Overcoming Distraction and Calming Down my Overactive Brain
Why do our minds leap around so much? Why do we find it so hard to focus on one single thing for any length of time? I’ve been thinking about this issue, watching my own patterns of concentration or lack thereof, and talking to friends. My observations have prompted me to write about some of my thoughts and insights.
Lately I’ve noticed that I’m finding staying on task to be challenging; my mind wanders, my body gets twitchy, and I have to get up and move or do something different. Switching tasks satisfies the deep drive but I’m more interested in why we are acting in this way and how to retrain ourselves to be still and to be able to concentrate.
The second issue that I’ve become aware of, closely related to the first, is an inability to hold thoughts in my head without getting distracted and losing them. You know the situation: you are downstairs and suddenly remember that you need to go upstairs to get something out of a drawer in your bedroom. You get to the top of the stairs, decide that since you’re already there you will pop into the spare room to grab that article that you printed out and never got round to reading. Back downstairs you go, completely forgetting that you went upstairs to get a sweater out of the drawer in your bedroom. It isn’t until you feel chilly that you even remember why you had gone upstairs in the first place. And so it goes, a cycle of setting a goal, getting interrupted either through internal thoughts or external distractions, forgetting the goal and going on to something else.
We are quick to attribute these mental issues to aging: senior moments, black holes, whatever name you choose. I’m not convinced that aging is the primary culprit! I’ve been talking to people about short attention spans, forgetfulness, and it isn’t just the aging population, it is showing up in all age groups. Even TV shows, movies and other forms of entertainment are breaking everything into smaller sound bites or visual snapshots because the producers know that the only way to hold our attention is to cater to the fact that we can no longer stay focused. We, in turn, get increasingly hard on ourselves, our inner voices criticize us for being forgetful, for not focusing; yet are we really to blame?
The technology and the speed of information coming back to us retrains our brain patterns. Instant gratification, no need to concentrate, the response is right there at our fingertips in the blink of an eye. Research that used to take days, or even weeks, now takes seconds. Everything you never wanted to know, right there courtesy of Google. How did we ever manage without it? What would happen if the whole internet backbone collapsed? The networks shut down? How would we survive? This really scares me! Not the thought of the networks collapsing but the thoughts around what it would do to people who are so conditioned to having the world, literally, at their fingertips. Our brains wouldn’t know how to cope or how to get the level of stimulation that they have become used to.
This leads me right back to my original observations on attention span and memory. I don’t know about you, but my body is starting to demand that my brain find ways of settling, of tuning into one single thing and staying fully present. All this mental leaping around, multitasking, instant response and gratification, is causing my nervous system to be unable to settle into rest and digest. The tension in my body is higher now than it has ever been and I know I have to restore tranquility in order to reduce stress and to remain healthy.
Awareness is the first step in making a change. When I get deflected from what I am doing, even if I’ve already become engrossed by what called me away, I acknowledge the distraction and bring it into conscious awareness. I’m consciously incompetent, meaning that I’m aware of what is going on but not yet competent enough to prevent the distraction from taking me away from what I was doing in the first place. That is awareness, the first step to changing this deeply engrained pattern; a step up from blindly leaping from one thing to the next which is unconscious incompetence.
Science has shown that the more we repeat something such as a task or reliving a memory, the deeper the neural pathways in our brain become. This means that we are far more likely to follow the same pattern because that’s the pathway that the brain is familiar with, the pathway that it will follow unless we bring conscious attention to diverting it.
Simply by observing myself I am fascinated to learn more about what drives me, what motivates me, what calms me. The upside of this vigilance is that I am becoming increasingly aware of the types of things that distract me. I’m also becoming aware of how some tasks just beg for a distraction, an excuse to go and do something else. I’m amazed at how something like cleaning the fridge can suddenly become an attractive task when I’m faced with a deadline that I am struggling with around writing or studying. If I’m working on something I don’t particularly like doing then the chances of being distracted are far greater as it gives me an excuse to switch tasks. However, coming back to the original task then becomes far more challenging.
Without doubt, our smartphones are one of the biggest culprits of distraction. That ping, that flashing light, it has us trained to respond like Pavlov’s dog. Look around when you’re walking in town, in the shopping mall, when you’re out in a restaurant. How many people are walking with their heads down, checking their phones, texting? Even the grocery store has become a challenge because we are constantly navigating around people who are looking down, walking really slow, blocking the aisle way, with absolutely no awareness of what or who is around them. The phones pull us in, take our attention away from everything else around us. We literally have to retrain ourselves to put our phones in our pockets, leave them in the car, turn them off; or what is even more challenging, ignore the pings and flashing lights!
