This is part 4 in a blog arc on attention and cognition. This arc is based on comments from two frequent readers of this blog, Brad Berens and "Frequent Reader". Part 1 started this arc by describing how I was allowing myself to get distracted. Part 2 dealt with Lapses of Consciousness.
Part 3 went into detail about these lapses and introduced the concept of invalid task-switching as a way the non-conscious mind works to get our attention. Here we go into detail about the non-conscious' methods.
One of the common elements of these lapses of consciousness is that the non-conscious, far smarter and more aware than the conscious mind could ever hope to be, knows when there's a problem on the horizon and begins sending out signals that the system is overloaded and on the verge of breaking down. These signals -- again, at the non-conscious level -- are obvious after the fact. Most people in our study admitted to doing things they wouldn't normally do, what one woman called "giving myself room and time to breathe".
In my case, the "room and time to breathe" demonstrated itself in not blogging over the past two weekends. Oh, there was much more. I smoked my pipe more (just regular tobacco. My third time through college most of my friends thought I was perpetually about three inches off the ground. No, that's just my normal state of mind and it's so much fun up here!) because I love to watch the swirls of smoke climb and gather around me. It's a meditation, of sorts. I took more and longer walks. I did only leisure reading.
(More to follow...)
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
Comment Preview