Antidote for Mind Wandering

12/09/2021

Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.
Jose Ortega y Gasset

Having a hard time focusing? Don’t despair! It’s natural. Scientists at Princeton and Berkeley have found that the human brain rhythmically alternates between periods of intense focus and periods of distractibility. And we can improve focus by limiting distractions and increasing movement. A study by Wilson in 2005 found interruptions by emails and calls resulted in a 10 point decline in effective IQ, while a 2021 study by Pindus et al found individuals who spent more sedentary time in bouts lasting 20 minutes or more were less able to overcome distractions.

In his book Focus, The Hidden Driver of Excellence, Daniel Goleman suggests, “The antidote for mind wandering is meta-awareness, attention to attention itself, as in the ability to notice that you are not noticing what you should, and correcting your focus. Mindfulness makes this crucial attention muscle stronger.”

And what are the implications for supporting young children to learn to pay attention? In her book, Really Seeing Children, Deb Curtis notes, “We often characterize children’s shifting focus as a lack of attention span, when in fact, what is really happening is they have attention for everything.” In light of this keen observation, the question becomes not how to increase attention, but how to focus it. And to do so requires that we hone our own ability to focus. Carol Garboden Murray links this directly to an intentional practice of care in daily routines with children. In her new book, Illuminating Care, she notes, “When we unite care and education, we know that to care well, we must observe, listen and match our approach to meet the child’s individual needs. Care offers us the opportunity to grow into more sensitive and sharp teachers.”

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