Mindfulness and Meditation For Focus and Healthy Decision Making
Developing strong focus and decision-making skills is necessary for professionals and business leaders. Every day, you must make sensitive decisions that could make or mar the future of your career, team, organization, and countless lives that depend on you.
Surprisingly, only a few professionals receive formal training in decision-making. Most people prefer to learn through trial and error. Although this technique works for some, there are more effective ways to do things.
Instead of wasting time and resources, mindfulness and meditation are straightforward alternatives that can make a significant difference for those seeking to improve their decision-making abilities. Together, these two play substantial roles in enhancing focus and decision-making.
In this piece, we will show you how you can harness these two to your advantage.
How Mindfulness and Meditation Help Maintain Focus and Healthy Decision Making
Here are some of the ways mindfulness and meditation can help you stay focused and make better decisions:
Increased present-moment awareness
Mindfulness and meditation help you to become more aware of your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations in the present moment. This can help you to focus more effectively on the task at hand. More importantly, it enables you to avoid getting sidetracked by distractions.
Reduced emotional reactivity
Meditation can help you to become more aware of your emotions. It helps you transform the decision-making process from an impulsive reaction to immediate requirements into a deliberate, cognitive exercise.
This can help you to reduce emotional reactivity, which can lead to better decision-making. That is, you can focus more and not allow your emotions and feelings to lead the way when making critical decisions.
Improved cognitive control
Meditation can help to improve cognitive control. Your cognitive control describes your ability to focus attention, inhibit impulsive responses, and switch between tasks. This is a critical skill that helps you make decisions that require careful consideration of all the options.
Increased self-control
Meditation can help you to develop better self-control. Self-control is your ability to direct your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. This can be helpful for making decisions that are in line with your values, even when they are difficult.
In addition to these benefits, mindfulness and meditation can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. This is crucial because all these factors can impair your focus and decision-making.
How to Get Started With Mindfulness and Meditation
Now you understand the importance of mindfulness and meditation in focus and decision-making. The big question is, how do you get started?
There are many different types of meditation and meditation tools online today that can help you get started. You should try as many as possible and find what works best. Here at EVOC, we also have some information that can help you get the best from your meditation and mindfulness.
Here are some tips for getting started with a centering meditation practice:
Find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted.
Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes.
Sit in a comfortable position. You may use the floor or in a chair.
Close your eyes and focus on your breath.
Take 10 deep breaths and notice the sensations of your breath as it enters and leaves your body. (In through nose, blow out through mouth making a slight blowing sound)
After 10 breaths, turn your attention toward the areas of your body that are connected to the ground. Feel the sensation. (If you’re sitting in a chair you’ll feel your feet on the ground, the backs of your legs on the seat, your sitting bones on the cushion, your back against the seat, maybe your arms on an armrest.)
Hold your attention on these areas for 10 breaths. You’ll feel your energy get pulled toward the ground. That is centering energy.
Try not to get distracted by your thoughts. If by mistake you get lost in thoughts, try to refocus on your breath again. Start over if necessary but try to get through 10 breaths each time
Don’t start with long hours. Ideally, you should start with short meditations of 5-10 minutes.
Once you’ve practiced this a few times you’ll find you can do this centering meditation exercise quickly in three breaths. Three to start, three to center. And you’ll feel solid and centered to maintain focus throughout the day
With regular practice, you will start to see the benefits of mindfulness and meditation for yourself. Your focus and decision-making will improve, and you will be better able to manage stress, anxiety, and depression.