Attention!

I invite you into one of the most powerful healing tools you will ever have on your journey back into a trust filled connection with yourself and with life. And that tool is ……

your ability to pay attention

It is truly remarkable how much frustration can be avoided and how much peace and joy come from simply paying attention. Right now, both around you and inside of you, the greatest show on earth is happening and yet you rarely pay attention to it. Maybe for a split-second your attention is here – you smell the new mown grass, or you hear the sound of a bird, or you receive a beautiful sunset – before it slips back into the thoughts in your mind.

If you doubt this, stop reading for a moment and really see something in the space you are in. See it as if you have never been on this planet before. How long did you keep your attention on that object? If you are like most people, it is just a matter of seconds before your attention goes to something else.

William James, considered to be the father of American psychology once said, “The education of attention would be an education par excellence.” But for most of us, we haven’t been educated about how to use the phenomenal tool of our attention, and thus our muscle of attention is weak, following thoughts wherever they go.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself is to strengthen the muscle of your attention – attention to life around you, attention to your body and attention to the people in your life.

In order to connect more deeply with life in the present moment, would you be willing to give yourself the gift of five minutes a day where you sit quietly and bring your attention to the sounds around you – the bark of a dog, the air conditioner turning on, an airplane flying overhead, a gurgle in your stomach, the slamming of a door, a car going by, naming the sounds as you hear them?  Or maybe you chose the rising and falling of your breath, really feeling your breath from the inside.  And then when you notice your attention has gone back to your thoughts, you say “thinking, thinking” and then bring your attention back to your breath.

Now, don’t make this a struggle between your thoughts and being present. For most of your life, your attention has followed your thoughts wherever they go. So of course, your attention will drift back into thinking but don’t judge that. Just simply bring your attention back to your focus and every time you do, you will strengthen the muscle of your attention. You will then begin to notice that there is a huge difference between being present for life and having your attention caught in the thoughts in your head.

Joseph Campbell, the beloved author and professor once said, “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”

Are you interested in discovering how to use thought rather than being lost in it? Are you interested in discovering how to be present for life without laying a filter of thought over it? Are you interested in rediscovering the rapture of being alive? Give yourself at least 5 minutes a day to sit quietly and bring your attention back to your focus. And even if you only rest in your focus for a few seconds, that is time well spent for this will transform your life!

If this interests you, I invite you to listen to my new radio show episode: The Great Healer of Attention. Which this blog is a small piece of. It will air on Thursday, February 22nd and 29th at 5am and 5pm PST. Listen HERE. After the 29th, it will be available on demand HERE.

Offerings:

The Magic of Acceptance: I invite you to join me again on March 12th at 5:30pm PDT for the next free live call: The Magic of Acceptance. We have all bought into the belief that if something is not the way we want it to be, we must fix it, ignore it, get rid of it, or rise above it, not realizing this is an endless game of struggle. Join Mary in exploring the art of acceptance and how to bring its magic into your life. The event will last about an hour. (Can’t make it? You can still participate. Click the link to learn how) Learn more and Register Here