Imagine walking into your office each day expecting your boss to be understanding and appreciative, your colleagues to be friendly and collaborative and your direct reports to be respectful and hard-working.
Now imagine that just by imagining this, you would see more of it.
Take a moment to consider our brains are fed enormous amounts of information every second of the day. It is estimated that “the human body sends 11 million bits per second to the brain for processing, yet the conscious mind seems to be able to process only 50 bits per second.” (https://www.britannica.com/topic/information-theory/Physiology)
Like high speed trains moving down the track at mind-blowing speed, we choose what we focus on carefully so that we can get to our destination without any mishaps. That means don’t look at the scenery, and don’t gaze at the sky. No need to look behind you and it isn’t practical to look too far off in the distance. Just focus on those tracks out in front.
But how is our brain choosing those tracks out in front?
There is a phenomenon called “inattentional blindness” which we can trigger by being focused. (https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/bawh-iyn071913.php)
And we know that your hippocampus acts as a tuner to help you tune out certain gamma waves that are not in alignment with what you want to be focused on. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120000140.htm)
So how can we use this information to turn our imaginary walk into the office of our dreams, a reality?
I say let’s mix some metaphors here: Let’s get that hippocampus dialing in the gamma ray station we want to be listening to so we can get on the right track! But how?
Coach me quick tips for tuning in the right station:
- For the next 24 hours, play a game. Choose something simple to look for – it might be a flower, color, smile or word. Whatever it is, focus on finding as many as you can in your world. Count as you go.
- Now identify something you would like to have more of in the office. Perhaps you would like to see more people smile or be kind. Take 24 hours and look for it. Again, counting as you go.
- Now tackle something more meaningful. What would you like to see more of that would make a big difference to you? A boss that shares information? A Colleague that does his or her work efficiently? Make a pledge to look for it and acknowledge it as you see the circumstances pop up.
Here’s an important caveat: Our mind may try to downplay what we see by giving “practical reasons” for why we are seeing it more now than we were before. “She was going to do that anyway” or “That was an unusual circumstance.” Don’t fall for it. This is not magic. This is the power of the brain being put to good use. All we have to do is carefully choose where we put our focus.
As always, I love to hear your feedback… please let me know what you are seeing pop up!
Focusing on joy, health and abundance in L.A.
Jamee