The span of attention and the quality of it that the two-leggeds are able to give to the world, or the lack of it, I should say, has almost become an epidemic problem with our obsession with click-click-click, text-speech, sound-bites, instant gratification, instant everything - and the overwhelming amount of sensory data that we are bombarded with daily. Hello, hello? Is anyone listening? Hey! I'm over here! What? You'll give me ten seconds, you say?
I've been told that, in the way that we live today, because of everything that is going on around us, we are forced to process more sensory information through our minds in a single day of our lives than folks a hundred years ago processed in an entire year, because their lives were so much slower. That's a sort of staggering thought, if it is true. Everything is accelerated, everything is beginning to happen much more quickly, time almost seems to be condensed today. We need to learn to keep up. We need to get better at it.
To my way of thinking, our short attention spans, our inability to handle distractions, our desire for instant results, can seriously interfere with our quality of attention. Consequently, we get to the point where we are not fully present in the moment - what? The phone's ringing? Okay! I'll put a new bulb in the lamp-post, as soon as I get done with this - yes, I would like to eat dinner - yes, I fed the dogs - oh, what's-her-name called! Uh, where were we now? Oh yeah - how can we be "mindful", absolutely present in the moment - how can we give the world the attention it needs and deserves if - alright! Alright - I'm coming!
If we are not fully present in this moment - and this one - and this one - how can we respond to those things that happen to us that need our arttention, in a way that takes the most responsibility in creating our future? After all, where we are, right here and right now, is how we created it - that's right! We created it this way - it's the sum total of every decision and reaction that we have made in our lives in reponse to those things, outside of our control, that happen to us - the sum total of those decisions that has brought us to this point, right here and right now. We control our reactions, how we respond. That's how we create. Our ability to respond most appropriately is based on keeping up, completely, mindfully, with all the information that streams through our senses. That is how we demonstrate our response ability, our responsibility. Yes - that's how we create our lives. Will we do it well - ever?
Being mindful, being fully present, being completely in the moment, 'paying' attention - we really NEED to get good at that! The world needs us all to do it right. And right now, right here!
"Here and now, boys! Here and now!" - that's what Aldous Huxley said.
"Pay attention!" - that's what my teachers said.
"And try not to pee on the mushrooms!" - that's what I said.
But then, that's another story.......
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