Constructive Living, Session 4: Where Our Attention Goes, So Goes Our Life
When we allow our feelings to hijack our purpose, our attention is self-absorbed.
In several essays, we have considered Blaise Pascal’s wise observations about how difficult it is for people to sit still without “diversions.” Remember, Pascal was writing in the 17th century. Today, we still struggle to focus and not seek distractions.
Recently, Christine Rosen wrote,
I’ve seen more people in their cars thwarting stoplight boredom—that is, unable to sit unmediated for even the few moments that it takes a red light to turn green, they reach for their smartphones. Kids post on social media about boredom throughout the school day (#bored). The space between the time when they experience boredom and when they broadcast it has disappeared.
William James was one of America’s greatest philosophers and the 19th-century founder of modern psychology. In his book The Principles of Psychology, he explained, “Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit.”
James defined attention as “the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence.”
How often do we deny the fact that we have the agency to harness our attention? If we deny that power, how does that impact the quality of our lives?