Say hello to present time, and where you place your attention!
What do you pay attention to, and what do you not pay attention to?
In the first week of the Step 1 Meditation Class, I talk to the students about attention. Not being at attention, but where is your attention? What do you pay attention to, and what do you not pay attention to?
There was a recent book that came out called “The Attention Merchants” by Tim Wu. The whole book is about what occupies our attention. In the first few pages of the book, he talks about the “attention merchants”, such as advertisers, Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc. Historically we did not have so many ways our attention could be directed. But now, we need to find where we put our attention and learn to discipline ourselves.
I have noticed how little interaction they have with others…
I have been observing for years the degree to which people are on their cell phones , texting or reading emails, Facebook etc. I have noticed how little interaction they have with other people, or even noticing what’s around them. The other day I was hiking with my dog and saw two women hiking the same trail on a beautiful day, but they were looking down at their phones. The other night in class, as I was talking and getting ready to lead a meditation, one of the students was responding to an email. These are not uncommon occurrences.
About 5 or 6 years ago, Katie and I went to Istanbul, Turkey. One of the things we noticed was that although people had cell phones, they weren’t on them all the time. On the streets, cafes and trams, people were walking and talking with each other, virtually no cell phones out. We went back to Istanbul 2-3 years later, and things had changes. Lots of folks on their cell phones on the sidewalks and trams.
In a recent staff meeting, I said that I wanted to have people who come to Psychic Horizons turn off their phones. We didn’t want to make a strict rule about it, as we didn’t want to become any kind of enforcers, but we have put signs up around the house asking people to “Stay Present, Turn off your Phone”. Some people are turning them off, some aren’t. But it has engendered quite a bit of conversation.
Who do you want in charge of your life?
I had a conversation a few years ago with a guy who had actually written a paper in college about attention. He was surprised that I was interested in this topic. He said to me, who do you want in charge of your life? Apple or Google? Of course he was right. Whenever we allow ourselves to be in our phones (literally) for long periods of time, we have given up our seniority to those devices.
Quoting from the book: “We are certainly at an appropriate time to think seriously about what is might mean to reclaim our collective consciousness….Ultimately it is not our nation or culture but the very nature of our lives that is at stake. For how we spend the brutally limited resource of our attention will determine those lives to a degree most of us may prefer not to think about. As William James observed, we must reflect that, when we reach the end of our days our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice of by default. We are at risk, without fully realizing it, of having lives that are less our own than we imagine.”
Start paying attention to where you put your attention.
I would challenge you to start paying attention to where you put your attention. You might not have an issue with putting your attention in your cell phone, but maybe your attention is in worry much of the time, or on work when you’re not at work, or constantly distracted by something. I would suggest that you pull your attention out of those things, get back into the center of your head, and get present.
This is not a difficult thing to do, but it takes a lot of attention! Where is your attention at any given moment? Pay attention and find out, and ask yourself: Is this what I want?
Have fun!
As always, thanks for supporting Psychic Horizons & the Church of Natural Grace with your sustainable giving! It truly makes a difference, both for us and for you.
Best regards,
Rev. Laura Hopper
Originally published
