The Puppy Mind: Training Your Attention in 3 Minutes

0:00In a world of endless notifications, there could be an important one you're missing. Your kidneys may be signaling in SOS. With high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes, your kidneys could be warning you of early signs of damage, which may put you at higher risk for events like heart attack or stroke. But there's a simple test that can help spot a hidden signal. Ask your doctor about a urine test called UACR to help detect kidney disease and heart risk early. Learn more of Visit DetectTheSOS.com today. This is your mindfulness for busy minds, daily practices for focus podcast. Welcome back friend, I'm Julia Cartwright and I'm so glad you're here with me today. It's early Wednesday morning, March 4th and I'm willing to bet your mind is already doing laps around the track before your coffee's even cooled down. Am I right? That rests this feeling where your thoughts are ping-ponging between emails, deadlines and that thing you forgot to do yesterday? Yeah, that's exactly what we're unpacking today. So let's start by just settling in wherever you are.

1:00You don't need perfect posture or yoga mat. Sit comfortably, feet grounded if you can. This next few minutes is permission to pause and I mean, really pause before the day takes over. Take a slow breath in through your nose, counting to four. Hold it for a beat. Now exhale through your mouth like you're fogging a mirror. One more time. And through the nose, four counts. Out through the mat. Feel that? That's your nervous system saying thank you. Here's what I want you to try and this is my favorite trick for busy minds. I call it the anchor in release. Your mind is like a puppy right now, darting everywhere. We're not going to punish the puppy, we're going to give it a job. Find one thing you can feel right now. Maybe it's your feet on the floor or your hands in your lap or the fabric of your clothes. This is your anchor. Every time your mind wanders and it will wander, that's not failure. That's the practice working.

2:01You simply notice where your mind went and gently bring it back to that one sensation. No judgment, no drama, for the next three minutes, just anchor and release. Feel your feet, your mind jumps to your presentation. No problem, notice that and come back to your feet. Feel the weight in your hands, your brain reminds you about that text. Collage it like a friendly ghost and return to the sensation. You're training your retraining your attention muscle and like any muscle, it gets stronger with use. Here's what I want you to do when we're done. Pick one moment today, just one, where you'll pause and anchor. I'll try to keep that one day, try to keep that too fast. Maybe it's before a meeting or waiting for your coffee to brew. Ten seconds, that's it. You've just carried this practice into your day. Thank you so much for being here with me. In mindfulness for busy minds, daily practices for focus. If this resonated with you, please subscribe so these practices land right in your pocket every single day.

3:01You deserve this piece. Until next time, be gentle with your busy, beautiful mind. Make sure you hit the subscribe button and never miss out. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.