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| gif credit: New York Times |
It's that time of year again, when the deadlines keep coming and all of us the the academic world start feeling seriously overwhelmed. This also seems to be the time of year when other stressors pile up as well-- many people are also worried by things like the unexpected election results, impending graduation, health issues, relationship uncertainty, being far from family, etc. For me personally, it's always the things I have the least control over that make me the most stressed, and the additional attention fatigue I'm experiencing as deadlines approach makes it even harder to find ways to slow down, unplug, and restore. In light of our conversation last Friday, and the walking tour yesterday, I want to remind everyone about a couple of things covered early in the course that may help us stop the dreaded cycle of attention fatigue and stress.
I brought back the above quote, from one of Dr. De Young's early lectures, not to say that we should be ignoring our stressors, but more to say that it is possible for us to choose our focus and thus our universe, if only for a short moment in time. Taking even a very small break to be mindful can completely shift our attitude and outlook on the day, making us happier, calmer, and more productive. When most of us think about mindfulness we picture something more like meditation, we probably picture someone sitting alone in a dark room, probably for a long time. In reality it is possible to be mindful doing the most mundane of tasks--mindfulness is more about slowing down our thoughts, not eliminating them, and doing something simple very deliberately. The goal is not to change what we are doing or thinking about, but to detach from the world for a few minutes and simply notice the thoughts as they pass by.
One of my favorite resources for mindfulness practice is, surprisingly, the New York Times. There is a great collection you can find here of short mindfulness exercises centered around everyday tasks, with new ones posted each week. There are exercises centered around stopping at a stoplight, walking outside in the fall, and sipping a coffee. For me, simply reading over the exercises helped me see ways to be mindful and take a pause during all sorts of tasks throughout my day. My personal favorite is this one:
How to Be Mindful With Your Cat
Feel the way the cat settles into your lap.
Notice the contours of the cat’s body, its soft belly and its bony legs.
Is the warmth all over your lap or is there a concentration, a warmest spot?
Pet your cat from the head towards the tail, observing how the cat responds and reacts.
Scratch your cat gently, starting at the top of the head and going down towards the jaw.
Notice the change in the feeling of the fur, as it gets a little softer at the jawline.
Look at your cat’s eyes. Are they half-closed? Fully closed?
Feel the cat’s breath, and deepen your own inhalations and exhalations.
For those of us without pets, you can be mindful with lots of cats here (accessible by bus!) I tried in vain to find something similar for dogs, but I know the university brings in therapy dogs periodically during finals periods so hopefully there are lots of dogs to come. In the mean time, I hope this introduction to mini-mindfulness can help us all remember to slow down and tune out during this stressful season, if only for a moment.
Although I agree with you and the James' quotation, that we have some control of the universe we live in, during the last week or so I've believed it less and less. Certainly, the feeling compels to be more aware of that universe I'm attending to, but more motivated by frustration and anger. In some ways, the election results led me to look at the next person more seriously and listen. It feels more natural to question ideas I have taken for granted more deeply. The question is whether this feeling, being angry and frustrated, is incompatible with mindfulness? To me, the anger actually fuels my need for mindfulness to make sense of this. Professor DeYoung emphasizes mindfulness with a lens towards improving health outcomes, but I think that the palpable biological reaction many of us have experienced, for those in agreement with me (e.g. rise in blood pressure, some anxiety, coupled with ha mental focus on current events) has led me to greater mindfulness, greater awareness, and more purpose. Is that a silver lining? Perhaps this is not just a fragment or moment, but something longer lasting, which mindfulness is framework to translate anxiety to action.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! This is a well-timed post and reminder for me in the midst of piling stressors centering around graduation in December. The election results have amplified my stress and a sense of not having control. Mindfulness is such a simple tool to center oneself and restore some attentional capacity. I even have some experience with it! However, in graduate school I haven't developed a good practice of incorporating mindfulness in the many small ways you highlight and your link recommends. I have found basic restoration and wise management practices to better accommodate this temporary, intense lifestyle. Changing tasks is an effective basic restoration strategy I have found to be easily applied to my days. Changing tasks and being more aware of what I can do for how long has also helped me better manage my attentional fatigue. As a wise management technique I have been able to incorporate working in less distracting environments as well as avoiding unnecessary effort by selecting fascinating options within my work and assignments. Mindfulness is the ultimate goal, but I am also relieved with the varied strategies that help me restore.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, when I am in the middle of homework and feeling somewhat burnt out (DAFFY) by it, I would pause and look away from my desk naturally. My senses would sharpen as I begin to notice the ambient sounds and the details of a few interesting objects within my peripheral vision. This mind-idling, I think, is both my inability to inhibit my receptors for involuntary fascination due to DAF and my body's natural response to cope with the fatigue by restoring through mini-mindfulness.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am under deadlines, I used to get more frustrated whenever I find myself "zoning out" in the middle of work because I feel that I am losing time by being distracted and unproductive. Rather than fighting its reaction, what I should really do, as this post and our discussion last week have pointed out, is to listen to my body and allow myself to take a real break without feeling guilty about it. Because by properly restoring my attentional capacity, I can work more efficiently to meet the deadlines.
I think our body is engineered to signal DAF and to respond to it in a way that is restorative. Even if we bypass all of its DAF signals to continue to work, our body will shut down at one point to force it to restore, much like a computer rebooting. Our goal, of course, is not to get to that point since these crashes are costly to our body (e.g. sickness) and rebooting at that stage can be very effortful and time-consuming. To prevent these crashes and stress in general, I think it's important that we check in with our body regularly, listen to it more closely, and let its cues guide our decision to exercise restorative interventions.
I LOVE THIS EXAMPLE!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the caps, my cat is simply the number one way that I relax and get restoration! Since learning about DAF and such from the beginning of this class, I've learned a lot about noticing when I'm daffy and need to take a break. Because I don't live in the greatest part of Ypsilanti, it can be hard to get outside or away when it gets to be later in the day without becoming even more stressed out because I'm not confident in my safety. So I've been trying my best to get some restorative time indoors. My cat is my restoration vessel.
She's super friendly and loves to cuddle, so I'll lie down with her for a couple minutes and pretty much do what the prompt suggests! I'd focus on her, and her response to me petting her, and I'd try to sync up our breathing and try to let the world melt away. I could tell it was all she was thinking about, so I tried to do that too. The universe I attend to is the one where me and my cat get to cuddle all day!
In PA, she's actually registered as my emotional support animal. Really, she's also my attentional support animal! :)