If you consider your life – be it the professional one or your social one – right now, which of the two scenarios is more familiar to you: The one which makes you react to any external trigger like the notifications of your smartphone? Or is it more the one which indicates you are in control of your state? If it is the first, this might indicate your perception and awareness levels have the potential for improvement. Regular use of techniques like yoga, breathing, and meditation helps a lot to raise awareness levels and enhance perception. This is what this solution is about. Learning the techniques the right way is the key.
Imagine this scenario: during a day, about sixty thousand thoughts keep your mind buzzing all the time. Your smartphone attracts your attention many hundred times a day. Every click triggers your dopamine levels which indicate a reward, and your brain wants more of that reward. So, unconsciously, you spend more and more time on your smartphone. Your attention span reduces to a couple of minutes determined by the average length of a typical YouTube video. Your unconscious mind rules your behaviors without you being consciously aware of it: emotions surface all of a sudden and make you regret later on of how you behaved and what you said. This might damage your reputation among colleagues and friends. Who is in control? The proverb “If you can’t control emotion you are addicted to it” summarizes quite well what is going on. This scenario describes what it could mean not being in control, but on auto-pilot, the unconscious mind is the navigator while your conscious mind is concerned with any thought all the time.
Now, imagine this scenario: you are more focused and aware of your emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and actions. You make a conscious choice which thought to follow and which thought to let go, how to manage an upcoming emotion and how to respond to it when to use your smartphone, what to pay attention to. Do you think this scenario is more like being in control?
