The other week I watched a resident stop to smell the rose bushes north of the Administration Center. I smiled at her and commented on how pretty the flowers were, as I whizzed off to the next meeting while checking email on my cell phone. It was only later that I thought to myself I have never smelled any of the flowers on campus. In fact, I deliberately walk through the community garden from my car to my office every morning, but I'm usually nose deep in my phone looking over the day's calendar or new emails – far too preoccupied to actually take in the simple pleasures around me.
And I know I'm not alone. According to a 2009 study from Western Washington University, people who are busy doing two things at once don't even see obvious things right in front of them. In this study, they found that 75% of college students who walked across a campus while talking on their cell phones did not notice a clown riding a unicycle nearby. While this is an amusing finding, it speaks to the constant distractions – cell phones, email, TV, social media – that prevent us from being fully present in our own lives. And there are real drawbacks to these distractions. When University of California Irvine researchers measured the heart rates of employees with and without constant access to office email, they found that those who received a steady stream of messages stayed in a perpetual “high alert” mode with higher heart rates. Furthermore, frequent multitasking has been linked to decreased creativity, impaired interpersonal relationships, and increased numbers of accidents and injury.
Interestingly, the benefits of mindfulness have been smacking me in the face at every turn over the past year, but I've been slow to absorb the message. Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present and in tune with where we are and what we're doing. In researching to prepare to teach two separate courses on healthy sleep habits and anxiety management, what did I find studies point to again and again? Mindfulness practice. When helping to facilitate our Better Breather's group for residents with chronic lung conditions, what do best practices promote? Mindful breathing. When looking for brain health resources for our residents with cognitive impairment and their caregivers who experience stress, what was found to both help concentration and reduce stress? Mindful meditation.
Okay, so the message is clear. I've learned that just 3-5 minutes of mindfulness practice each day can improve awareness, concentration, sleep quality, and even empathy, while decreasing stress and anxiety. And it can be as simple as trying to focus on your breath or a calming word or image, while dismissing other thoughts that float in. Mindfulness can also be taking a walk while heightening your awareness of the things around you – the feeling of the earth under your feet, the sound of the breeze, the shades of the leaves, and the scent of a flower. Have I started a consistent mindfulness practice yet? No. But now that I've written this article, my intentions have been made public. Look for me walking through the community garden – without my cellphone in hand.
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