Ten Percent Happier
December 25, 2023

The Science of Training Your Attention | Dr. Amishi Jha

How to stay focused, fight distraction, and function at your peak.

Dr. Amishi Jha is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami. She serves as the Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, which she co-founded in 2010. Dr Jha is the author of the national bestseller, Peak Mind

In this episode we talk about:

  • What peak mind is
  • Why meta awareness is important to practice and achieve peak mind
  • The suite of mindfulness-based attention training practices
  • Why humans developed attention in the first place
  • Using the flashlight and floodlight metaphors to help us understand different types of attention
  • The mental pushup for attention: focus, notice, and redirect
  • The attention benefits for high stress populations who engage in contemplatives practices
  • Multitasking vs. monotasking
  • The real life and death consequences of confirmation bias
  • Part of the reason why we may be experiencing a crisis of attention 
  • Giving our mind the freedom to choose where it goes next

Related Episodes:

Why You Can’t Pay Attention - And How to Think Deeply Again | Johann Hari

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