Hey everyone, it's Dora here. I just want to let you know that we've launched a brand new

call and advice podcast called Dear Headspace. Each week the headspace teachers along with

some amazing new friends are answering your questions about relationships, work, life,

mindfulness, and just about everything else. It's so different from anything we've ever

created and we're so excited for you to hear it. Dear Headspace comes out every Tuesday

on the Headspace app and anywhere you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Hi, I'm Dora and welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday. So, most mornings I have

a rising ritual or a few things that I like to do to really help set the tone for my day.

Since I've started working at Headspace, I've started to meditate way more and as a way

to deepen my own personal practice, I've stopped using music or any guidance in my meditations.

I simply focus on the sounds in my immediate space. I start by closing my eyes, then letting

my focus rest on whatever I notice first. Normally it starts with the low humming of my

fridge, then I begin to notice the sounds of cars driving by outside my house, and then

it drifts to the birds just outside my window. The more that I focus, the more where I become

of the interesting sounds and things around me. It reminded me of this phenomenon that I

learned while in university called the Riticular Activation System. The RIS is a part of the

brain that helps us focus on more important information and discard everything else. Think

of it as a nightclub bouncer for our brains, where it's in charge of filtering all the

sensory information that we perceive every single day. It filters sounds, tastes, colors,

and images, helping us to focus on just the right amount of information. And we've all

used this before. For example, if you're thinking about buying a new car, and then all

of a sudden you start to see that car everywhere, that's the RIS in action. And this mechanism

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