The Beautiful Fragility Of Focus: The Elephant And The Rider

This talk is part of the "Wonder at Work" series. If you ever wonder why it's so difficult to focus, listen to this brief talk that describes an illuminating metaphor for the human mind. You will discover how the human brain is not built for ongoing focus all day long and what you can do about it.

Transcript

I'm Jeffrey Davis.

My job is to find useful ways for individuals and teams to keep open to possibilities,

Even in times of challenge and change.

Now,

If you find it difficult to focus on work that really matters,

Don't despair,

Because it turns out our human capacity to focus is quite fragile.

The prefrontal cortex,

Which correlates with our ability to make conscious decisions,

Constitutes only about 4% of the brain's total volume.

The other 96% is bigger and stronger.

4% is not very much to account for your ability to stay consistently focused on your goals.

Now,

Psychologists and neuropsychologists have a metaphor for the mind that reflects the brain's proportions.

It's called the elephant and the rider.

Now,

This metaphor has been used by the Buddha as well as the Sufi poet Rumi in stories to illustrate the nature of the human mind.

Here's how the metaphor goes.

Your total mind is comprised of one large elephant with a small human rider who sits atop it.

Now,

That human rider is what we call conscious rational thought and intentional activity.

The massive elephant includes the stimuli that our senses take in without our conscious awareness.

The elephant includes all of your body's functions,

From your blood flowing,

Your heart beating,

Your lungs breathing,

The dream images you had last night,

And all of the underwriting mental chatter of self-doubt and fear,

As well as possible creative insights,

All below the radar of the conscious rider mind.

Your big elephant unconscious accounts for about 95% of the mind's activity and influences that small rational rider who thinks it's in control.

So,

The question for us is how do you influence the functioning of your unconscious elephant mind to work in harmony with the intentions of your conscious rider mind?

How do you bring more of your unconscious mind to work on behalf of your conscious intentions?

It turns out you are equipped with a natural system in your body that directly influences that big-sized unconscious activity that in turn influences how well you can sustain your focus on what you want.

The system is your ability to influence your body's respiration.

Your breathing system is like your conscious rider's ability to be an elephant whisperer,

So to speak.

When you harness how long you inhale and exhale,

And as you train yourself to breathe naturally at deeper rates with calm awareness,

Your body's breathing system has a direct influence on the activity in that prefrontal cortex,

That 4% of your brain's volume that's trying to help you focus.

When you have this calm focus,

The brainwave oscillations in the prefrontal cortex slow down by about half to the state of mind that's associated with focus and flow states.

So,

Here's your invitation.

During the next 24 hours,

When you choose to intentionally focus on work that matters,

Bring awareness to your ribcage and take four cycles of breathing in and out for four seconds each.

If you notice work is challenging you and stressing you,

Take a few steady breaths,

Elongating the exhalations.

Then,

Throughout the week,

Observe even a slight difference in the quality of your soft focus while you work.

And by the way,

Be sure to take breaks.

Thank you for showing up for your most impactful work.

You can see my profile for other ways that you and I can connect,

Including at Insight Timers' B2B Wellness Marketplace.

Be well,

And thanks for running with me.

Reviews

That was very insightful and helpful! I am excited to try this with work today! Thank you!

“Elephant and the rider”
Encouraged by this to continue to listen.
A first step for me into this world.

Very interesting. I had never heard the elephant story before. Thank you.

Thank you, love this. Will remind myself of this.🙏🏽🌟👍🏼🌺

Excellent, thank you 🙏. I've been reading several books about the brain - fascinating subject.

Love this! Love the analogy you use, it puts things into perspective. Thank you 🙏💙🌟

Thank you! I'm going t try this for sure. I teach mindfulness for chronic pain and I think this would complement working with our daily activity pacing diaries.

I am busy studying for an exam, this was very insightful...so apparently pranayama is also beneficial for focus during studying.

Really helpful way to think about the prefrontal cortex vs rest of the brain. Many thanks!

Thank you so much for providing a different perspective on our ability to focus 🙏🏻

I was able to focus on this! And how interesting!! I always thought before I heard this anology that the breath is steadying and helps me feel in control and focus. Thank you 🙏 so glad to discover you and this on insight timer! I will ride the elephant 🐘 today ! And it’s my day off so I can let creativity flow and everything glow..no time structure today !!! 💜✨🎵🦚🦅🧠👁️👩🏼‍🍳🧚‍♀️🦦🦥🪷🎨🎫🪇❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜💫

Great tips on the way breath boosts your focus! Thank you!

Fantastic. I'm taking this practice into the pool when I swim then bring it to work. Thank you dear.

Thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻That image is so powerful.I have relied on my breath for years now, and now I know…🙏🏻🌟✨🌟💫🌟🙏🏻

Truly enjoyed this .. inspired me to take a few deep breaths when a bit overwhelmed

Wow! I really GOT this today ❤️ Thank you so much 💫

Thank you for the valuable insight! The elephant and rider metaphor is an interesting way to think of how the brain works.

Awesome short talk, love the metaphor and I will surely create myself this new habit of taking a few conscious breaths before starting meaningful work... Hope it makes daunting tasks a little easier 😅

Some years ago I joined in on a livetalk with this lecturer. Have been off the app for some time, but joined some yoga and Qigong again last month. But I still recall the intellect and sense of humour this lecturer showed. Stole the line ”my inner eyeroller” from his lecture:) She/it is often present when I lack patience. Will keep an eye out for more talks here. Regards!