Week of Focus

More! More focus!

Today marks the conclusion of the first week of Daily Mind Games (DMGs) here at the Happy Homunculus!  Thanks for following along this far.  As we've discussed previously, our mission is to engage in metacognition, or thinking about our thinking, with the aim of changing the way we think.  Just like physical exercise can lead to adaptations in our body that allow it to handle the work demanded, these daily, mental challenges are consciously designed activities that, with time, will change how our minds function - hopefully for the better.

During the Week of Focus, our goal was to test the limits of our attention span, and then to apply the skills we acquired to our daily lives to try to be more effective.  In case you missed the Week of Focus, follow along from the beginning:

Week of Focus

Day 1: 100 Breaths - Count 100 consecutive breaths
Day 2: One Object - Maintain attention on a single object
Day 3: Zone of 100 - Use breath counting to enter, and stay in, the zone
Day 4: Every Object - Examine each object with curiosity
Day 5: One Task - Focus on a single concept that matters to you
Day 6: One Person - Focus on a single person that matters to you

The final challenge of last week, "One Person", required that we observe one individual we care about.  This challenge, in addition to testing focus, also transitions us nicely into the DMG theme for next week: empathy.  Next week, we will conduct some thought experiments that challenge us to infer the thoughts and feelings of other people, to practice compassion, and to start to push ourselves to remain open-minded to the opinions of others.  Research is beginning to suggest that aspects of social intelligence, including empathy, are critical to the success of a group.  We will take these results at face value and attempt to develop this aspect of our thinking next week.

See you tomorrow!

Links: Check out other Weeks of Metacognition