19 Aug May I have your Attention, please…
From the outside-in, it may appear that the work I do has no focus. I jump from author to author, teaching to teaching, practice to practice, idea to idea. For someone observing my approach to life, I may appear to be lost in an endless search. Well… that’s partly accurate, I am in an endless search, but I feel far from lost. I enjoy the search. I would go so far as to say, I thrive in the search. In the same way a gardener gets satisfaction from digging in the dirt, I love exploring different ideas and perspectives on life.
What I love most about exploring different ideas is piecing it all together. I don’t know why, but for some reason there is something inside of me that insists everything fits together – everything is connected. My exploration feels like an attempt to obtain a broad enough view of the workings of life in order to “see” how it’s all connected.
Just the other day, an epiphany dropped in. The tiniest little thought that seemed to bring years of exploration together in one succinct idea. It’s not a new idea or a complex idea, but for me it dropped in in such a way that, like a Tetris piece, it was the one thought that brought all the others together.
Consciousness is the Source of Creation. Whether you call it God, Divine Mind, Source, Love… it doesn’t matter. Fundamentally, it is the Consciousness behind all creation.
Attention is Focused Consciousness. As human beings, we are imbued with Consciousness. Individually, we only experience a fraction of Source Consciousness. Regardless, we are nonetheless conscious and possess the unique ability among creatures to intentionally focus our Consciousness by where we place our Attention.
Therefore, wherever we place our Attention is what we Create. In other words, we create our experience of reality by what we focus on.
In the context of The Four Elements of Evolution:
When we cannot Forgive, whether it is ourselves or someone else, our attention is focused on the past. When we are focused on the past, we remain trapped in it, and we end up reliving it in some way, shape, or form. We recreate the past by giving it our attention.
When we live from a Vision, our attention is firmly focused on the reality we want to experience. Consciousness creates through us.
Surrender can be likened to softening your focus or the intensity of your attention. When our focus is too narrow, we can miss out on opportunities – we can’t see the forest for the trees. When we lean into Surrender, we soften, we become receptive and more flexible.
As we lean into Surrender and begin cultivating Awareness, we broaden our focus. This expanded vantage point doesn’t dilute our Vision, rather it allows us to create more deliberately by understanding where we are relative to where we want to be. Awareness also keeps us in-tune to where we are placing our Attention.
This concept is fundamental to navigating the modern world. We exist in an environment replete with distractions. I don’t recall where, but I recently heard that our Attention is our most valuable commodity. Why? Because it is through our Attention that the world is created. When someone (person, entity, or organization) controls our Attention, they can create the reality they want.
What is the Vision you hold for yourself?
What do you spend most of the day focused on?
Is it the reality you want to create?
