygen.  Slight changes in oxygen content in the brain start to have a big impact on brain function and your mood and behaviour. 

Your brain needs oxygen for optimal functioning. When a person has a stressful reaction his or her breathing changes right away.  Breathing becomes more shallow and the rate increases dramatically.  This form of breathing is inefficient and the oxygen content in the angry person’s blood is significantly lowered.  As a result there is less oxygen in the person’s brain, and they may become more irritable, impulsive and confused.  This will cause a worsening of behaviour, and poor decision making, and even violence.

Just stop what you are doing and breathe in slowly and deeply via your diaphragm.  Feel your stomach rising and falling a couple of times.  You should start to feel better.  It may take you a few attempts to master this technique.  There, you have started on your mindful journey, it really is that simple.

Once you have learnt some simple mindful tools you will have a free portable and powerful technique that will energise you and help you focus.  Moving the energy of breathing into your body will help you feel more relaxed, and conscious, and improve your self-control. This technique will help you become more mindful, gain control over negative reactions, and even help you sleep better at night.

 If you have ADHD, you can now receive FRE ADHD coaching via Access to Work, part of the DWP.

The application process can be really difficult, to say the least, convolutiong, confusing and soul destoying.

My team will support you through the entire process.

To book your 10 minute call with me, simply DM or WhatsApp 0780 515 9803.