Attention | Faith Venture

Archive for the ‘Attention’ Category

Attention and Distraction

July 4, 2023

I once began reading a book called Distraction. I couldn’t focus due to distractions. Don’t think I finished it.

We live in an attention economy. Companies, politicians, and organizations depend upon capturing our attention for their financial livelihood.

I opened Facebook this morning to check on who among my friends was having a birthday. I wished some old friends a happy anniversary. When I went to the page to log out (never, ever leave Facebook logged in, as it will track everything you do) and realized maybe for the first time how many things they have to try to capture additional attention.

I logged out.

Yesterday I wished to compile my notes from a conference now two weeks past. The notebook open (I take notes with pen in a special notebook), I breathed deeply, sipped my coffee at the coffee house, and focused with intention on my work. It was a marvelous bringing to mind the many good things I learned that week.

The pastor of my church reminds people each week of the space in the bulletin to take notes. He researches to prepare his message. The least we could do is use pen and paper to make notes in order to remember his points. It’s a good strategy. We focus better with fewer distractions while taking notes. We remember more while writing than by typing.

And this morning, I was able to focus for a half-hour on this brief essay. It’s a good thing.

People from all over the world read this blog. Today is called Independence Day in America because it commemorates the day the delegates to the Continental Congress approved a document we call The Declaration of Independence. It would do us well to read it. I just saw where the President of the Ukraine just quoted it. I long for the day when the ideals expressed in that document come to fruition here in the US—and everywhere. All people are treated as equals, we have not only liberty (some people stop there) but also justice for all.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Yesterday I wrote the 3,000th post to this blog. It doesn’t seem like that many over the time.

Posted in Attention | Leave a Comment »

Questions

May 5, 2023

If you were on a long train ride with the smartest person in the world, what would you ask her?

How long would it take before you returned to doom scrolling on your phone?

How long can you maintain thinking without diversion?

What don’t you know that you would like to know?

I knew a teacher of the Bible who would get to a point where there were questions. He would say, “I guess we’ll have to save that one up to ask God when we get to heaven.” What if we had the patience and attention to ask God now and then wait for an answer?

I was taught to express myself as if I knew. These writings are the results of exploring. Searching for answers to many questions. Mostly, how to live in a healthy, positive way with-God. Every day brings a new wonder to consider.

Posted in Attention, Disciplines, Thinking | Leave a Comment »

The Gentle Art of Asking Part Two

May 2, 2023

Quite by accident the second edition of “Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling,” by Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein appeared in my mail the other day. Reviewing some older notes, I saw the recommendation. When this book arrived, I discovered I had the first edition on my bookshelf. The second edition was worth the refresher.

Do you know any long-time elementary school teachers? Ever listen to them? Do their questions sound often like a prosecuting attorney going after a criminal suspect?

Do we catch ourselves asking questions to test other people? Or questions where we wish to discover if they are for us or against us? Questions meant to trap us—like often were posed to Jesus?

The gentle art of asking questions instead of telling people reveals true curiosity. We want to know what someone else is thinking—really.

The gentle art draws people in rather than establishing a barrier between people. Its foundation includes trust, sincerity, mindfulness. I would add intention.

So often we ask, but then we fail to listen to the answer. Listening, that is, that involves our complete attention.

I wrote about this book five years ago. It’s one of those books that requires a reread periodically. It’s brief. Readable. New insights will pop out each reading.

Posted in Attention, Attitude, Humility, Listening | Leave a Comment »

Concentration

March 13, 2023

The word of the day is concentration.

When your mind focuses on the task at hand. When your attention is on the activity, not distracted by fleeting thoughts.

I watched Liverpool and Bournemouth in the English Premier League (football/soccer) Saturday. The week before Liverpool completely outplayed its rival Manchester United 7-0. Saturday they lost to lowly Bournemouth 0-1. One of the best wings in the league passed the ball directly to an opponent three times in the first 10 minutes. One of the best goal scorers in the league missed a penalty. As we would say in the US, he didn’t even kick it in the same zip code as the goal.

They played without concentration. We can’t look into other people’s minds, but we can see their actions. They played as if their minds were at the beach.

I began to think on this phenomenon. How often is our attention on the task at hand? When we are engaged with our spiritual practices, where is our concentration? Our attention? Our focus?

How much does my mind drift from the words on the page when I am studying? When I am engaged in a service to someone or even a “random act of kindness”, am I concentrating on the person whom I am serving? When I am at worship, am I thinking about where I’m going afterwards?

Champions bring their concentration to the game every game.

Should we do no less?

Posted in Attention, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Do Things With Intention

January 25, 2023

When I attended a Baptist church, I noticed a favorite metaphor of the preachers was to divide people into the “lost” and the “found”.

I’ve thought about lost. I observed some neighbors. They were lost. What does a person do when lost, say in the woods. Experts say they wind up walking in circles. Without a map and no idea of direction, they drift.

I’ve observed people just drifting through life. No purpose. No courage. Usually too much alcohol. Not enough discipline to maintain good health or a steady job.

