Attention Please!

Some of the most recent findings in neuroscience suggest that to change the brain’s architecture, we have to pay attention to the experience in each given moment. For example, you might hear the radio in the background while you read this, but if the stimulus is not important to you, you will not attend to it. Instead, you will continue reading using the selective activation of different circuits in the brain that filter out unimportant data.

When you pay attention to any one thing your awareness goes to what you are focusing on and all other information that might be available for the senses to process gets ignored. This inhibits your mind from wandering to thoughts about foods you may be craving, memories of childhood, and fantasies about the future.

The ability to select a small fraction of information for attention depends on the brain’s frontal lobe. The frontal lobe allows you to place sustained attention on any one thing by turning off other brain circuits that have to do with modalities like hearing the birds sing, smelling the roses, tasting your food, moving your extremities, touching something soft, and feeling pain. Therefore, the better you are at paying attention, the more you can rewire your brain.

In other words, attention is priceless, pay accordingly.

References:

Dispenza, J. Evolve You Brain The Science of Changing Your Mind.  Florida: Health Communications, Inc. 2007.