It is mental awareness week and we are all being encouraged to pay attention to the wellbeing of ourselves and others. One of the ways to do this is to be more mindful.

Turn on the TV and there are sport stars, actors and business leaders all advocating the importance of mindfulness.

There are innumerable podcasts either advocating or questioning the benefits of mindfulness as a useful aid to maintaining our mental health.

Mindfulness does, however, have many practical and tangible benefits to both businesses and individuals. Here is just one:

Turn Off The Autopilot

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The human brain can process an average of seven pieces of information at any one time.

In other words, we can consciously focus on about seven thoughts at a time.

In order to increase our capability in this area the brain has learned to operate on autopilot in some areas. Tasks that are familiar can be done without thinking, whilst the brain focuses elsewhere. This has its advantages but it also has a huge downside in reducing our focus.

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In your professional life

• Have you ever driven for 30 to 40 km and realised you can’t remember driving that last 10km?
• Have you written an email and realised later you couldn’t remember whether or not you sent the email or added the necessary attachment?
• Have you attended a meeting and later realised you couldn’t remember any of the actions points for which you were responsible?

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In Your Private Life

• Have you ended a conversation with your partner or children and walked away unable to remember a single thing you have just discussed?
• Have you gone for a walk, wearing your headphones, and retuned to your car without remembering a single thing you saw on your walk?
• Have you spent your entire evening watching TV or searching social media without speaking to any of the people you love?

Are you living your life on autopilot and missing what is important?

Mindfulness helps us to disengage that autopilot and improve our focus on the important areas of our lives.

Mindfulness training can help you to:

• Improve your prioritisation at work and home
• Achieve a better work/life balance
• Build better relationships
• Reduce avoidable errors,  
• Increase your productivity
• Gain greater satisfaction from your life

If you believe mindfulness training could help you, your business or your team please contact geoff@dansamltd.co.uk to learn more about  or face-to-face and online mindfulness programmes.