We are just a few days away from a major election in the United States and there is a lot of noise in our news feeds, our phones and in our emails about who is better than who and who is going to what better than who did it worse or better than the last person. It can all be very exhausting. I am beginning to see some burnout and anxiety around this election cycle, and I must admit, I too am a bit anxious about what next week will hold for our American democratic empire.
With all the noise, I want to ponder this week, what are we giving our attention to? Who are we giving our attention to? I want to explore the spiritual practice of attention this week.
It is good to remember that spirituality is a series of practices that allow us to pay attention to God. God’s always there, but we get easily distracted. And the more we get distracted, the easier it is to get distracted. Distraction itself has become our practice.
The Spiritual Practice of Attention
I know you should not use a word to define a word, but in this case, it works. The practice of giving attention is related to the practice of being present. It is a specific way of being present. It is what you do when you are present with someone or something. You give them your attention. You pay attention.
The spiritual practice of attention enhances our awareness and counters distraction and stress. As a primary practice, attention is crucial to all of our spiritual practices. Whether we are reading the bible or engaging in a sporting event, attention teaches us to slow down and notice the details. In stopping to smell the roses, the roses, the birds, the bugs, the grains of earth all become more in focus and our life can become more vibrant.
Five Spiritual Laws
In a post in the New Indian Express, Anil Bhatnagar suggests that there are five spiritual laws of attention. To summarize, Bhatnagar suggest these laws:
- The Law of Focus: If we focus on something deeply long enough, Bhanagar suggests that we unlock its secrets. I would offer too that we become that which we focus on. If we put our attention on love and patience, we become and embody this focus.
2. The Law of Earnestness: what we are dedicated to becomes who we are. If we are dedicated to peace and we are consistent, others will notice, and our dedication will spread. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
3.The Law of Clarity: Bhatnagar offers that “success in achieving any goal comes in proportion to our:
- Clarity (about the correct underlying principles),
- Conviction (about the proven efficacy of the methodology we follow),
- Consistency (in taking required actions) and the ability to make and
- Course corrections (based on regular reviews).
4. The Law of Veracity and Integrity: We gain true fulfillment when we measure our words and actions based on the “moral and factual correctness” of our words and actions.
5. The Law of Non-Separateness, not – knowing, non doership: Directly quoting from the article, Bhatnagar offers this:
Seeing ourselves in others, embracing our state of not-knowing the truth with humility, and understanding that we are not the doers instils a sense of growing peace, bliss, and purpose. “Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 per cent of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself—and there isn’t one.” ~Wei Wu Wei.
Attention is a Discipline of Noticing
I opened my discussion here about how distracted we are right now. I had a discussion the other day with a client about their diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/HD) and Anxiety. We have been working together for a while now and we were doing some deep work around childhood trauma. As we dug deeper and deeper and I had the client talk to their inner child, the client began to realize the “why” behind their inattentiveness and the source of their anxiety. Feelings both perceived and real of insecurity, messages of worth and learned behaviors of self-regulation that were not healthy led to the adult I saw sitting in front of me yesterday riddled with ADHD and Anxiety. Their attention was on self-preservation, and this created significant distractions internally that affected relationships and professional work.
We become what we consume. I know there is a lot of discussion around this, my childhood in the 80’s was full of stories and congressional hearings about whether rock and roll music, violence in movies and comic books made children violent or turned them to the devil. My thoughts here go deeper than just movies and music. It is our attitudes. If we surround ourselves with toxic people, without proper boundaries and an abundance of ignorance, we can become toxic as well.
I teach a lot of mindfulness and mindful awareness to my clients. The first thing I try to teach is that every moment is a gift. Rather than focusing the world around us and the calamities that the news cycles want us to perseverate on, we need learn to focus our attention on God and God’s creation. When we begin to do this, we begin to savor and drink deeply of God’s precious gift of time. Marcus Aurelius once said that “it is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
Holy Attention is the spiritual discipline of noticing – of being intentionally aware of – God and God’s creation.
Our God is a God of details who is present everywhere – in every cell, every breath, and every atom of creation. God counts the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30) and knows every word on our tongues (Psalm 139:4). He collects our every tear (Psalm 56:8). God notices every detail about us.
We, however, are easily distracted people, often unaware of Immanuel, God with us. God’s grace is sufficient. The United States may be a little bit different next week. Or a lot. It is okay to hold space for that fear, those anxieties, to grieve. But turn your attention to God. It will be okay, whatever that means.
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