Treat Your Attention Like the Precious Resource It Is

“Attention has always been a form of currency, but as we live more of our lives online, it is now the currency. As the primary currency of the human condition, our well-being necessitates spending our available attention more carefully. With ever-expanding technological advances, there is more competition for our attention all the time. The internet, email, and social media are often compelling and seductive, exerting a gravitational pull that hijacks our attention, taking it away from where we want it and often need it to be. Consequently, it has become increasingly difficult to place and keep our attention focused on the things that matter in our lives.

How do you go about allocating the attention you have in more focused, intentional ways? Considering consciously and critically how and on what you spend most of your attention and re-evaluating your habits is an excellent beginning. Paying attention to what we pay attention to can point us toward a better understanding of how our minds work, as well as how we value our time—which is also a finite and precious resource. Simply by acknowledging its presence and appreciating its value, we can begin to direct our attention toward the activities, people, ideas, and issues that are worthy of it.

This is among the benefits of mindfulness practice - to pay greater attention with intention to our present-moment experience. Concentrative meditation practices use a specific object, such as a sound, mantra, or attention to the breath, to train the mind to develop this simple yet sophisticated skill. When you learn to pay real attention to what you pay attention to and practice using that awareness to bring your attention to where you want it to be—over and over again—you can regain control over considerably more of your life. You can begin to use more of your time in ways that support choices and actions in closer alignment with your values, the principles most important to you. This gives you greater access to genuine contentment, peace of mind, peace of heart, and a life of purpose and meaning. And that is an issue worthy of your limited and precious attention.”

Read the whole article at Psychology Today

#Attention #Mindfulness #Focus #Control

💬 Have you ever tried to be mindful? What was this experience like?

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