To be yourself or to be in the background of yourself? Practicing mindful thinking.

[Teacher]

We study the book “Being yourself” (Publishing House MYTH) and understand why it is so difficult for us to concentrate attention on one subject for a long time, how our inability to simultaneously keep our attention on thoughts and feelings helps us and whether the practice of mindfulness can give us something.

One of the most useful functions of the brain is the ability to chain disparate actions together, which allows many daily tasks to be performed automatically. And this is very convenient. When tying your shoelaces or buttoning up buttons, you don't think exactly how you do it. Brushing your teeth also does not imply comprehending each movement separately. Otherwise, there is a chance not to leave the house at all.

Not in the present moment
Naturally, this moon also has a downside. By conserving energy, the brain turns on cruise control so often that life turns into a sequence of big and small habits. And the person drops out of the process. Moreover, being on autopilot, you will not even understand that you are in this state.

Another "superpower" of a person is multitasking. No other mammal (and in general a living creature) can boast of it. You have hardly ever seen an antelope listening to music, texting on social networks and drinking coffee at the same time. At the same time, he goes on vacation and thinks about work. A man can. And he is even proud of how many cases he is able to accommodate in one unit of time. But where is he himself at this very second?

The third whip that snaps us out of the present moment is thoughts about the past and the future. The memory trap: we worry about imaginary or past troubles, but they do not pose any physical danger here and now. Then why do we need this stress-tasting mental gum?

How to be yourself?
These are three techniques that ensured human survival (as a species). And they can also be the main reasons why we are "not very happy" (as individuals). I want a golden mean. Ruby Wex, an Oxford MA in Cognitive Psychotherapy, is looking for her. Simply put, a mindfulness specialist. In her book "Be yourself" (publishing house MYTH), she writes:

"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."

A great metaphor for the coveted balance.

Mindfulness is the ability to pay attention. Let's try: fix your attention on something and try to keep it. You may be able to do this within a few seconds. But then attention will fly away to something else, like a night moth to a bright light bulb.

Note
This is where the main secret is hiding. From childhood, we are told "pay attention", but they do not explain how to do it. And the skill is simple: we concentrate on the outside, while we need to focus on the inside. That is, to take a step back and switch to the mode of observing your own thoughts: to look at them, and not to analyze, comment or give "good or bad" assessments. With the help of awareness, your inner observer (that is, you!) Becomes stronger, he seems to be examining the thought processes, being above them. It is like seeing yourself in a dream and knowing that you are dreaming. You can do whatever you want, right?

Two important things are happening. First, the understanding comes that you are not your thoughts. How else could you watch them? Secondly, your thoughts lose their power over you, you gain comprehensive access to the judgments, concepts and words that are now in your head. And do not dive into them like a ship in distress.

Physical sensation
So, if storm clouds of negative thoughts or storm clouds of stress are visible on the horizon, focus on one of the senses (hearing, touch, sight, taste, smell). As soon as the focus of attention is established on the physical sensation, the disturbances of consciousness will automatically become background noise. You can't keep focus on thoughts and sensations at the same time, the human brain can physically do one thing and it will have to choose. Concentrating on your senses helps you keep your peace of mind while your thoughts gallop.

As soon as you make this effort - deliberately shifting your focus - you are instantly in the present moment. You cannot hear "tomorrow" or "yesterday" - only "today". And when you are in the present moment, there can be no critical thoughts, only sensations.

Brain and predators
This skill of concentration is the most important skill in mindfulness practice. You will be surprised, but a person does not know how to do it automatically. We can concentrate on something for an average of 1.2 seconds.

The human brain is not designed for continuous contemplation. It is designed to quickly scan the environment for potential threats. Ever since the days of cavemen, which have long passed, but he still tirelessly protects us from predators.

The ability to consciously, at will, to shift the focus of attention is tantamount to a better, happier and healthier life, since it means that a person has finally taken control of this magnificent and complex system of trillion cells, and does not act under its influence.

 

[Tomcat]

Thinking bugs: 9 cognitive mistakes that distort our reality​

Rhyme effect​

We subconsciously tend to consider almost any judgment more reliable if it is written in rhyme - this method of persuasion was used by manipulative psychologists in the series "Mind Games". This effect is confirmed by numerous studies, where a group of people were asked to determine the degree of their trust in various rhymed and non-rhymed phrases. Sentences containing rhymes appear to be noticeably more attractive to the subjects and inspire more confidence in them. For example, the phrase "That which sobriety hides, alcohol reveals" was recognized as more convincing than the thesis "Sobriety hides what alcohol reveals." The effect can be provoked by the fact that rhyme facilitates cognitive processes and firmly binds seemingly disparate parts of a sentence in our subconscious.

