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I Think; Therefore, I Pay Little Attention to What I Do*
(Photo credit: ** RCB **) We know other people based on what they do. How else could we know them? And we infer all kinds of things about them from their behavior—especially from their habitual...
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Stomp on the Porch. Bang on the Door.
Three beautiful poems about waking up. 1. Summons (by Robert Francis) Keep me from going to sleep too soon Or if I go to sleep too soon Come wake me up. Come any hour Of night. Come whistling up the...
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Exercise Your Veto Power
(Photo credit: Never Photo) The unconscious part of the brain—also called the subliminal brain or System 1—is a much faster processor and reactor than the comparatively plodding conscious part of the...
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Creative Thinking = Making Connections
(Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn) Q: Do you have to get out of the box in order to think outside the box?* Popular wisdom has it that in order to think creatively—think outside the box, that is—we need to...
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Routine: the Key to Creativity
(Photo credit: Seniju) At least six days a week for the past year, I have gone for a morning walk in my neighborhood. I never deviate from the route, and 95% of the time, I take bouncy music along via...
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The State of a Mind
(Photo credit: dek dav) State of mind—the state of our cognitive processes—is a kind of framework within which we operate any time we’re awake. Some basic states of mind are: Distracted Mindful Focused...
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Mindfulness vs. Habits: Game On?
(Photo credit: kenleyneufeld) According to the respective press they receive, habits are bad, and mindfulness is good. We ought to be as mindful as we can, as much of the time as we can, and do what we...
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The Gift of Existential Discontent
(Photo credit: Wikipedia) Spring in New Mexico brings longer, brighter days, but those days seem to be carried in on incessant, howling, nasty winds. Two years ago, I was out for a walk on one of those...
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What Is Cognitive Ease—and Why Should You Be Wary of It?
(Photo credit: Giulia van Pelt) Everyone wants to be right and to feel certain about things. These are built-in biological drives, not character flaws. When we think we’re right and when we feel...
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Focus: Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
(Photo credit: Wikipedia) A distraction is something that keeps us from giving 100% of our attention to what we’re doing or attempting to do right now. By diverting our attention, it dims our focus....
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Patience: Learn to Play the Waiting Game
Patience (New York Public Library) Whatever it is we want, we want it right now! We are primed for immediate results and instant gratification to a greater extent than we have ever been before....
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Know When to Get Assistance
If you work by yourself or live by yourself (or both), you already know how much there is to do and to keep track of every single day. When there’s no one else to pick up some of the slack, the sheer...
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Consciousness Is Like a Jar of Marbles
Imagine your conscious attention, which really is a limited resource, is a jar and all the thoughts inside it are marbles—or, as I call them, things taking up headspace. The more marbles you have in...
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What Do Your Habits Say About You?
Once a behavior or routine becomes a habit, it is subsequently initiated by the unconscious, usually as a result of something in the environment—a cue or a trigger. Our resulting behavior is no longer...
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Habits of Behavior vs. Habits of Attention
Last week poetdonald responded to my post What Do Your Habits Say About You? with this comment: The following came to me as I was reading this post as well as your post on Mindfulness vs. Habits....
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