Humans have a natural instinct to explore their surroundings, but as a species we don’t move around as much as we use to. We stay inside more often, and get into more boring routines than our ancestors were accustomed to. Mindfulness is a way to help bring us back to our roots of exploration, picking our heads up and engaging with the awe inspiring reality that is this earth. Mindfulness is just bringing meditation to your everyday life, making the familiar seem unfamiliar. This tricks the brain into thinking everything is a novel experience and therefore raises your dopamine levels which then raises your levels of subjective well being. When you pay attention to the nuances of the world around you the brain thinks something important is happening and will therefore stop worrying about what’s next and focus on what’s going on right now. The brain can only do so much at one time so if you intentionally give it a job to do, such as admiring the lovely day or accepting the inevitability of a shitty day, then your brain will go off of autopilot and return to your manual control.

• FACT: When you’re bored, or your thoughts wander your serotonin(contentment) levels go down and acetylocholine (muscle activation) levels go up.
• TAKEAWAY: When your brain doesn’t have a job it makes you feel agitated and ready to move. This if often when people fidget if in a boring meeting.