Power of Refocus

Our monkey brain is really great at chasing squirrels. So many people live in a system that prioritizes being busy and productive, and multitasking if possible. Helping ourselves practice refocus in kind and gentle ways helps to alleviate stress, improve our outlook, and increase the quality of what our efforts produce.

There are many ways we can practice refocusing. Here are a few: 1. Daydream about a certain subject, goal, or outcome you want. This helps us reinforce to our brain that success is possible even if we haven't actually experienced success yet. 2. Taking a deep breath and focusing on exactly how it feels to breathe in, and breathe out, and maybe even hold your breath a bit before transitioning to breathing in or out. There are so many ways to breathe - pick one that takes a lot of your brain's bandwidth and kindly practice. 3. Look at a focus, whether that be a flame or an object or even idea - really see it it. How many things can you notice about it? When your monkey brain wanders, gently bring it back to the focus. The more gentle we are, the more pleasant and helpful this experience will be. 4. Splash cold water on your face or take a cold shower. This can be helpful for many reasons, and can certainly jerk your attention to the present. 5. Pick a thing and name all the qualities you can think of that describes the thing. How many can you come up with? Are there any contradictions? Have you considered all your senses in experiencing this thing?