Meditation for focus, clarity, and expansion

Core — Edition Nº34

B+y Jared Rice

When was the last time you had an entire day free from digital distractions?

No texts. No emails. No social media. No aimless internet browsing. Hard to imagine in today’s world with most people seemingly tethered to their phones, the unending sources of distraction. Even when I put it away, it’s not long before the tiny itch at the back of my head encourages me to pick it up again.

In 2023, Gloria Mark, PhD found from a report in 2004 that the average attention span on any screen was two and a half minutes. But as early as 2012, it had shrunk to 75 seconds. And as the years go by, it’s continually shrinking around the world.

People switch their attention so fast these days that it’s pretty much impossible for many people to read something (an article, book, or even a social media post) in full. The ability to stay attentive to one task at a time is now becoming increasingly sought after.

When you keep switching your attention, you make more errors. Performance slows due to the ‘switch cost’, which you pay when you reorient your mind to another activity. For example, if you’re writing an essay and suddenly stop to do something else, it can take over 20 minutes to regain complete focus on what you were initially doing.

What was I writing? What was the topic? How did I plan to write this again?

We incur switch costs across the day as we’re distracted by different things over and over. Each time we do so, it creates more effort and drains any extra mental resources.

Some switching is good — breaks, for example — if you stop where there’s a natural endpoint to your work, it won’t cost a lot to reconstruct what you were doing when you return. But if you interrupt yourself in the middle of a task and keep doing so, your productivity, cognitive function, attention span, and energy levels will continue to diminish.

Focus

A big problem we’re seeing today is that more kids are growing up behind the digital interface. When we’re young, we’re like sponges to information, quickly soaking things up. But, we tend to need more time to focus on understanding and retaining things. Self-control, decision-making and prioritising are not well developed yet, and spending time in front of the screen can hinder how we build these abilities and our growth.

Self-control is necessary to solve problems, to read and write without being distracted, and to search for information. Focus is a critical skill for everyone; for kids, it’s better to work off-screen and learn to concentrate while playing outside or reading a book. Otherwise, it can have enormous consequences as they age. It’s equally important for adults to maintain a good ability to focus, as it’s easy for your mental capacity to drain out due to the natural increase in obligations and work. And once you’re wiped out for the day, rest is essential to avoid accumulating ‘sleep debt’ and being in a deficiency state.

You’ll also notice that people with higher sleep debt tend to spend more time on lightweight activities, such as checking their phone, because they don’t have the capacity to focus on hard work.

Aside from improving your deep focus and sleep, meditation is another powerful way to improve your attention, focus, clarity, and more. Through neuroimaging studies, researchers have found meditation can lead to structural and functional changes in the brain, such as:

• Higher-order thinking

• Focused problem solving

• Processing self-relevant information

• Self-regulation

• Adaptive behaviour

• Interoception

Regular meditation activates the prefrontal and middle cingulate cortex — key for memory, emotions, and learning, among other areas. It’s an ideal mental workout to help train your mind to sustain attention on a single focus point (i.e. the breath or a mental object). This practice improves the neural circuits associated with concentration and enables you to stay on task amidst external stimuli (distractions).

Clarity of mind

Meditation sharpens our focus and brings clarity to our thoughts and emotions. It helps us make sense of our consciousness and control how we engage with different parts of the world. Understanding context can help us be more aware of inner experiences that explain who we are. That way, we become more aware of the patterns of our mind, including habitual thoughts and reactions, and find it easier to navigate challenges with more clarity and equanimity. False assumptions about our thoughts and emotions come to light and teach us to find equanimity in discomfort.

With patience and persistence, anyone can reap its rewards. Bear this in mind:

• Start Small: Begin with short meditation sessions, gradually increasing the duration as you become more comfortable.

• Find a Quiet Space: Choose a peaceful environment free from distractions where you can comfortably sit or lie down.

• Choose an anchor: Use your breath as an anchor for your attention, observing its rhythm and sensation with each inhale and exhale.

• Embrace Imperfection: Understand that thoughts will inevitably arise during meditation. Don’t worry if you get distracted or fall asleep.

• Practice Consistently: Set aside time each day for meditation, making it a regular part of your routine. This is the most important part of the practice.

Expansion of consciousness

Meditation has long been associated with profound shifts in perception and awareness. The practice centres around cultivating present-moment and non-judgemental awareness. Here, you can develop a better sense of presence and see things with more depth and appreciation.

There’s also contemplative inquiry, which involves probing deeper existential questions and improving the quality of attention we bring to a task. By engaging in these reflective practices, you can expand on limited perspectives and tap into deeper wellsprings of insight.

In such states, the boundaries between the self and other, subject and object, dissolve, giving rise to interconnectedness and unity. This pays off well in collaborative scenarios, such as work or university tasks, or when spending the day with friends.

However, it’s essential to approach exploration with humility and discernment. Know that many experiences are deeply personal and subjective, and each path is unique and shaped by our own beliefs, experiences, and intentions. So it teaches us to be more mindful of that whenever we’re trying to understand what other people are going through.

In essence, meditation can be a gateway to improving attention span and exploring the depths of who we are and why. Spend a couple of minutes a day looking inwards, and take on board what you discover. You never know what could come out when you free yourself of your limitations.