Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day

Description

From the constant pull of technology to the 24-hour news cycle to the overwhelming demands of work, our ability to concentrate is being strained as never before. We're all suffering from a collective attention deficit disorder that is leaving us feeling scattered, overwhelmed, and anxious - yet unable to resist distractions like emails, Zoom calls, or new texts or notifications. We actually use 100 per cent of our attention at every waking moment, but Dr Jha has discovered that unless we create room in our minds through specific and targeted daily practice, we cannot control what captures our attention leaving us vulnerable to every distraction, an experience she calls attention degradation. Peak Mind introduces the one cognitive training technique proven to improve attention and performance: mindfulness training. Dr Jha explains exactly how to implement this twelve-minute-a-day training program into daily life. Honed and proven in her lab, this revolutionary program will help you learn to ignore distractions and take control of your attention. Smart and accessible, interweaving science and illustrative stories from high-level people who've successfully used her techniques, Peak Mind debunks common assumptions and offers stunning new tools to radically improve our lives.

Amishi Jha is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Miami, where she serves as the Director of Contemplative Neuroscience for the Mindfulness Research and Practice Initiative, which she co-founded in 2010. She received her PhD from the University of California-Davis, and received her postdoctoral training at the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center at Duke University in functional neuroimaging. The research in her laboratory, The Jha Lab, is dedicated to studying the neural bases of attention and the effects of mindfulness-based training programs on cognition, emotion and resilience. She has been systematically investigating the potential applications of mindfulness training in education, corporate, elite sports, and military contexts. In addition to her own published body of research, her work has been featured at TED.com, the World Economic Forum, NYTimes, NPR, Time, Newsweek, the Aspen Institute, the Pentagon, the Journal of Special Operations Medicine, and Joint Force Quarterly. Her pioneering work on mindfulness and attention is currently in use broadly, from organizations like the US military and New Zealand Defense Force, to professional sports teams, medical schools, and businesses.

Proven practices to take control of our focus and become our best selves. A must read for our distracted times * Daniel Goleman, author of #1 NYTimes Bestseller Emotional Intelligence * Thriving starts with our attention and what we do with it. In Peak Mind, Amishi Jha combines the science of attention with compelling stories from those in high stakes professions to show us all how to be more present in our lives so that we can unlock our full potential * Arianna Huffington, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Thrive * Dr. Jha brilliantly blends cutting-edge science, compelling stories, and strong practical instructions--the perfect antidote for our distracted over-busy times * Jack Kornfield, bestselling author of The Wise Heart * For a while now I've thought of experiences we long for, like love and connection, as emergent properties of how we pay attention. Attention is the key factor in moving beyond just living mechanically into a life of clarity and joy. Dr. Jha brilliantly shows us how that can be so, offering a clear and useful path to paying attention differently * Sharon Salzberg, author of New York Times Bestseller, Real Happiness * Peak Mind delivers crucial insights about the human mind along with practical, accessible tools to enhance it. With clarity and skill, Amishi Jha brings you into the lab to learn how attention works, why it's essential for well-being, and how it can be trained to reach your greatest potential. Required reading for our modern world! * Wendy Hasenkamp, PhD, Science Director, Mind & Life Institute * In Peak Mind, Amishi Jha offers a brilliant guide for training our attention with mindful awareness and maximizing our human potential. You will learn the science behind mindfulness, and well-researched strategies that promote resilience against stress, and increased mental focus, creativity, clarity and strength. The true gift is the capacity to be fully here-present and engaged in your relationships and your life * Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance *