Roadmap Series - Wednesday Day 18 Paying Attention Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. Proverbs 4:25-27 At a very large and very noisy party, you’re looking for a friend you’ve lost in the crowd. You look for her green dress amid the sea of colors. You try to catch the sound of her voice in the general roar. There she is! Somehow, above the loud music and noisy conversation, now you hear her calling your name. But before you can move very far, you are stopped in your tracks by the sound of shattering glass—you turn your head sharply and see that a pitcher has fallen off a nearby table. While others tend to the glass, you set off across the crowded room toward your friend. The processes by which you were able to spot your friend, hear your name despite the noise of the party, and then quickly turn toward and then away from the sound of the breaking glass involved attention. In the context of human information processing, attention is the process that, at a given moment, enhances some information and inhibits other information. Stanford.edu./cognitive attention Think how much better your life would be if you had enhanced some information and inhibited other information? Why is that? Because things that grab our attention and the things that we give attention to all influence the direction our life takes and the paths we choose. There are things I wish I would have ignored, and there are things I wish I had paid more attention to. We all share that sentiment but right now, today, you have chosen to pay attention to some things and right now, today there will be some things that will grab your attention. What almost everyone fails to notice is that both have the ability to change the direction of your life today and will influence your life tomorrow. Enhancing and inhibiting information is a daily chore that should not be neglected. For some of you your life has never been better because finally you are paying attention to some things in your life that really matter. You are paying attention to your spiritual life, to your faith in God and these things will ultimately benefit you. Here’s an observation: The things that capture my attention are often things that are not very good for me, but the things that I choose to give my attention to are generally things that will benefit me and the people around me. Not always true, but either way these things are right now impacting the direction of your life in both positive and negative ways. What are you paying attention to today that will make a positive impact on your future? What has captured your attention and has the potential to destroy your future? What information will you choose today to enhance and what information will you choose to inhibit? Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:20:00 +0000
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