Unlock Your Mind's Hidden Power: The Simple Shift That Changes Everything
Are You Really Present? Unmasking Everyday Distractions
Imagine you’re on an airplane and the pilot makes the following announcement:
Even though it appears that I’m flying the aircraft, I’m actually thinking about what I’m having for dinner tonight and if I can squeeze in a workout in the hotel gym afterwards. I’m also repeatedly sifting through an argument I had with my brother two years ago.
We can’t even imagine a pilot announcing such random, distracting thoughts in an airplane, yet we do it daily in our cars driving down a highway at 70 miles an hour! We’re driving, but we’re not thinking about driving.
We’re thinking about situations from the past or activities in the future. So then are we actually thinking about driving when we’re driving?
What does the steering wheel feel like? What do the surroundings look like? What do I hear? What sounds is my engine making? Do I hear an ambulance siren? What’s in front of me? Am I relaxed in the shoulders? How does my body feel in the car? What are the other cars doing around me?
Instead, we’re making a grocery list with Siri, texting at stop lights--or worse--while driving, calling friends, thinking about what we’re doing at 5 o’clock, planning what we’re cooking for dinner Friday night, thinking about what our ex did to us 25 years ago, listening to YouTubers review blenders.
You could argue that you need help passing the time. That you’re filling the otherwise wasted time of a boring drive. All of this distraction is harmless, in fact, quite helpful.
Sure, maybe in some instances: an 8-hour drive on a barren stretch of highway across Texas.
But consider all the times in our day when we’re actually thinking about something else. Can you catch yourself thinking about what you’re cooking for dinner while you’re actually sipping your morning coffee? Do you ever think about sitting down with your coffee, without your phone, to simply enjoy your coffee, its smell, the warm mug?
Simple Ways to Practice Everyday Mindfulness
When you’re in the shower are you actually thinking about showering? Could you notice the hot water on your skin? Could you think about being grateful for the copious, fresh water and the strong water pressure? The ability to wash your hair, to own handmade scented soap, to have the free time to take a leisurely shower, to dry off with a clean towel, and to have soft, cozy loungewear to slip into?
When you’re cooking dinner are you groaning about having to cook again while listening to a loud news show in the background? Perhaps you get to the end of a recipe and can’t remember if you put in the eggs? Or the oil? Was that sugar or salt that you measured?
Could you carefully watch your knife slice into the carrots, observing the precise width of the slices, noticing that it smells a bit like cut grass, trying a piece and seeing if it tastes a little bitter or super ripe and sweet.
Think about what if this is the last time you were cooking dinner for your family. What if this is the last time you’ll ever eat together? Maybe it’s the last carrot you’ll ever eat.
I’m not suggesting that you walk around making up disaster scenarios! However, I am suggesting that there’s most likely room in your day to pay close attention to what you’re doing. To imagine that you’re doing something for the last time so you can really hone in on the present moment.
Or, another way to think of it is to imagine you’re doing something for the first time.
We often go through our day as if we are not actually alive in the present moment. We spend so much of our time thinking about the past or worrying about something in the future. Recent studies suggest that such chronic worry leads to three times greater chance of developing dementia.
This is not to say we shouldn’t plan. When you want to make a plan for the future, sit down and make the plan.
If you want to contemplate something that you said to somebody in the past, sit down, consider it intentionally, make a decision about it, take action on it (or not), and then drop it. Return to the present.
Is there something nagging you that you’re thinking about all day long? Just constantly in your peripheral vision: I’ve gotta finish my tax return. I’ve gotta finish my tax return. I’ve gotta finish my tax return.
Look at your schedule, block some time, then sit down and finish it. Don’t let thinking about some future task take up every moment of your present life.
Why Mindful Moments Matter
How many times over the years have we heard that we should “eat mindfully?” I think I’ve read two dozen articles or more about mindfully eating over as many years. But the concept never really stuck with me. I had this rather vague notion that I should be doing things like eating at the table, enjoying my meal without other distractions, and engaging in nice conversations. I don’t think I ever really understood exactly what experts mean when they say to practice “eating mindfully.”
The other day, however, I cut an apple into slices. I stuck a piece in my mouth and started putting away groceries. I might have eaten one or two slices, and I had the third one hanging between my lips like a cigarette. I dashed around the kitchen putting away bags, stacking up cans, and washing berries.
I suddenly had the thought that I did not even remember eating the first two slices. I couldn’t tell you what that apple tasted like, if it was sweet, super juicy, or extra crispy.
I still had that third slice literally hanging out of my mouth when I sat down. As that apple slice dangled there, it hit me. At that precise moment, I finally understood what it meant to be mindful about eating. I felt like the Grinch when he stands there blinking, suddenly figuring out the meaning of Christmas.
Could I sit with my apple and enjoy eating it as if it’s the last time I was ever going to see an apple? As if some alien is going to come down and wipe out the Earth’s orchards overnight.
Or perhaps could I experience my apple like a toddler tasting her first apple sauce after months of bland oatmeal, Cheerios, and rice cereal.
Look, I never thought a few weeks ago that I was going to be eating my last egg for a few months, but I’m reluctant to buy them at nine dollars a carton. And the shelves have been frequently empty anyway, so I unwittingly bought my last carton of eggs a few weeks ago, albeit temporarily.
Who would have ever thought that? And I can’t even recall my final breakfast without eggs; I would have savored every bite of that egg if I had known I wouldn’t have another one for a couple of months.
A friend who had been injured skiing recently shared with me that she simply could not believe that trip was the last time she was ever going skiing. Of course, she had no idea that a ski-ending knee injury was coming her way. Imagine how different her last few runs would have been had she been keenly aware they would be her last. How she would have joyfully taken every turn, set to memory every crunch and squeak in the snow, noticed her deep breaths of the cold, mountain air.
This morning, I was hugging my youngest son, sending him off school. He has quite suddenly turned into a 6 foot 2, strapping young man. And already, without realizing it, I have picked him up for the last time. I didn’t know it at the time that it would be the last time I carried him, but yet that experience has come and gone--and I cannot remember it.
I hope he’ll keep hugging me, but he certainly won’t be snuggling with me like he does now for much longer. He’ll stop “accidentally falling asleep” next to me. One morning, I’ll wake up, watching him sleep peacefully, and I won’t even know that it will be his last night “reading next to me until I fall asleep.”
The Transformative Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is one of our most powerful hidden powers. Through its practice we can lower our chronic stress, help develop healthy habits, sleep more soundly, ease mental suffering, and, according to the American Psychological Association, boost working memory.
Founded in Buddhist traditions, mindfulness isn’t limited to seated meditation. You can research “single-tasking”, “mindfulness” or “stress reduction techniques” to discover dozens of ways to bring mindfulness into your every day activities. Learning something new helps to boost your brain, as well. The Cleveland Clinic offers “21 Tips for Mindfulness” on their website.
We exercise our body, and if we want to harness the hidden power of our mind, we must exercise it, as well. Keep it focused on the present. Notice how it reacts to slowing down.
Let me be clear: it’s kinda hard. Mindfulness takes dedication. Just like learning to run a marathon, learning to stay present is certainly not easy. But pick your hard. Learning to practice mindfulness is hard. But living with the negative affects of chronic stress, poor sleep, and mental heath issues is even harder.
Let’s give mindfulness a try this week. See how it goes.
Fly the plane if you’re the pilot. If you’re eating an apple, enjoy every bite. Hang on to every hug, treasure each sunrise, and savor every bite of that omelet. Your future brain will thank you.
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