Again, awareness is the first step. Every time you are pulled to look at your phone take a look around. Are you in a safe place? Are you out of the way of others? Are you somewhere like a restaurant where texting or talking on the phone could be disturbing for others? Be kind to yourself. This isn’t about mentally chastising yourself every time you get distracted by your smartphone, walk away from what you were doing, or forget your original intent for going upstairs. I’m observing myself with amusement and compassion. My brain has been trained, without my conscious awareness, to distract. Every time it happens I start by being kind to myself, thanking myself for realizing that I’ve been distracted, then see if there is a way to recover the situation. Sometimes you can’t recover, you are unable to go back to whatever you were pulled away from. Again, be kind to yourself. Think of your brain as being in school, learning how to shape different ways of being, finding out how it works and what an amazing gift it is. Celebrate your brain, your mind, thank it for being there for you.
So what does it take to calm my brain? What helps to stop my mind from leaping around? This is where I’m starting to experiment. For me, watching TV, even though I’m mostly able to sit still, doesn’t work. Most programs jump around, there are frequent commercial breaks, and they are the perfect excuse for me to distract. The way that the shows jump around actually feeds my inability to focus. I will check my email, social media, grab a snack, play a game on my tablet etc. etc. It doesn’t calm me in the least and very few programs can actually hold my attention.
Experiments with music are proving to be interesting. There’s no doubt that some music really does help me to stay on task. I’m starting to pay attention to how different genres, different artists, make me feel. There is music that helps me stay alert and upbeat when driving, there is music that helps me breathe deeper and feel peaceful, and there is music that makes me want to dance. Classical music has a soothing effect, especially baroque. There have been many studies around the benefits of different types of music in the classroom in order to help students stay on task, focus and remain calm. You can read up on the Mozart Effect and also on the use of music in the classroom.
What I’m working more and more with is music with embedded binaural beats. There are some brilliant tracks with subliminal beats that help the brain stay at a certain brainwave frequency and greatly lessen the chance of distraction. I find they calm my mind, allow me to focus, help me be more creative and for my thoughts to flow more freely. I am writing this article while listening to music with the Schumann frequency embedded. Schumann Resonance is the frequency of the electromagnetic field of the earth. For me it feels very grounding and centering.
For most of us, our brainwaves are normally in the Beta range. This is every day functioning and distractibility is easy when in Beta. We need Beta waves to function but they tend to suppress the inner voice. Alpha waves occur when we are relaxed, feeling calm and at ease. Theta waves access creativity and inspiration. For me, these are the best beats for writing, creating, and imagining. If you are interested in finding out more about brainwaves and brainwave entrainment music I encourage you to research this fascinating area; download some tracks that feel right for you, then experiment with them. I like to play different tracks when I’m writing to compare the experiences. The calming effects of Theta definitely work to help me stay connected and creative, some of my best pieces have been written with Theta tracks playing in the background.
What do you do for relaxation? For fun? When do you find yourself so absorbed that you lose track of time? Reading, knitting, cooking, gardening, playing sports, time with your animals, walking in nature? These are times when your brain is running in right brain mode; the intuitive, creative side of your brain. These are the times when I burn supper, forget appointments, completely lose myself, but they are also the times when I am almost impossible to distract! These are times when my brain is no longer skipping and jumping around but functioning efficiently and with purpose.
So how do you start to retrain your brain? First of all, make it into a fun project, not something you feel is onerous. Secondly, observe yourself. Do it with love and compassion, keep your inner voice kind, you’re in school and only by practicing will you improve. Keep a notebook or a record of times of high distraction and times of deep concentration; learn your patterns, what motivates you and how you deal with lack of motivation. Find things that you lose yourself in and make room in your life for them. Give your hyper brain a vacation and let your creative brain flourish. Celebrate every single victory, no matter how small. Whenever you become aware that you’ve been distracted, celebrate your noticing. Each time you feel the urge to distract yet are able to resist, celebrate. Every time you gain another insight into how your brain works, celebrate. Forgive yourself every time you fall back into old patterns, those neural pathways are deep, think about the tracks at Disney World that the rides are on. Thank your brain, thank your body, and thank your nervous system. They take such great care of us, to the best of their ability, and deserve our gratitude.
This project will take time. It takes many, many repetitions of the desired response to lay down new neural pathways. Stay with it; that’s why making notes or keeping a diary is so wonderful. You can look back and see just how far you’ve come. Happy observing and if you’d like to share your experiences with me I’m happy to listen.