During recent travels, a walk on the beach had me looking at seaweed as a visual metaphor for the brain…

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN

Much like a pinball machine, the mind bounces from one thought to the next: positive, negative, past, present, future.

Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell, MD, director of the Hallowell Center for Cognitive and Emotional Health tells us that:

“People shift their attention from one task to the next in rapid succession [commonly referred to as multi-tasking]. This reduces the quality of the work on any one task because you’re ignoring it for milliseconds at a time.”

 

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON MINDFULNESS

Separating out a single thought strand, mindfulness is present moment awareness.

An article in Psychology Today defines mindfulness as:

“A state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.”

Do you live in the moment?

© Laurie Buchanan

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