focused attention

Dec 11

Dear Reader,

So many of us live our days with an attention that never truly lands. We answer a message while half listening to someone speak, scroll while we eat, think about work while standing in the shower. The mind moves quickly, but very little feels truly touched by us. At the end of those days, it can be hard to remember what actually happened, only that we were busy inside all of it.

Focused attention is one way of stepping out of that blur. It is the decision, even for a short stretch of time, to let one thing be the thing you are with. Long enough that your mind, body, and presence are in roughly the same place. In those moments, life becomes meeting what is here, right now.

You do not need long stretches of silence to practice this. You can pick a single conversation, a single task, a single walk, and decide that, for this small window, your attention belongs here. When the mind wanders, as it will, you notice that and come back without scolding yourself. Over time, these small returns begin to change the feeling of your days. Life feels a little less like something that is happening around you, and more like something you are actually inside of.

Yours in the journey,