Why is it this week, that whilst I’m genuinely giving my attention to my family, to work, to my everyday activities, my mind is still cloudy?
After all, I have done so much attention training. I have spent countless of hours directing my attention to something (the tip of my nose during meditation, or the person in front of me during a meeting) and when my mind wanders off I bring it back. After so much practice I can honestly say that I am very good at directing my attention.
After separate chats with three friends I believe I have found the reason.
Using the analogy of a torch light, attention has Direction and Space (Wide to Narrow). I have been neglecting the latter. Let me give you an example from three days ago. I am focused on the conversation with my mother about taking her dog to emergency hospital (Direction), but I’m also aware of the background noise comprised of jumbled thoughts including excel spreadsheets and passport applications (Wide Space). I do not narrow my lens and ignore the noise, at least for the time being (Narrow Space). So whilst I'm here for my mum, my experience is rather cloudy.
The concepts of ‘Managing’ or ‘Compartmentalising’ thoughts may be about the same thing. Perhaps it’s obvious to you, but find it quite novel and insightful. "Proactively-narrowing-the-lens-of-awareness": here is a concept I can experiment with. Hmm... interesting. Let’s see how it goes…
Author: JD
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
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