In today’s episode, we cover focus and attention with Dr. Amishi Jha. Dr. Amishi Jha received her Ph.D. from the University of California–Davis, is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, and is the Cofounder and Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative.

It seems like our attention spans are getting shorter every year, but are they really, what can we do to improve our ability to focus, and how do we deal with the countless entities always clawing for our attention everywhere we look?

What to Listen For

Introduction and Dr. Amishi’s origin story – 9:00

How does meditation better equip us to deal with everything that is fighting for our attention in daily life?

What is attention and why should we care? – 19:24
What are the three components of attention and how do mindfulness practices influence our ability to pay attention?
What mindfulness exercise can you start doing now to begin seeing the benefits of meditation?
Are our attention spans actually getting shorter?
How do we use our brain to combat our own lack of attention or focus?

The Finder Flashlight Practice for developing focus – 31:20
What can you do to help your children learn to pay attention and focus?

What advantages do people with ADD/ADHD have that people without it don’t have?

Improving focus while living under a lot of stress – 48:50
What 12-minute exercise can you do on a daily basis to boost your ability to focus, even in high stress, high demand situations and environments?

Our ability to focus on something for an extended period of time is one of the significant differences between humans and other animals. However, like other animals we can easily be distracted and lose that focus. So what can we do in today’s world where everything in our daily lives is fighting for our attention? We can start by meditating (or implementing a similarly effective mindfulness practice) that can help us cultivate a sense of awareness that isn’t so reactive and easily distracted.

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Resources from this Episode

Dr. Amishi’s website

Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day

How to Tame Your Wandering Mind (TED Talk by Dr. Amishi)

Dr. Amishi on Twitter

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