What a brilliant collection of wise, life-affirming thoughts. Personally, this comes at a time when I REALLY needed to be reminded about the power of attention: What we focus on literally creates our reality. It's a very sharp double-edged sword. (There may be some tie-in with what physicists call the "observer effect.")
"Why Attention is Everything" (GREAT title, by the way) reminds me of the following story:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
I think about this all the time and completely agree 100%!
For the Engineer in me, my next thought is, "ok I'm persuaded... so what is there to DO about it? How do you PRACTICE Awareness? Is there a way to EXERCISE Diirected Attention? Reframing? The Salience Network? If Attention is all there really is (as a matter of experience), can we train and leverage that to improve our lives? This is what I'm working on now, but it seems like the really golden science and wisdom on this are currently fragmented across media, disciplines, etc...
Speaking of which, have you discovered the book Awareness Games, by Brian Tom O'Connor?
I love your reflection and question, Erik. In fact, you already inspired me to order this book (I love ordering books based on serendipitous recommendations like this) *and* possibly writing a piece about it: how have I learned to lean more into attention and agency.
Besides that, I feel like it’s an underlying (still somewhat open!) questions in my writing, the currents of which I tried to express in pieces like "Reclaiming Presence" and “Doing the Next Right Thing."
This concentrated format for presenting thoughts that all focus of the same thing—attention—is a fabulous use of your own attention and ours. We surely do experience what our minds focus on. Focus on love and it’s front and center. Let fear overcome the focus like a mind flood, and we see muddy, confusing results. This was a fabulous reminder of where what we experience actually originates.
I love your style. Direct yet open and inviting. Intellectual yet connective. I have great respect for your work.
…i mean every quote a banger…but high level what a rad prompt in and of itself…an article made entirely of quotes…it is like an oral history of a thought…dense magic…
Love this format! You gave me so much to think about, and included one of my favorite quotes (one I need to be reminded of frequently):
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” — Victor Frankl
What a brilliant collection of wise, life-affirming thoughts. Personally, this comes at a time when I REALLY needed to be reminded about the power of attention: What we focus on literally creates our reality. It's a very sharp double-edged sword. (There may be some tie-in with what physicists call the "observer effect.")
"Why Attention is Everything" (GREAT title, by the way) reminds me of the following story:
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Larry! What an incredible parable that is very apropos and insightful — thank you so much for sharing this!
I think about this all the time and completely agree 100%!
For the Engineer in me, my next thought is, "ok I'm persuaded... so what is there to DO about it? How do you PRACTICE Awareness? Is there a way to EXERCISE Diirected Attention? Reframing? The Salience Network? If Attention is all there really is (as a matter of experience), can we train and leverage that to improve our lives? This is what I'm working on now, but it seems like the really golden science and wisdom on this are currently fragmented across media, disciplines, etc...
Speaking of which, have you discovered the book Awareness Games, by Brian Tom O'Connor?
I love your reflection and question, Erik. In fact, you already inspired me to order this book (I love ordering books based on serendipitous recommendations like this) *and* possibly writing a piece about it: how have I learned to lean more into attention and agency.
Besides that, I feel like it’s an underlying (still somewhat open!) questions in my writing, the currents of which I tried to express in pieces like "Reclaiming Presence" and “Doing the Next Right Thing."
Thank you, Erik!
This concentrated format for presenting thoughts that all focus of the same thing—attention—is a fabulous use of your own attention and ours. We surely do experience what our minds focus on. Focus on love and it’s front and center. Let fear overcome the focus like a mind flood, and we see muddy, confusing results. This was a fabulous reminder of where what we experience actually originates.
I love your style. Direct yet open and inviting. Intellectual yet connective. I have great respect for your work.
Thank you so much, Kathy!
I can't say it better so ditto to what Larry wrote. And everyone else.
Thank you Karl!
…i mean every quote a banger…but high level what a rad prompt in and of itself…an article made entirely of quotes…it is like an oral history of a thought…dense magic…
Rad comment–oral history of a thought–merci!
Love this format! You gave me so much to think about, and included one of my favorite quotes (one I need to be reminded of frequently):
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” — Victor Frankl
Thank you Rachel! 🌸