Staying Focused in a Distracting World

The other night I was ordering takeout from one of my favorite restaurants and when they asked for my telephone number, I confidently said,” David Weiman.”

I was a little distracted and when the person said,” What?” I realized I wasn’t paying full attention and maybe you’re feeling a little distracted these days yourself, for very good reasons…

So I wanted to offer a technique that helps you focus, bring your mind back to the present and help you re-center yourself. And that is to look around the environment near you and name three objects that you see.

The power of this is in three different things.

One is that focusing on your visual field is very important information for your brain, knowing what’s in front of you, helps you avoid tripping over a coffee table or a chicken for example.

Second, when you say the name of the object, it’s connecting the part of your brain responsible for speech with the part of your brain responsible for vision, and helps make this connection even better and helps tighten up that focus a little more.

Finally when you are looking at an object and saying its name, it’s very difficult for intruding thoughts to distract you, so all three of these things are benefits of this centering, or focus, or mindfulness technique just to bring you back to the present.

I hope that you are able to use that easily and as whenever you need it, particularly if you’re about to place an order for takeout.