Lessons from an Unexpected Yogi Master

Is it desperation on my part to invite myself for a picnic with a hundred sea lions?  Probably, but living off-the-grid in a community of now 10, sometimes forces one to seek new social outlets. A noisy, crowded, haul-out of steller sea lions seemed like the perfect contrast to my hermit life. I never imagined while lying near them, I would discover a herd of yogi masters in a place so easily dismissed as a smelly, chaotic mass of blubber and barking.  Sea lions have attained the perfection of focus and concentration in times of distraction, a skill humans have been declining at for eons.

The average attention span of a human has dropped from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8.25 in 2015 and statistically the human mind wanders off 46.9% of our waking hours.  Studies show that when a person’s mind wanders unaware for such long periods of time, they report being less happy.

The prefrontal cortex is the area of our brain that regulates attention span and our emotions, so learning to control our emotions, not only as a necessity for wilderness survival, but also increases our concentration.  What is actually helping to create worry, stress and unhappiness in our lives is our inability to focus on the present.  Our minds wander endlessly, pouring over the past and wondering what will happen in the future, with minor time spent on what is happening at the moment.  We live in our To-Do Lists, just waiting to be able to check off the never ending tasks and hoping for the peace and happiness awaiting us at that phantom point between the next ticked box.  The real secret is that every To-Do-List task is that phantom point.

Now don’t stop daydreaming to seek true happiness either.  Remembering beautiful memories, thinking productively, telling stories, visualizing your dreams, asking questions and hearing the answers from your heart are also key to a life fulfilled.

So here’s a few tips for training your brain like a yogi sea lion:

1.  Focus on one thing at a time.  We are almost born to be multi-taskers at this point, but you’ll often be more productive if you keep your mind concentrating on a single task.  If you have many things going on at once, set a time limit for those multiple tasks and switch back and forth when you feel another “must do” job nagging at you.
2. Don’t do one thing and think about another.
3. Try eating attentively, listening to a Ted-talk or sipping your Starbucks without texting someone or reading at the same time.  This is a great way of becoming aware of all the unproductive and possible negative thoughts swirling around your mind, taking away your peace.
4. Staying focused is not about turning off sounds or distractions.  The sacred silence comes by being aware of it all.  It’s the act of focus or getting annoyed and frustrated at your limitless distractions that keep you from expanding your attention span.
5. Don’t add emotion to distracting thoughts nor make a story out of them, this only fuels the problem, simply acknowledge them without attachment, say goodbye and move on.
6. Carry a small notepad for the times you have those incredible insights or thoughts of inspiration, as you don’t want to say goodbye to those and you will notice an increase in these epiphanies when you train your brain and increase your awareness.

So let’s meet the yogi master sea lions and become a warrior for your own happiness…

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