Mind Gym

Name it, claim it, and tame it.” By observing what’s going on, you reduce its impact

Groundhog Day: Recognizing Recurrent Conflicts in Your Life

the quickest time but still have the neatest lines.

to make even the most mundane tasks more challenging: when mowing the lawn, for example, focus on how well you mow, try mowing in strips as if it were a football field, or challenge yourself to mow in

observe or report on what is happening without commenting on it

autopilot is that we tend to see the world as a set of absolutes. You are apt to believe that such and such will always happen, because so far it always has. This is a mental shortcut, which saves you from having to think about it again. As a result, your thinking falls into patterns of your own making and you are, in effect, switching on the autopilot.

Learn that “always” isn’t absolute. One of the reasons why all of us can get caught in

Accept other people’s perspectives.

Look for something new. Practice scanning your environment, consciously looking for what is new, different, and unusual. Ask yourself questions, like How has this street changed since the last time I walked down it? What are the differences between the people on the train? What do I notice today about my colleagues? These questions might seem silly, but they force you to live in, think about, and focus on the present—to become aware of your surroundings and not slip back into autopilot.

four distinct states of mind: autopilot, critical, thinking, and engaged