Episode December 18, 2023

The Science of Training Your Attention | Dr. Amishi Jha

From 10% Happier with Dan Harris 10% Happier

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How to stay focused, fight distraction, and function at your peak.

Dr. Amishi Jha is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami. She serves as the Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, which she co-founded in 2010. Dr Jha is the author of the national bestseller, Peak Mind.

In this episode we talk about:

What peak mind is
Why meta awareness is important to practice and achieve peak mind
The suite of mindfulness-based attention training practices
Why humans developed attention in the first place
Using the flashlight and floodlight metaphors to help us understand different types of attention
The mental pushup for attention: focus, notice, and redirect
The attention benefits for high stress populations who engage in contemplatives practices
Multitasking vs. monotasking
The real life and death consequences of confirmation bias
Part of the reason why we may be experiencing a crisis of attention
Giving our mind the freedom to choose where it goes next