Simple Strategies to Help You Overcome the 4 Natural Enemies of Mindfulness (TPS212)

Do you ever find yourself reacting emotionally to things that are beyond your control? Maybe you don’t fly off the handle and say something you’ll regret later, but you still find certain people or things in your work or personal life that make your blood start to boil. This is known as the fight vs. flight response, and unfortunately, in an effort to save us from physical harm our body tends to trigger it at just the wrong moments.

In this episode, we show you how you can overcome the fight vs. flight response to see things the right way and make better decisions using the practice of mindfulness. We’re not going to talk about the practice of mindfulness meditation in this episode (we did that in TPS210), but we will look at some of the natural enemies of mindfulness and show you how you can overcome them. We also give you some mindfulness exercises you can use anytime, anywhere to start developing a practice of mindfulness in your daily life.

Cheat Sheet

• Why mindfulness does NOT equal meditation (and what it really means) 2:10
• Why mindfulness is about observing and controlling your thoughts 11:39
• What happens when the fight vs. flight response is triggered and how to deal with it appropriately 12:54
• Why the philosophy of stoicism aligns so well with the concept of mindfulness 23:18
• Some of the major benefits of practicing mindfulness 29:28
• How distractions at work and with technology can prevent us from being mindful 38:57
• Why multitasking is something that should really be avoided 43:30
• How FOMO and the Fear Of Keeping Up prevent you from being mindful 48:50
• Why it is so important to get good sleep in order to stay healthy and productive 53:27
• Exercises you can do right now to implement mindfulness 58:15
• A simple mindfulness framework (RAIN) 1:06:38

Links

• Meditation for the Rest of Us: 10 Surprising Benefits from Making Mindfulness a Habit (TPS210)
• The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
• Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less
• Work the System: How to Make More and Work Less w/ Josh Fonger (TPS208)
• “Real Happiness At Work: The Myth Of Multitasking” The Huffington Post
• The Daily Stoic
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
• 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works–A True Story
• 10% Happier podcast – #86 Gary Vaynerchuk
• “Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks”
• Pomodoro 2.0 w/ Esington Method Founder Rudy Marsh (TPS188)
• Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life
• Personal Retreat Handbook: The 7-Step Process to Make Achieving Your Goals Inevitable (TPS207)

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If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!