Anchor effect​

Many people use the first information that catches their eye and draw further conclusions about something based on it alone. As soon as a person "sets an anchor", he makes subsequent judgments, without trying to look a little further than the conventional "parking place". If the subjects are asked to estimate in five seconds the approximate result of a mathematical example 1 × 2 x 3 × 4 x 5 × 6 x 7 × 8 =?, Then, for lack of time, most people will multiply the first few numbers and, seeing that the figure is not too large, will announce a very modest final result (the average answer is about 512). But if the sequence of multipliers is reversed: 8 × 7 x 6 × 5 x 4 × 3 x 2 × 1 - then the subject, having performed the first few actions and seeing that the result of multiplication turns out to be large, will significantly increase his predictions regarding the final answer (average answer - about 2250).

Heuristic availability​

If you ask a college student, "Does your institution have more Colorado or California students?" - then his answer will most likely be based on personal examples that he can recall in a short period of time. The easier we can remember something, the more we trust this knowledge. If you ask a person a question: "We took a random word: do you think it will most likely start with the letter K, or will this letter be the third in it?" - then most people will remember words starting with K much faster, and not words where K is the third letter, and will give their answer based on this. In fact, the standard text contains twice as many words, with K in third place.

Stockholm Buyer Syndrome​

Often, consciousness retroactively ascribes positive qualities to the object that a person has already chosen and acquired and which he cannot refuse. For example, if you bought a computer from Apple, then you probably will not notice or significantly underestimate the shortcomings of computers from this company, and, conversely, noticeably increase criticism of computers based on Windows. The buyer will in every possible way justify the purchased expensive product, not noticing its shortcomings, even if they are significant and his choice does not meet his expectations. The same syndrome explains purchases according to the principle "I will be much better at this when I lose weight."

Decoy effect​

If the consumer is faced with a choice - to buy a cheaper and less capacious player A or a more expensive and more capacious player B, then someone will prefer a device with a higher capacity, and someone will prefer a lower price. But if player C comes into play, which costs more than A and B, and has more memory than A, but less than B, then by the very fact of its existence it increases the chances of buying player B and makes it a favorite among these three ... This is due to the fact that the buyer sees that a model with a large storage capacity may cost less, and this subconsciously influences his choice. The sole purpose of such baits is to persuade a person in favor of one of two options. And this scheme works not only in marketing.

IKEA effect​

Giving unreasonably great importance to things in the creation of which the consumer himself takes part. Many items produced by the IKEA furniture store require the buyer to assemble at home, and this is no coincidence: the user appreciates the product much more when he considers it to be the result of his labor. Experiments have shown that a person is ready to pay more for a thing that he has assembled himself than for one that does not need assembly, and considers it to be of higher quality and more reliable.

"Hot - Cold"​

A biased assessment of reality arising from the inability to imagine oneself in another state and predict one's behavior in a situation associated with this state. For example, when a person is hot, it is difficult for him to understand the beauty of coolness, and when he is madly in love, he cannot remember how he lived without an object of passion. This kind of shortsightedness leads to reckless actions: until we are faced with a really serious temptation, we feel that it is not so difficult to resist before it.

Functional fixation​

The mental block is against a new approach to using the object: paper clips to hold the sheets together, a hammer to hammer in a nail. This distortion does not allow our consciousness to move away from the original purpose of objects and see their possible additional functions. The classic experiment that confirms this phenomenon is the candle experiment. Participants are given a candle, a box of office buttons and matches, and are asked to attach the candle to the wall so that it does not drip onto the table. Few participants can "rethink" the button box to make a candle holder out of it, rather than trying to attach the candle to the wall using the buttons themselves.

Faith in a just world​

There is also a dark side to a completely positive inclination to hope for the best: since it is very difficult for people to come to terms with the fact that the world is unfair and full of accidents, they try to find logic in the most absurd terrible events. This, in turn, leads to bias. Therefore, victims of crime are often accused of facilitating such behavior on the part of the perpetrator by their actions (a classic example is the “blame” approach to rape victims).