Ross: [00:00:00] Hi there, and a very warm welcome to Season six, episode 25 of People Soup. It's Ross Macintosh here. Pea soup as this week. It's another copper soup. A short episode from me. I'm going to explore the human superpower of noticing. I'll talk about what we might be missing out on when we're stuck inside our own heads, and share an exercise that you might like to try, which with practice is designed to enhance our skill of noticing.

For those of you who are new to People Soup, welcome. It's great to have you here. We aim to provide you with the ingredients for a better work life from behavioral science and beyond. For those of you who are regular paupers, thanks for tuning in. Again, we love it that you're part of our community.

let's take a quick scoot over to the news desk. Reviews are in for our last episode, which was called Mr. Bean Rides. Again, a Tale of [00:01:00] Lycra, self-sabotage and psychological flexibility. Michael Phillips on LinkedIn said this was wonderful. Thanks, Ross. This was so relatable. It has helped me prep for my first group, cycling, holiday.

keep on riding. Laura Howard on LinkedIn said, embracing discomfort. Those bike seats are a literal pain. You're not wrong. Laura. On Facebook. Joan Mayer said, listen to your podcast, Ross. It was Fab. And And a Facebook Glenn Hughes messaged me to say, thoroughly enjoyed the solo cycling cast on psycho flexibility.

Well, thanks to Glenn and Joan and Laura and Michael. And again, on Facebook. one. Gordon Macintosh said, A brilliant young man who I'm very proud of and honored to be his dad. Wow. Well, thank you so much, dad. That really floored me. And to be called a young man was even more of a trait. In other news, I'm running another free taster session for my course.

Your Blueprint for Wellbeing, action and Resilience. it's designed for adults in the [00:02:00] workplace who are looking to explore the meaning and what they do, understand how they might be getting in their own way and what to do about it and show up as the person they'd like to be a bit more often.

It's backed by research, and I've delivered it to thousands of adults and organizations over the past 10 years. The free taster session is on Friday, the 16th of May, from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM British summertime, as you'll find a link to reserve your place in the show notes.

So let's crack on for now. Get a brew on and have a listen to my copper soup. Noticing the human superpower. Here's a question. How much of our waking hours do we spend on autopilot? I've asked this hundreds of times to groups of adults in the workplace, and people will typically come in with a high number, sometimes as high as 90%.

The actual figure from a study by some psychologists at Harvard was 46.9%. That means we can be mind wandering for almost half the day, perhaps not [00:03:00] noticing what's going on around us. Now, this research also noticed that the wandering mind isn't always the happiest of minds.

Now I'm not knocking mind. Wandering. Sometimes it can be a very creative state without this capacity to dream and imagine we wouldn't have great music, architecture, poetry, choreography, literature and invention.

But sometimes that autopilot or mind wandering can overreach itself and we can be in a mind wandering state When it would be more useful to switch into the present moment. Now I've got an example that I'm not proud of, but I'll share it anyway.

I speak to my 90-year-old dad every day on Zoom. I'm conscious that some days I might be the only person he's had a conversation with

yet. Sometimes on our call I can find my wind wandering to things I haven't done on my to-do list or things I need to buy at the supermarket.

At the moment, I do that. I'm not being present with my dad and it's not the sun I want to be in the daily call. I want to be present and engaged, [00:04:00] savoring the moment, and listening even when he's talking about a change to the bin collection rotor. If my mind is hooked away by other supposedly pressing things, then it could well show up in my behavior.

I might appear distracted, unfocused, or perhaps irritable. So I'm beginning to build a case for developing the skill of noticing to help us realize when we're in mind wandering and how we can step back into the present moment.

One way to do this is through something called mindfulness Now, it's become very popular over the last decade or so, and I would argue it's become damaged by its own popularity.

for me. Mindfulness is like a workout for the brain. It can help us gather our scattered mind and help us wake up from autopilot. It doesn't happen overnight, but there's strong evidence to show that regular mindfulness practice can help us to focus more effectively, reduce stress.

Notice what's going on around us. Reduce unhelpful thinking and help us respond rather than react and improve our [00:05:00] relationships. To give you a brief experience of mindfulness, I've recorded one for you to try. My invitation to you if you wish, is to have a go. the exercise, lasts about seven and a half minutes.

And if you'd like to have a go. Find somewhere quiet where you're unlikely to be interrupted and listen to my voice as I try and guide you through the exercise. at the end of the exercise, I'll invite you to reflect on your experience.

What did you notice? you'd like to share with me what you notice? I'll make next week's episode a debrief on the exercise. And if you'd like to try it two or three times over the coming week, that would be great. Each time just reflect and perhaps note down what you've noticed.

