Breath by Breath

“Americans spend more than 100 hours commuting to work each year, according to American Community Survey (ACS) data released [in March 2005] by the U.S. Census Bureau. This exceeds the two weeks of vacation time (80 hours) frequently taken by workers over the course of a year. For the nation as a whole, the average daily commute to work lasted about 24.3 minutes in 2003,” with one-way commute averages as high as thirty minutes in the state of NY (source). And that was four years ago!

What does this mean? A drive of thirty minutes each way equates to five hours per week, or 20+ hours per month. And most people spend that time in a state of annoyance, frustration or worse– mindless distraction.

Sharp focus is as much a habitual behavior as wandering thought. And as with any behavior, the more you practice, the more proficient you’ll become. Which habit would you like to develop? The following exercises will leave you calmer, happier and better able to make decisions, provided you stick with them. Try them all or pick the ones you like best. You’ll likely notice a difference right away, and if you commit to this practice for 30 days or more, clear-headed focus will start to become second nature.

1—Start your commute in the present moment. By the time we get into the car in the morning, most of us are already thinking about our destination. When we arrive, our brain jumps to the next project, and the next. Focusing on the task at hand becomes more and more difficult as you spend hours training your brain to seek distraction–not so helpful if you want to improve your productivity. By starting your commute focused on the present moment, you are reminding your brain to practice a new way of thinking. And it only takes a second: Before you turn the keys in the ignition, inhale deeply then exhale completely. Center yourself in the moment. Steering wheel, seat, traffic. Do this enough, and it will become a habit that should improve your focus in all parts of your life.

2—Switch off the radio. Has this ever happened to you? You get in your car, start down the road and the next thing you know you’re at your destination with no recollection of the drive. Automatic pilot takes over, and by the time you arrive, you’ve lost 45 minutes of your life. Maybe this seems like a good thing–better than suffering through horrible commute–but remember that everything you do is a practice for your brain. Imagine two people alike in every way but one: the first spends 45 minutes a day on brain training puzzles, the other spends 45 minutes a day in a state of zombie-consciousness. Who would you rather be? Of course, I’m not suggesting you play computer games at the wheel, but there are other things you can do to stretch your brain while you drive. Driving with the radio off will feel strange, probably boring or even agitating — enough to remind you to try something new. (And watch yourself, habit will probably reach for the radio dial more than once.)

3—Make a game of it. Eknath Easwaran is quoted as saying “…attention doesn’t wander because something is dull; life seems dull when attention wanders.” Translating your drive into an autotelic experience is not only good practice for the rest of your day, it will also get you to work happier. In Flow (pg. 67, but I recommend you read (or re-read) the whole book) Mihali Csikszentmihalyi describes the autotelic experience as “a self-contained activity, one that is done not with the expectation of some future benefit, but simply because the doing itself is the reward.” The game can take many forms, depending on what you most enjoy. One driver, for example, might make an effort to relax his body as much as possible, another might keep a constant eye on the cars around him as they shift position. You could count the number of times a car honks a horn or try to make other drivers smile. You could develop ways to improve the flow of traffic and eventually execute those plans. Many possibilities exist, and they don’t need to have anything to do with driving. The point is to find some way to engage your mind and challenge yourself.

4—Put down that Croissanwich. From this article: “’Multitasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes,’ said David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan. ‘Disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from the standpoint of our ability to process information.’” Aside from the dangers of making mistakes while driving, multitasking during your commute, doing too many things at once is (again) shaping the habits of mind you carry throughout your day. Try spending a day doing only one thing at a time: no iPod and the gym, no TV during dinner. Even limiting this exercise to free time, most people will find it extremely challenging. This difficulty makes sense; our minds wander more easily from routine tasks than ones which require great skill (imagine writing with your feet instead of your hands). If you can learn to drive and perform other simple tasks without distraction, your ability to focus on all more complex activities will naturally improve.

5—Make a moment for Metta. According to The Paradox of Choice (sorry, I lost the page), happier people are better decision makers. And wishing well to others, as in the Buddhist practice of Metta, can make you happier. The practice can be taken to a variety of complicated extremes, but the gist is simple. Look at the people around you and wish them well. For example, you may run through a set of sentences such as “may you be happy,” “may you be healthy,” “may you be safe,” “may you be calm,” (but probably not “may you be less of a jack-ass” or “may you learn to use the gas pedal”) silently wishing one to each person. If this practice is new to you, it may feel silly. Try it anyway, perhaps even carrying it into the office, and see if it improves your productivity.

6—Turn every stoplight into a mindfulness bell. In Peace is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hanh says, “In my tradition, we use the temple bells to remind us to come back to the present moment. Every time we hear the bell, we stop talking, stop our thinking and return to ourselves, breathing in and out, and smiling [...]. Since I have come to the west, I have not heard many Buddhist temple bells [...but] you can use any sound to remind you to pause, breathe in and out, and enjoy the present moment. The buzzer that goes off when you forget to fasten the seat belt in your car is a bell of mindfulness” (pg. 18-20). You can also use car horns or non-sounds, such as stoplights and bottlenecks. When you treat them like mindfulness bells, previous annoyances can be tools to bring your attention back to the present.

7—Feel the support. Spend some time thinking about all the people who have made this commute possible, the people who designed, built and maintained the roads and traffic lights, the people who made your car, the job that made buying that car possible, the other drivers who are staying in their lanes and following the laws so that you can get to work safely. Be creative, go back in time, go into detail. Chances are, you could make this the focus of your entire commute and not complete the task.

Related posts:

How Narrowing Your Focus Can Broaden Your Life

I am Supported By…

What Were You Thinking?