My approach to boosting your concentration is at three levels
If concentration is what you need then I’m the right person to help you succeed.
Concentration is available to you or to your child in direct proportion to the amount of peace of mind that you or your child can experience.
Now this may seem like a bold statement but over the past 50 years I have seen this to be true, firstly for myself, as a student, then in my professional capacity as a learning support, resource and classroom teacher and over the past 20 years in my clinical experience with thousands of my clients.
Concentration is the ability to block out distractions. When you have conscious and subconscious distractions that have priority in your mind then Betty little energy, resources or time can be devoted to focusing on the topic you are being asked to concentrate on unless this is directly connected to your physical survival.
Every one of your senses stream in a torrent of information continuously and your subconscious mind is busy filtering through this information or any signs of possible danger or reward that may be indicated by the slightest variation or change in light, in sound, in smell, taste or even the feeling that something is not as it should be.
When your body senses danger or a potential pleasure is around you or may be available in the future then it triggers specific chemicals to be produced that help you to focus on avoiding death and increasing g your enjoyment of the potential pleasure.
It is these chemicals that seem to divert the blood supply away from non essential functions of the body and brain so that your attention is concentration on avoiding pain and possibly increasing your pleasure.
Because new learning, your digestive system and the activity of the frontal areas of your brain are normally classed as non-essential then it becomes difficult to concentrate until at least your basic survival needs are met. Once your physical needs are no longer pulling away your attention then we need to look at what emotions you are experiencing . If these are too strongly negative or too positive then they will occupy most of your energy, headspace, attention and time.
Once your physical and emotional states are comfortable then if becomes easier to bring resources, food, energy and attention into your conscious thoughts, learning and what we might call intelligent adaptive responses to changes in your environment, rather than the triggered reactions that have held us captivated as we reacted to forces outside ourselves.
If all this sounds complicated then let me simplify it for you.
You take in information from the world around you. This triggers you to either react or respond .
If it triggers an automatic reaction then this takes over control of your attention and your concentration is then focused for you on increasing or repeating a pleasure or avoiding pain and possible death.
If you respond you take the information in , use it intelligently to help you choose a way to deal with it, learn from it and you may then decide where to apply your concentration …
Many computer game makers understand this and keep your attention locked into the game for yourself in end because they provide you with information that keeps you preoccupied with avoiding death and rewards you with dopamine boosts every time you “ kill “ off a potential threat or enemy.
I’m often asked to help children , teens and adults to concentrate better. Invariably, I find that when it comes to gaming or work related stress or family concerns they have no problem staying focused, on task and spend hours every day and night pouring their time and every into these activities.
My approach to boosting your concentration is at three levels :
Firstly I help you to calm down your physical body and make it feel comfortable and safe from attack.
Secondly, I help you to change and then down- regulate the stress chemicals that your body has been producing and increase the “happy” chemicals.
Finally, I help you to find the triggers that caused you to react in the way you have been doing and to change these reactions to responses by rewiring your brain by getting you to do simple activities and listen to a bespoke visualisation that helps you to take back full control of your thoughts, actions, energy and emotions.
See how this works for you or your child when you book your first appointment at https://King.ie/concentration101