Issue No. 60
March  2014
Are You Paying Attention?

Dear Friends of Balancing Act,
 
Distractions! Distractions! Distractions!

If there's anything I hear from busy coaching clients, it's that there's too much to juggle, and it's tough to pay attention to the project at hand.

A few tips that seem to help are:

      

     Block out a no-interruption time and

     space zone.   

 

     Schedule your most challenging    

     work at your peak energy times.

 

And fire yourself up by seeing the project in terms of what it means in the bigger scheme of things. 


This month's issue features two resources for focusing - from a renowned psychologist and a meditation expert.

We'll also take a look at how shifts in the importance you place on "stuff"  affects your happiness.

In the right column, though, the  "focus" is on humor.


 

                           Pat  
Focus, Focus, Focus....

Do you find yourself zoning out during meetings at work? letting your mind wander during conversations with family members? checking e-mail during professional lectures?

We all do it, thanks to an increasing number of sensory and emotional distractions in our world. 

But psychologist Daniel Goleman, the Emotional Intelligence guru, says focus is more important to success than social background or IQ.

In his new book Focus, Goleman tells how we need "inner, outer and other" focus for a well-lived life. Inner focus puts us in touch with our intuition and values and helps us make better decisions. Other focus helps us get along with people, and outer focus helps us navigate  the world.

Ideal, he says, is the dual ability to pay sharp attention to important matters and to let our minds wander in creative, problem-solving romps. Among the focusing strategies he recommends are mindfulness and meditation.

Meditation: What's the Right Kind for You?
 
Not all kinds of meditation have the same results, according to long-time meditation expert Jeanne Ball.

Meditation that's effective for stress relief may not help focus you. And vice versa.

Ball describes three basic types of meditation: controlled focus, open monitoring, and automatic self-transcending.

Each affects brain waves differently, and each has a different effect. You may want to choose your meditation mode based on what's going on in your life.

Controlled focus includes practices such as Zen, Tibetan, Buddhism, Qigone, Yoga and Vendanta. They may be most helpful when you want to increase your ability to focus.

Open monitoring includes mindfulness practices such as Vipassana and Zazen. This type of meditation involves non-judgmental observation and is said to work well with reducing pain and negative rumination.

For a more exhaustive discussion of meditation choices, check out her Huff Post Healthy Living article here and her meditation blog.

Shop Till You ...?

We often joke about "retail therapy" as a quick mood-lifter when we're in a slump.

But what happens when our priorities begin to shift toward acquiring more and more?

A new study by Knox College psychology professor Tim Kasser suggests that when our materialism focus goes up, our well-being shoots down, and vice versa.

Unlike most materialism studies, which focus on cross-sections of the population at any one time, Kasser's recent work is based on experiments that tracked individuals over time, ranging from six months to 12 years. This way, he was able to correlate shifts in their thinking about "stuff" and shifts in mood.

As part of the recent study, Kasser tested whether adolescents might become less focused on materialism after receiving information that encouraged sharing and saving. They did. And their well-being levels increased, compared to those who did not receive the information.


Copyright 2014 Pat Snyder
In This Issue
Focus, Focus, Focus
Meditation Modes
Materialism and Mood
Quick Links
 
WRITING THAT MAKES YOU LAUGH    

logo
No matter how bizarre your life seems to be, writing about it through a humor perspective can be therapeutic and fun.

To help you find the humor in your own life,  Pat is offering a two-night humor-writing workshop through  Upper Arlington Lifelong Learning, May 7 and 14. She'll share the techniques she uses in her Balancing Act columns and invite participants to tell their own stories.

More details and registration information
here at page 31.

      
NEW TIME-SAVING
STRENGTHS TEST  
VIA

Are you naturally courageous? Creative? Prudent?

The Values In Action inventory, developed by positive psychologists to detect your highest character strengths,
is now faster to take than ever (around 20 minutes) and free.

Why bother? Strengths use can increase your overall well-being and your energy and flow at work.  

LEASH LAW

NO. 60:

 
Refresh!

              

horizontal leashed dog

 

Getting away from the home/office/home routine can be magically refreshing.

If the cost of airfare and hotel are an issue, try a day trip or stay overnight with a friend or relative. If you just have minutes, check out Rachel Harris' 20-Minute Retreats.

This is based on one of the 74 leash laws offered in Pat's book, The Dog Ate My Planner: Tales and Tips from an Overbooked Life.            

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