The Power of Attention: How to Add More Ease to Your Life
My youngest daughter loves going to school. For a while, however, I noticed that she came home rather quiet and mellow. I watched this for a few days and then decided to find out what was going on. After asking her a few questions she told me that her teacher had placed a boy next to her that was teasing her a lot. We talked about it and I took my time listening to her, offering my support and sharing a few thoughts of how she could respond to the teasing.
After a while my daughter started to relax and looked much happier. The next day she came home in high spirits. After asking her about the boy she told me that her teacher had replaced him to the back of the room. Situation handled. Other than giving it a little bit of attention, we didn’t do a thing.
That’s how powerful it is when you use your attention with care. It allows you to navigate through life with great ease and pleasure. It also allows you to pick and choose the experiences you want to have. If you focus on ease, that’s what you get. If you pay attention to trouble, guess what shows up?
In his fabulous book Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, Winifred Gallagher writes “Far more than you may realize, your experience, your world, and even your self are the creations of what you focus on. From distressing sights to soothing sounds … the targets of your attention are the building blocks of your life. … Like other forms of energy, this mental sort is used most effectively by those who understand how it works.”
How does it work? Just as you can read the aliveness of people, you are also able to read the aliveness of your surroundings. Most likely you are doing this already. Do you notice whether a place is soothing or irritating? Do you avoid certain tables at a restaurant? You may be unaware of the fact, but you are picking up on clues in your environment all the time. By reading the energy of your surroundings and by responding to it in a sensitive fashion, you can pick and choose the amount of ease and flow in your life. It’s the difference between stepping into a puddle, and keeping your feet dry.
Exercise:
Use your attention consciously today. Pick a table that is inviting rather than convenient when going to lunch or for coffee. Pay attention to the people around you. What impact do they have on you? Be aware of your body and the clues you receive in different situations. Listen and respond with sensitive action. Take a break when you get tired, move your body when you get anxious, intentionally choose what’s best for you at any given moment. The more you practice the art of focused attention, the easier it will get until it becomes second nature.
Hope this helps you in adding more ease and pleasure to your life. Let me know how it works out for you.
Photo Source: Zenobia_Joy via Flickr under a Creative Commons License
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