Pay Attention-NOW!

This morning I was thinking about what I pay attention to.  My boss is really good at paying attention to each detail- right down to the blue tape perfectly positioned on each newly washed water bottle and then carefully placed in their matching carriers. This was done all for me, in an effort to make my life easier for the snowshoeing adventure with the students. She surely knew I wouldn't do it.  My attention to detail isn't so great.  I'm just lucky if I return to campus WITH the water bottles or matching sets of gloves. It's almost like the missing socks in the dryer every day for me.  I try.  I'm getting better-kind of.  My associate points out how she enjoys working with both of us; The boss is "OCD"- I'm a "free spirit" and she feels like she's in between.  It reminds me of the DBT paradigm of the emotional mind, the reasonable mind and the goal of having a "wise mind.' 

I went to an excellent presentation on Motivational Interviewing this week referencing the 2 part brain reminding me of this DBT construct.  In psycho-biology we have our limbic system-our instinctual survival brain avoiding pain-seeking pleasure.  Then we have our prefrontal cortex-center of reasoning, meaning, rational thought, seat of morality.  The key is helping the two parts work together, being able to guide the limbic system so we can act proactively and purposefully, with real intent.  I love the hope the presenter gave as he assured how our brain can always form new connections.  It is always growing and changing.  He compared the limbic system to being the teenager, and the prefrontal cortex being the parent.  We have to get permission from the parent to act. In this case the question posed to the parent could be, " I really want to pay attention to this...Can I"?  And the parent may say, "Sure take the keys-go for a spin".  Or maybe the parent says, "Let's shift our focus and pay attention to this over here." Everything fights for our attention-our basic drives for food/sleep/leisure/intimacy, the messy house, the errands we need to run, the voices of the people we love, the music on the radio, the text that just came in on the cell phone, the commercial on the TV, millions and millions of details bombarding us at every turn.   WE get to decide what to pay attention to.  We get to be the boss of our focus, or we can choose to live in a state of continual distraction.

It helps to have alternatives.  It's helpful to be instructed and engage in the process of educating our conscious mind so we can have better discernment as we strive to choose the good.  But ultimately, no-one can tell us what to do-cause our gut reaction is to fight back-don't tell me what to do!  I guess that includes the IT of our limbic system.  Our drives don't have to drive us.  I love the connection to "attention"-as the communication bridge between the 2 parts of the brain. My prefrontal cortex doesn't have to boss my limbic system around and tell it what to do-or try to CONTROL it.   Instead, I can distract IT.  Diversion Power vs. Will Power.  Any Rec. Therapist know diversion is just plain fun.  With leisure free time, the big question is always, "What am I going to do today?"  I can take that a step further and ask, "What am I going to pay attention to in this moment-each and every moment? 

I still have the song about moments from the "Into the Woods" soundtrack stuck in my head. The baker's wife sings, "Oh, if life were made of moments, even now and then a bad one! But if life were made of moments, then you'd never know you had one."  Yet, for me-moments are all really have.  One "now" after the next.  The "now" and what we attend to in that "now" is all we really have control of.  Controlling my attention can make the  big difference in being the big boss with the attention to detail. 

I can be the boss of my "now" and take charge.  Or like William Jennings Bryan puts it : "Destiny is not a matter of chance but a matter of choice."  I know we get what we really focus on.   I suppose it is related to the concept of having an "eye single."  The scriptures teach “if your eye be single to [God’s] glory, your whole [body] shall be filled with light”.  It's those darn eyes and what I choose to focus on, especially those important details.  So I better start paying attention-now!