[心得分享] Peak Mind-Drop yourself from simulating subjective stories and you will see a happier life.

PEAK MiND: Find your focus, own your attention, invest 12 minutes a day

作者：Jha, Amishi P.

推薦分數：⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

英文難度：⭐⭐⭐☆☆

（GJ的英文程度-英文指考75分，多益875分，單字量沒有高中多，口說可以表達自己但絕對不到native）

Have you ever been in a situation where someone was talking to you about a very important project but your mind was thinking about the delicious meal you’re going to eat later?

Or when you were eating a gorgeous dish with your lovely spouse, but you were thinking about a proposal you have to propose tomorrow?

We all face issues like this, where our attention is wandering to somewhere else and can’t focus on what is in front of you. According to the author, 50% of our daily lives passed by without any of our recognitions. This is human nature, but it is also something we could train to get stronger of.

When we are mind-wandering, our attentions are still working. Attention works 24/7 and never stops and we can separate our attentions into 3 categories. Flashlight, which you point it directly, highlighted and salient. Floodlight, which is quite contrast to your flashlight and is broad and open. And last is your juggler, which tells you that you should come back to your original goal. Combining all of these attentions, our ancestors survived in the dangerous jungle and we had inherited these attentions. We can’t avoid flying our minds away, but we can be aware of it when we are not focusing.

Just like physical muscle training, we do bench press, squats and planks to build up our muscle. Attention muscle can also be trained by “meditation”. I never thought this can be a daily training to improve my mind, but it actually did, and it is really hard to accomplish. Try this, find a quiet place where you can sit tight and focus. Close your eyes and feel your breath. Now just focus on your breath for 3 minutes, when you popped up any other thoughts, direct it back to your breath. How long can you last? This is the fundamental of finding your attention, and it is something I’m trying as well. Based on the information in this book, 4 weeks, 5 days per week, 12 mins per day, you may find your attention improve. Although there are other trainings included as well. I see this one as the most easiest and can be applied to everyone easily.

I haven’t train myself for that period, and I have seen how meditation works in my daily life. By focusing ”on the present”, using the breath method, you’d notice that no matter it is your previous experience nor your future plan that are important, but what is in front of you that you should pay attention to. Drop yourself from simulating subjective stories and you will see a happier life.

“Peak Mind” 2022/12/18