Yes its really true!
Free your mind, and the rest will follow. A free mind is a mindful mind. Real freedom is not the power to do what I want. Its freedom from the onslaught of countless distractions and unwanted thoughts, each trying to convince me that its what I want. To clearly see whats good for me, to ash my anxiety, I must first unclutter my thoughts. I find that focusing on a single seemingly mindless activity helps me center my attention far more effectively than many other mindfulness exercises.
Thats why I built this app. If youre like me, youll find that endlessly drawing circles helps you detach rapidly from the millions of extraneous and ultimately usless thoughts that constantly plague you. With time, youll find that you can focus on demand because your neural connections responsible for it have strenthened. But for now, use FreeMind as your friend to guide you along the path to a mindful awareness of the present.
I dont mind sharing my prescription with you: Draw three hundred circles a day in one sitting. It will take you about five full minutes. As you progress, still draw the same three hundred circles a day, but do it over one ten or fifteen minute sitting, taking twice or thrice as long to draw each circle. Marvel at how your focus improves. Gain mindfulness - One circle at a time.
The History
I adapted one of my old programs into Freemind to help me focus after a stressful concussion related mind injury. Im glad to say it helped considerably. Hopefully it will help you to improve your mindfulness also.
Freemind is based on the algorithm described in the paper by Umbauch and Jones cited below [1]. It has been used to benefit in a psychological study attempting to help participants improve their impaired cognitive skills [2].
References:
1. Dale Umbauch and Kerry N Jones. A few methods for fitting circles from data, in IEEE Trans. Instr. Measurements, Vol 52, No. 6, Dec 2003.
2. Tchanturia, Kate. Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) for eating and weight disorders. Hove, East Sussex New York, NY: Routledge, 2015. Print.