I'll also publish a short bonus episode A day or so after this one, just with the mindfulness exercise with a very minimal introduction to help you access it and use it more effectively.

Okay, so let's start the mindfulness exercise. It's called Mindfulness of Body and Breath.

[00:06:00] Welcome to this short mindfulness meditation. You can choose to do this lying down or sitting in a chair. If you're lying down. Just allow your arms to rest by your side. Make sure your legs are uncrossed with your feet falling away from each other. If you're sitting in a chair, just plant your feet flat on the floor about to hip whi apart.

Allow your spine to be upright in what we call a dignified posture. And if it's comfortable for you, allowing the eyes to close or just go unfocused on whatever's in front of you

and imagining your attention is like a spotlight directed onto the body and taking that spotlight down the body all the way down to [00:07:00] the feet, the left foot, and the right foot. I just bringing curiosity to this area of the body. Noticing any sensations there in this moment. Maybe there's an itch, an ache, a particular temperature.

Just registering that sensation moment by moment. And if there's nothing to notice, that's fine. We're not looking to create anything. We're just looking to hone our noticing skills and acknowledge what's there right now.

And if your mind's anything like mine, you may find it's wandered off. It's been hooked away, and if you do notice that, just see if you can notice where it's gone, and then gently bring the attention back to the feet and the sensations there. [00:08:00] On the next in breath, just expanding that spotlight of attention to take in the lower legs, up to the knees, the upper legs, right up to the pelvis, and again, noticing sensations here with curiosity with interest.

Maybe noticing sensations of clothing in contact with your skin. Perhaps noticing sensations deep inside,

whatever there is to notice. Just registering that.

And on the next in-breath, expanding that spotlight of attention once more to take in the torso, the chest, letting that spotlight rise to cover the back as [00:09:00] well. Allowing the attention to spill down each arm, the left arm, and the right arm, right to the fingertips.

Are there any sensations to notice in the air around your hands or fingertips? Perhaps a tingle, perhaps a particular temperature,

and again, you might find your mind's wandered off. It's completely natural and normal human response. And if you do notice, your mind is wondered. Just see if you can gently yet firmly bring it back to the body,

noticing what sensations there are in this moment,

and on the next in breath, [00:10:00] just allowing that spotlight of attention to expand and include the muscles of the neck. The scalp, the forehead, the muscles around the eyes, the cheeks, the mouth, and the chin.

Perhaps noticing the expression on your face right now.

And now as we try to hold a full body in our attention. Noticing the posture too, holding the whole body in our attention.

And on the next in breath, allowing that attention on the whole body to dissolve into the background, allowing it to fade away and bringing the [00:11:00] spotlight of attention to the center of the body. To the abdomen, the tummy, and the sensations of breathing

as best you can, seeing if you can follow one in breath and one out breath, and the movement of the tummy, perhaps noticing the tiny pause between each in breath and out breath.

As best you can, allowing the breath to breathe itself, not looking to alter the way you're breathing, just following its natural flow.

And if your mind's anything like mine, you might notice it's been hooked away.

And if you do notice that. Just see if you can notice where it went. Then gently [00:12:00] yet firmly bring the attention back to the tummy and that inward and outward movement with each breath,

and I'll just leave a few moments without my voice just to allow us to practice this in silence.

And just know that the breath is always there

to help us connect with now, to help us ground ourselves [00:13:00] and to help us develop this skill of noticing. So I'm going to start to bring this exercise to a close. So when you're ready. Just gently let the light back in. Open your eyes or refocus your eyes and have a look at what's around you right now.

Maybe give your body a bit of a stretch. Your legs, your arms, stand up, have a shake. Just bring yourself back into the present moment.

[00:14:00] That's it. Our brief mindfulness practice in the bag. Now, I'd love to hear what you've noticed. You can comment on the episode on social media or via the contact form on my website or through a messaging service like WhatsApp, telegram or Signal, using the number 0 0 3 4. 6, 9, 6, 6 3, 6 4, 8, 7. Or send me your reflections via email at people soup pod@gmail.com.

My idea is that next week I'll do a debrief responding to what you've noticed and what others have noticed from the same exercise.

You can help me reach more people with a special people soup ingredients, which could be just what they need in these turbulent times. Please do continue to share, subscribe, rate, and review to help people soup get noticed. Thanks to Andy Glenn for his spoon magic and Alex Engelberg for his vocals. But most of all, dear listener, thanks to you, Look after yourselves. Peace supers and bye for now.

And again, on [00:15:00] Facebook. one. Gordon Macintosh said, A brilliant young man who I'm very proud of and honored to be his dad. Wow. Well, thank you so much, dad. That really floored me. And to be called a young man was even more of a trait.