Informal Mindfulness and divided attention

Integration of mindfulness in daily life

Formal mindfulness (sitting to meditate) is the training, but informal mindfulness is the match.

The ultimate goal is to bring that quality of mindfulness into daily life.

This is achieved by turning routine, automatic activities into mindfulness practices.

For example, it can be practiced during the morning shower: instead of mentally going through the day's to-do list while lathering up, we focus exclusively on the temperature of the water, the smell of the soap, the sound of the drops and the tactile sensation on the skin.

Any activity will do: drinking a cup of coffee while noticing the aroma and the warmth, walking while paying attention to the movement of the legs and the contact with the ground, or brushing the teeth while feeling the bristles of the toothbrush.

By performing these tasks "in slow motion" or with mindfulness, we break the autopilot.

It is normal for the mind to escape into preoccupations; the practice is to notice that escape ("ah, my mind has gone to yesterday's meeting") and kindly bring it back to direct sensory experience (the water, the coffee, the step). This trains the flexible attention muscle hundreds of times a day.

Divided attention training for thought management

An advanced and very clinically useful step is divided attention training.

Often, clients say, "I can't concentrate on my work because I'm preoccupied."

Divided attention teaches us to maintain focus on an external task while experiencing background mental or emotional activity.

A classic exercise for this involves reading a complex text or performing a cognitive task (such as reading a poem or an article) while simultaneously keeping a portion of one's attention anchored on a physical sensation, such as the contact of one's feet with the ground.

The challenge is to read and comprehend the text despite the mind wanting to wander or emotions arising.

If the attention goes totally to the text and we forget the feet, we have lost the anchor. If we focus only on the feet and stop reading, we have avoided the task.

The goal is to hold both: "I am reading these words AND I am feeling my feet."

This simulates the real life situation where we have to, for example, give a presentation (external task) while feeling anxiety and thoughts of doubt (internal event).

We train the ability to not let the internal "noise" prevent us from executing the required external action.

Summary

The ultimate goal is to bring mindfulness into everyday life. We transform routine activities, such as taking a shower or drinking coffee, into mindfulness practices to break the autopilot.

It is natural for the mind to be distracted; the actual practice is to notice that escape and kindly bring attention back to the sensory experience, training the attentional muscle.

Divided attention teaches us to maintain focus on external tasks while experiencing internal noise. We learn to function and execute valuable actions despite having emotions or thoughts in the background.