Dr Itai Ivtzan
This post is to help you to Gaining Control about your emotional awareness, giving you strategies to regulate your emotions, and show you how to ultimately use this emotional control to your advantage. I invite you for a little experiment: choose an object in your immediate environment, such as a cup of coffee, a chair, or a vase. Now, point your full attention at this object, while closely observing your mind. Try to focus your attention on that object for as long as you can. How much time had passed before your mind wandered? Repeat the exercise with a couple of different objects (different focal points) and observe the length of time that passes before your mind begins wandering. You may find yourself thinking about the object you chose, about the exercise, about work you must do later – your thoughts will pull your awareness away from the focal point.
Before you continue you might like to consider our free worksheet on exploring “Overcome Limiting Beliefs”. Please download this worksheet here.
I have run this little exercise in class with many students, and found that the average time after which people report that their mind has wandered is roughly a few seconds. In certain cases attention shifts away from the object instantaneously, while in others this may take a few seconds; I have rarely heard anyone mention a longer time. Now, what exactly is the meaning of this? You were asked to direct your full attention at a certain object. You made a conscious effort to keep your attention focused on it. I therefore ask you: Who is in charge of your awareness? Please, give this important question real thought. This is not a philosophical question; it is nothing but practical, and has an enormous influence on the quality of your life. How many times have you decided to do something only to find yourself, hours later, doing something else, your original plan completely neglected? This is a direct result of your lack of control over your attention; your awareness has a life of its own, and fluctuation seems to be one of its inevitable characteristics. Fortunately, it is not really inevitable.
Psychological studies fully support the concept that meditation changes the quality of your attention. In a large-scale study conducted in Colorado, a group of 30 meditators joined a 3-months meditation retreat where they meditated for five hours daily. During their stay in the retreat, the participants were asked three times to complete computer tasks that measured their ability to make fine visual distinctions and sustain visual attention. The participants’ performances kept improving: Each time they had better results in making the visual distinctions. In other words, with time, it became easier for the participants to sustain attention voluntarily, to focus on a particular focal point for longer periods of time.
Dr Itai Ivtzan is passionate about the combination of psychology and spirituality. It makes his heart sing. Isn’t this an amazing prospect? His main areas of research are mindfulness, spirituality, and wellbeing. Dr. Ivtzan is confident that mindfulness meditation has the power to change individuals – in fact, whole societies – for the better. Accordingly, he has been investing much time in studying mindfulness academically, writing books about it, teaching it, and running meditation certification online courses. A good way to increase Awareness Gaining Control, is to try determine for yourself which emotions are linked to which bodily reactions, Offering the gift of mindfulness to others is a deeply rewarding experience; would you like to learn how to teach mindfulness? Check out his mindfulness meditation certification to find out more.
Ready to take control of your emotions and enhance your mindfulness practice? Download our free ‘Overcome Limiting Beliefs Workbook’ and start your journey to emotional awareness today.
