The key to navigating change is to have a solid base for that journey into the unknown.  That “base” is a capability to be aware of what you are feeling and thinking.

When we are hit with unexpected change or uncertainty we often go directly into “autopilot” mode.  Auto pilot refers to our habitual or reactive behaviors that are triggered without conscious awareness.  There is an alternative to autopilot, and that is developing the ability to choose our actions with awareness and intention.

An alternative to autopilot

Let’s look at a diagram of the Focused Attention Process, (Mindfulness Meditation) to see how this simple exercise can produce so much benefit for us.

This is a process that actually changes our brain.  That is why it is so important to us.  We will go over the process now.

• The first step in the process is to focus your attention on your body breathing.
• What will occur sooner or later is distraction – a thought, feeling or sensation will pull you away from your attention on your breath. Actually, we often hang out a long time in distraction before we become aware. This is where we are telling ourselves stories about the past, or planning and worrying about the future, etc.  This is what we mentioned earlier.  We are ruminating or chewing on thoughts.
• Next, eventually, you will notice the distraction. When you notice, you are actually back in awareness, so there is nothing you need to do, but you can label that awareness with the word “thinking” to mark that you are back.
• Then you will reorient your attention back to your breathing and the cycle restarts.

Each time we notice a distraction and bring our attention back to our breathing, we are building a new brain neuron and strengthening our ability to interrupt rumination and reactive behavior.  That is why repeated Mindfulness practice has been shown to actually change our brains.  It strengthens our ability to make a conscious choice to do something other than react.

Let’s look a little more deeply at the power we gain from noticing what we are thinking.

An important realization that you can have when deepening your ability to focus your attention through Mindfulness training is that thoughts arise, stay for a while, and then dissolve.  This realization usually happens after you have calmed your mind a little bit, and you are not hooked into following every thought that floats into your mind. 

This ability to see your thoughts provides a little space to see that in fact….they are thoughts…not necessarily true or real facts.  This is a big realization.  When we don’t have that space in our mind, everything that we are thinking feels real and extremely personalized.  Without this space of awareness, if we feel scared by changes that are occurring, the way we interpret that is to tell ourselves, “I am scared.” Or  “This is bad for me.”

With this newfound space, we don’t have to believe everything that we think!  We don’t have to accept the negativity bias of the ancient ancestor part of our brain that is telling us to run away from everything it interprets as threatening.  We can shift our mindset to a more positive interpretation because we now realize that we have a choice that we didn’t have without this awareness.  We can choose to be curious and learn more about the uncertain situation and make a wise decision.