Paying Attention

Being the grownup in the room

Journal: 16 July, 2024, morning.

I wrote this maybe a little over a year ago and I regularly revisit it:

“I can only pay attention to a limited number of things at a time, and what I try to daily remind myself of is that the limited number of things must be selected from the population of ALL things. If I expend all my attention on the ever present crisis of the day, there’s no attention left over for blue tailed skinks, or my grandsons’ giggles, or remembering the first kiss from my beloved, or yesterday’s fabulous sunrise, or the magnificence of the texture and flavor of a perfect peach. Choose wisely, fellow pilgrims. The trip is a short one.”

Am I choosing to ignore the crises of the day? No. I am not. I just have learned over the years that I can better react to any crisis when I am coming from a place of balance and perspective and calmness and rational thought, and choosing to broaden my attention past the things that are continually thrust at me gives me that balance and perspective and calmness and rational thought.

Step away. Breathe. Relax. Repeat.

We can do nothing wise and considered and thoughtful and productive when we are stuck in reactionary mode, and that’s not where I choose to live. Because I know well my human tendency to be reactionary, I schedule in and limit my daily times when I pay attention to world and national events and situations and then I’m done, and I turn my attention to all the rest of life. I’m not kidding. I actually do this. It works.

All that is happening now (sweeps arms around) is a lot, but in reality it’s always been a lot and if we don’t think that, we’ve just been mostly shielded until now from that harsh reality. But we’re the grownups now and it’s our civic and human duty to embody that grownupness and bring it to our engagement in current events. I (and you) have to figure out how best to do this.

Fellow grownups, please show up for this. Your nation is depending on you.

#journalingalife