We can reclaim our focus and creativity by turning on the BrainPhone within us through meditation.
Do you feel as if your concentration and accomplishments are limited? You try hard, but new ideas don’t come, and no matter how much effort you put in, the results remain the same. Many of us find it difficult to focus our energy, be productive, and stay creative.
Smartphones have made this problem worse. A 2023 study at the University of California, Irvine by Dr. Gloria Mark reported that the average attention span on a screen has fallen to forty-seven seconds, down from two minutes and thirty seconds twenty years ago. While smartphones are convenient, they are designed to capture and hold our attention, presenting us with an endless stream of new, titillating, and triggering content in smaller and smaller bites. They drain our attention and steal our time. The apps feed us ideas while weakening our ability to generate our own.
This decline is not because our brains are inherently weak, but because they are adaptable. Our brains respond to the demands of our environment. Smartphones train them to expect new and multiple stimuli every few seconds, which we cannot fully process but which nevertheless provoke emotional reactions. The good news is that just as the brain can be trained in this way, it can also be retrained. We have the power to restore focus by turning on what I call our BrainPhones.
“BrainPhone” refers to our brain’s creative and intuitive abilities and its subconscious control of the body. Just as smartphones connect us to outside networks of information and communication, the BrainPhone connects us to an inner network of wisdom and energy. Both are tools for connection: smartphones to the external world, and the BrainPhone to ourselves. When we connect inward, we better understand our thoughts and feelings and gain the clarity and focus needed to take purposeful, creative action in daily life.
Meditation for the BrainPhone
Decades of research confirm what human beings have known since ancient times: meditation improves attention and focus. While meditation takes many forms, most involve choosing a point of focus and gently guiding the mind back to it, over and over. With practice, the mind learns to rest in focus for longer periods. This practice induces a state of relaxed awareness, slowing the brain’s frequency to alpha waves—or even slower—quite different from the restless state stirred up by our smartphones. When we enter this calm, focused state, we can begin to use our BrainPhones.
To activate the BrainPhone, we bring our point of focus inward. By concentrating on physical and energetic sensations, we connect body and mind and gather energy to ourselves, letting the BrainPhone switch on. Visualization directed inward also helps calm the mind and sharpen creativity.
Here is a meditation you can try:
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
- Pat your entire body with your palms: top to bottom, front to back, and along the sides. As you tap, close your eyes and focus on your body’s sensations. Notice the movement of your arms, the moment of contact, and the subtle vibrations that resonate from it.
- Place both hands on your lower abdomen. Breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth. Keep your awareness on your body and the air flowing in and out. Feel your thoughts and emotions gradually quieting.
- After a few minutes, sit in half-lotus or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Rest your hands lightly on your knees, straighten your back, and close your eyes. Continue to follow your breath for several more cycles.
- Imagine a BrainPhone switch—an “on” button—in the center of your head. Visualize pressing the button and your brain glowing golden, radiating light. Hold this image.
- Whenever distracting thoughts appear, press the switch again. You can even say aloud, “Stop! Go away!” See the bright golden brain once again. This practice helps your brain block out unnecessary stimuli, deepen concentration, and relax.
How did the meditation feel?
Returning to Focus
The BrainPhone reminds us that our ability to focus and create does not depend on external devices but comes from within. By choosing where to place our attention, we reclaim our power to shape our lives. As we train ourselves to use this inner network, we find that clarity, creativity, and peace naturally arise. With practice, we can live with focus—not scattered by distractions but guided by the wisdom and energy that flow from our own brain.
Editor’s Note: Learn more about using your BrainPhone in Ilchi Lee’s book, Take Back Your Brain: Reclaiming Your Power with Brain-Centered Living.
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[5-minute brain training] Enhance your intuition and creativity with BrainPhone (Auto-dubbed)