Phase 1 Skills are numbered 1-4. Phase 2 skills are numbered 5-9.

Attention Skill 1: Shifting Attention Around the Whole Wheel of Your Awareness.

Explanation-Improving Attention Permanently Through one 17 Minute Exercise:

According to Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, practicing taking 17 minutes focus your attention on your breathing and noticing your internal state such as the feel of the chair under you and the feel of the breath entering and leaving your body (a practice called interoception) is shown to improve attention permanently by decreasing the frequency of times our attention drifts, and increasing our ability to broaden our attention and notice what is around us. The amazing part is that it appears you only need to do this practice one time to maintain the benefits. The wheel of awareness exercise below is a potentially very good way to do this. You can also do so yourself.

Follow Along with Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness Exercise

Learn how many different areas in your own mind, body, and relational world you can choose to focus your attention on through Dan Siegel’s wheel of awareness exercise. Exercise can be done once with high likelihood of permanent benefits on attention, but returning periodically to practice it is recommended for further benefit.

Attention Skill 2: Broadening Your Awareness to Notice More.

There are many ways to practice this. I will offer two. One is simply to notice what is in the room around you using the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise which is very good for grounding. The second is simply stepping outside to get a view of the horizon and a greater depth. If possible to look get a view of the sky, or an open space preferably with some grass, trees, or water that is ideal. Ending with a video illustrating the effectiveness of detaching and broadening focus in life.

Additional Exercise for Broadening Attention:

Additional Explanation of Broadening Awareness

Attention Skill 3: Focusing Attention

Focused Attention Exercise:

1. Go outside and pick up a leaf. (If it is winter, you can select some other piece of natural material.)
2. For one minute simply sit still and carefully observe every detail you see about the leaf.
3. Now gently feel the texture of the leaf noticing how it feels on your skin.
4. Take a moment to ponder how this intricate wonder of nature could be created through some wondrous and mysterious process from soil, water, and sunlight.

Now try this same exercise with a simple piece of fruit like a strawberry or an orange. Slowing down and really noticing the color, the scents, the texture, and finally…the taste.

Attention Skill 4: Reconnecting to a Positive Memory

Orientation to skill 5: The benefits of appreciation are too many to count but the following video by Jim Kwik outlines a number of them. Having a library of positive memories is extremely helpful in counseling work and in daily life because they can help put our brains into an optimal state for processing, connecting with people, and they provide a great base camp to return to whenever stress levels get high.

Skill 4: Guided Exercise: Appreciation Meditation- Remember and Re-Enter a Positive Memory.