The road to hell is not paved with good intentions. It is paved with lack of intention.”
— Dr. Gabor Maté

I heard this idea quoted on a podcast some time ago. I’ve been pondering it.

How does this apply?

I intend to get up from this chair, walk over to the community clubhouse, exercise with some walking and Yoga, sit in the hot water of the spa (we don’t have a sauna). Then I’ll come back home for breakfast followed by study and writing about technology and strategies used in manufacturing.

Perhaps what Maté (and the words of Jesus and the Proverbs) mean about intention are deeper than that. I approach God with intention. Pray with intention. Serve others with intention.

Posted in Attention, Attitude, Intention | Leave a Comment »

Light and Dark

December 28, 2022

Last night we visited the Morton Arboretum in suburban Chicago for their annual Illumination event. This park celebrates trees and the illuminations centered on groves of trees. Magnificent and creative.

This morning I am remembering the experience. And I thought of John’s Gospel. My favorite in many ways. It’s more philosophical and theological than the others. Mark is packed with action. Matthew and Luke pack in details. John tells the story weaving the theme of light and dark.

Jesus, of course, was the light. He brought the light. He wanted his followers to be light. Be the light in the world.

An iPhone is a poor substitute for a really good camera (which I didn’t want to carry). But this image captures some of the light and the dark.

Our question today is–how will I be The Light today?

Posted in Attention, Awareness | Leave a Comment »

You Probably Need Sleep

December 7, 2022

Sleep is one of the five necessary practices for a healthy life.

Are you getting your quota?

“If you can’t tell what you desperately need, it’s probably sleep.”— Kevin Kelly

Kelly is probably on to something. Lack of sleep leads to a befuddled brain. Poor concentration. Inattention.

Maybe the best thing for the next hour is a nap.

Posted in Attention, healing | 1 Comment »

We Forgot To Choose

October 19, 2022

Viktor Frankl writing in Man’s Search for Meaning solidified the idea of our power to choose in my mind. The idea became one of my core beliefs. Ancient people knew that truth, the truth of choosing your attitude, your response, your life.

Seth Godin writes, “We are leaving the age of information and entering the age of choice. Not just choosing what we’ll consume, but who we will become. Who will we connect with, lead, trust, honor, dignify, isolate or believe? And how will we choose to walk through the world and what will we leave behind…”

Long-time technology pundit Steve Gillmor early on predicted companies on the Internet were all about capturing our attention. Now we read about the many psychological tricks companies such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and others use to capture and retain our attention.

To whom do you choose to give your attention? And all the other choices Seth suggests?

Posted in Attention, choosing, Deciding | Leave a Comment »

Be Mindful of Your Focus

September 30, 2022

I wrote yesterday of becoming aware of what is surrounding us that we may never notice. These were some thoughts on David Foster Wallace’s commencement address “This Is Water.”

Then I began to think more on this subject.

I once taught people how to become soccer referees. You will begin by focusing on the ball, I’d tell them. You’ll see the player with the ball and the player challenging, but your focus will be on the ball and the feet. Gradually you’ll learn to watch all of both players–elbows, shoulders, hips, feet, ball. Learn, I would say, to broaden your vision. See the play developing. Where players are running from and to. Anticipate the coming collision. Anticipate where the ball will go if the player kicks it.

Perhaps we do this when studying scriptural or spiritual writing. We focus on individual words or phrases. We lift a phrase and make it a rule of life. We should, as we grow in experience and maturity, learn to see vast sweeps of the writing. That sentence in context of the audience the writer was reaching. The letter in context of what had been written before and in context of the lives of those referred to. See the “water.”

We can become trapped with people. We see one act in a narrow context. But we broaden our vision. We see what kind of day it’s been. We see the forces of family or job working on the person putting them in a certain frame of mind. We broaden our view. We see their long-term frustrations and struggles. Eventually we see the “water.”

Some may call this gaining perspective. Or it may be wisdom. Perhaps compassion.

Whatever you call it–work to acquire it.

Posted in Attention, focus | Leave a Comment »

Attention Economy

March 16, 2022

A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.
Herbert Simon

I’m sure it was more than 15 years ago when I first heard technology pundit Steve Gillmor talk about the attention economy. He was prescient. Everyone scrambles to grab some of your attention. Including me.

But worse are the platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the like who hire hundreds of engineers to design algorithms and graphics designed to keep your attention on their sites.

Me, I wish to provoke a little thinking and then let you go in order to have a life.

Herbert Simon nailed it in more ways than probably even he imagined. He wrote pre-Internet. We have so much information presented on apps and web sites and newsletters and, yes, even books. We can even bury ourselves with information trying to comprehend the entire Bible.

And where does our attention stray?

We must be aware of where we’ve invested our attention. If the entire Bible as given to many of us as youth is too large for our attention, perhaps the Christian part (New Testament). Or perhaps just the words of Jesus. Maybe even that is too much information.

If we focus our attention just on the Sermon on the Mount, we shall be richer for it. We can perhaps come to comprehend enough to live it.