Hacking Mindfulness: Learning to Pay Attention to Your Own Attention, with Peter Baumann | Big Think

Hacking Mindfulness: Learning to Pay Attention to Your Own Attention,
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Composer Peter Baumann examines the mind's overzealous thirst for information and how anyone can calm their attention. The key is to prevent the mind from being hijacked by stigma and instead hone your focus on the present now via mindfulness.
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PETER BAUMANN:

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TRANSCRIPT:

Peter Baumann: The most difficult we have today is our attention gets hijacked. There is so much happening in our lives that we pay attention to and quite frankly, you know, the little devices that we carry around don’t help very much because our attention gets totally absorbed into that attraction from these little devices. And we get a little bit of dopamine all the time when we get information, information is valuable instinctively. So we want to know what’s happening and what’s going on. That’s true for gossip and it’s true for why we watch the news. But the problem is that our attention is so much absorbed in that that we rarely, if ever, pay attention to just being present. And that is really what mindfulness and meditation is trying to balance out a little bit so that when the mind quiets and you actually are at home in your body that that distraction fades away and you actually get in touch with that underlying happiness that the Greeks call eudaimonia.

I think to begin with it would be really valuable to become aware of attention and how it automatically shifts from one to the other. And it can happen at lightning speed. If suddenly there would be a huge loud noise we would all wonder what is it and our attention is immediately hijacked. And attention at its core was also a very important evolutionary adaptation because what happens with attention is it either goes to the highest opportunity or it goes to the highest threat that we perceive in our environment. So suddenly there is something that we, you know, in the hunter-gatherer time something that was valuable to eat and then that’s where our attention goes. Or there is something like a dark shadow moving and then that’s where our attention goes. And it’s automatic. And the reason that we have attention is to pay attention and then summon all of our resources to either take advantage of the opportunity or to avoid the threat. That’s really the purpose of attention. So we zone out everything else, we kind of blank everything and just focus on one thing that in that particular moment is of highest value or potentially the highest threat.

So attention is a wonderful capacity, you know. For instance little infants, they don’t have attention. They go all over the place. They look all over the place. And the brain eventually develops to pay attention to things that again are an opportunity or a threat. Now we live in such a complex environment that our attention is hijacked all the time. But the antidote is not necessarily only mindfulness. You can get actually obsessed with mindfulness and am I paying attention. So you’re trying to pay attention to paying attention. And then you’re back to square one. So I think that to understand the value of attention is number one and then to recognize there are times where it’s perfectly okay. When car comes rushing at you, that’s where you want your attention, you know. Or when you’re really giving a public speech, that’s where you want your attention....

[churde]

The ridiculously fast and vast flow of information that the internet produces nowadays has destroyed my academic live

[whirledpeasfursure]

Great talk, thanks... This is an insightful explanation of how to find personal comfort with self and environment..

[LiquidGhost]

Well put.

Also, having peaceful environments to be at ease helps reduce "attention".

[wovn]

Reminds me of "10% Happier" by Dan Harris :)

[OmniphonProductions]

I get his point, but I couldn't help rolling my eyes when he started talking about paying attention to paying attention.

[MightyPoo]

I find it appropriate that I couldn't remain attentive throughout this video...

[Harjawaldar]

the different camera angles are meant to keep your attention

[MyLittleMagneton]

My mind wandered away towards the end, oh the irony.

[MarinusMakesStuff]

This is what Eckhart Tolle is also writing about in 'The Power of Now'

[hlen]

So how many videos have there been on meditation the last couple of months? i mean i doubt most of the people here came to the channel to learn about meditation. I doubt it because some of your biggest videoes are physics videos

[sactownskater]

omg. I can't even pay attention to this. im on instagram while watching this.

[foamheart]

He was a member of "Tangerine Dream" back in the 70s.

[thePricoolas]

It was hard to pay attention to this video and be aware of my attention at the sam time

[DHGameStudios]

Oh lol. I lost attention half way through because I wanted to check facebook in another tab. xD I figured I didn't do this because I don't use my phone for stuff like that, but seems the computer is my weakness.

[OnyxIdol]

This mindfulness thing is getting hella meta'd.

[MikyLow]

*PAY ATTENTION!!!*

...Thanks for your attention.

[Chevalier_de_Pas]

We are not adapting as a species to the rapid changes caused by the extremely fast technological advancement. Now, more than ever, we are our own worst enemies, addicted, slaves to maladaptive coping mechanisms, trapped in mental illnesses, wasting potential. And there is no solution that I know of. I'm 30, still addicted to porn, behind in life, never had a relationship and failing my PhD, the only great thing I am doing

[Howsonify]

15 seconds in I lost attention and started reading comments, and then my mind wondered into me making this comment. 

[blueshaylovinz]

..being attentive is a natural instinct, so I see where he vibes from talking about our gadgets and devices..the only things natural about phones are the Colton (which is a bad example btw based on procedure used to mine it) and the electricity coursing through it..the universe will make you you let HER~

[taxcutjr]

My attention was hijacked by this video... Ha!